Dance

Department Staffing & Roles:

Miss S Skellington

PE Department Staff

“Dance is vital, an activity both exhilarating and liberating to watch or do. The instinct to dance is fundamentally joyous and no matter how hard you try you can’t get away from that for long. It can also be a huge force for good, effectively drawing people together and levelling everyone through sheer hard work. It can speed up your heart rate, it can enliven your being, it can change your life.”

 Richard Alston CBE

Through studying Dance students learn and develop a range of physical, choreographic and performance skills in order to create, perform, respond to and evaluate dance. Students explore a range of styles, skills and stimuli through dance and broaden their understanding of movement.  As a physical activity it promotes fitness and well-being. As performers, students develop confidence, self-esteem and creativity. They develop self and body awareness as well as sensitivity to others, communication and team-working skills. As critics, students make informed decisions about the dances they see and develop their knowledge and understanding of the dance industry.

KS3 (Years 7-9)

Year 7

In Year 7 students will study dance through their PE curriculum and are introduced to a variety of dance skills, which form the basis for creating choreography, and develop their skills in creating, performing and responding. Students explore how dance has developed through different eras such as the 1920s Charleston and will gain an understanding of different stylistic features and performance skills. Students will use choreographic skills to create and perform their own motifs and evaluate the effectiveness of these.

Year 8

Students will study dance through their PE curriculum in order to extend and enhance skills learnt in Year 7. We will continue to develop the variety of skills and styles of dance learnt and use a number of stimuli to create dance. Students study and explore professional dance works and use these as inspiration to develop choreography and performance, as well as enhance their understanding of how dance is created.

Year 9

Year 9 provides an opportunity to embed skills learnt in Years 7 and 8. Dance is delivered through the Performing Arts rotation in Year 9 alongside drama, music and musical theatre. During their dance unit students will choreograph dance in response to a stimulus and use a range of choreographic devices to develop a performance. Students are encouraged to be creative, imaginative and express their own opinion on the given stimuli when choreographing, performing and evaluating performances.

KS4 (Years 10-11)

Year 10

In Year 10 students will explore the dance industry through the study of professional works, as part of their Component 1 written unit. In both theory and practical lessons, students will explore how the works were choreographed to demonstrate the creative intent effectively to an audience and how the different constituent features and practitioners contributed to this. In Component 2, students will also develop their dance skills and techniques further in rehearsal and performance through a range of technical and performance workshops, as well as replicate professional repertoire.

Year 11

In the first part of Year 11 students will continue to develop their dance skills and techniques through rehearsal of professional repertoire for Component 2, developing their technical, stylistic and interpretative skills. Students will perform this repertoire for assessment and reflect on their progress throughout the unit. Students will also choreograph a performance in response to an external brief. Students will research, create, rehearse and perform a dance piece which reflects the stimulus set for a target audience, as well as evaluate their choreographic process.

KS3 (Years 7-9)

PE KS3 National Curriculum:

KS4 (Years 10 and 11)

BTEC Tech Award in Performing Arts (2022 Specification):

The Gatsby Benchmarks

Gatsby BenchmarkHow we will meet this:
1: A Stable Careers ProgrammeTheatre trips to introduce a vast range of careers through the industry.

Trips to take part in performances within a theatre setting – this enables students to experience specific careers e.g. performer, staging director, lighting director.
2: Learning from Career and Labour Market InformationLIPA attend the careers fairs for Y8 and Y11 Careers Fairs.

During parents evening and options evening, information is provided to students and parents regarding future career opportunities in Dance.

Careers in dance and the performing arts are referenced in lessons.
3: Addressing the Needs of Each PupilSpecific advice and guidance given to students at parents and options evenings.

Year 11 students given advice through subject teachers.
4: Linking Curriculum Learning to CareersIn both KS3 and KS4 SOL, references to careers are made and linked to certain topics across the curriculum.

In the BTEC Tech Award studied at KS4, Assignments are designed for vocational dance context in the industry.
5: Encounters with Employers and EmployeesLIPA summer school offered to KS4 students through audition, this gives an insight into the careers and opportunities through Performing Arts.

Workshops and Career talks with professional artists.
6: Experiences of WorkplacesWork experience at LIPA and other various dance companies e.g. StopGap, within the school holidays to encourage students to enter this industry.
7: Encounters with Further and Higher EducationWorkshops in lessons that includes a discussion of courses available.

Campus visits to Post 16 colleges and universities specific to Dance i.e. Cronton and LIPA Taster day Dance Workshops at Cronton College.
8: Personal GuidanceAuditions, shows and rehearsals which mirrors interviews/auditions in the Dance industry.

Students are able to receive careers advice from subject teachers, academic mentors and careers advisor.

Further and Higher Education

There are a range of courses available in both higher and further education which allow students to progress into the Dance Industry, including:

  • A Level Dance
  • BTEC Level 3
  • Higher National Diploma
  • BA Hons Degrees
  • Post Graduate and Masters Degrees

Career Links

There are a wide range of career options available to dance students both inside and outside the industry including:

Artistic Director, Choreographer, Costume/Set/Lighting Designer, Performer, Education Specialist, Dance Film Maker, Journalist, Photographer, Teacher, Dance Wear Distributor, Production Management, Public Relations, Rehearsal Director, Gym Instructor, Events manager, Marketing team, Dance Critic, Community Dance Artist, Customer Service.

The Dance and Performing Arts department has a varied enrichment programme that students can get involved in. The programme includes:

  • School Productions – Students can get involved both on and off stage and students from all Years are invited to participate, including, showcases and Musicals.
  • Dance Enrichment – This provides another chance to get involved in performances in school, including the Christmas Concert.
  • Workshops – Opportunities are provided both in and outside of school to enhance and develop dance technique, choreography and performance skills.
  • Performances – Students have the opportunity to perform at different dance events. In 2019 some students performed at The Brindley Theatre as part of ‘Runcorn’s Gotta Dance’.
  • Theatre Trips – Students go to a variety of theatres to watch live dance theatre and review it as part of their studies.
  • Intervention – Students in Year 10 and 11 can participate in intervention sessions as extra revision and support for their BTEC course.

Theatre Trips

Students attend a variety of theatres, (local, college and regional) to watch live dance and theatre and use this as part of their learning. Previous trips have included visits to see:

  • Wicked – Liverpool Empire
  • Rambert Dance Company – Lowry Theatre
  • Phoenix Dance Theatre – Liverpool Playhouse
  • Matthew Bourne’s Edward Scissorhands – Liverpool Empire

Workshops

  • LIPA visit school and offer a variety of workshops to students in KS3 in the three Performing Arts disciplines.
  • Students are provided with numerous opportunities to participate in workshops with professional artists, including from The Lowry Theatre CAT scheme.

Schemes of Learning

  • Students participate in a number of schemes of learning which are relevant to today’s culture and society and allow for learning about the world around us and outside of dance.