Dance

Mission

To provide our students with opportunities and experiences to enhance their life choices, making a positive contribution to the world we share.

Curriculum Intent

At Friesland we are committed to providing a quality Dance education for all that enables high achievement regardless of a student’s starting point. We believe that dance can offer a unique opportunity to combine physical exercise with creativity, and it has many benefits for our young people. We are committed to providing a varied dance curriculum that is accessible to all.

Dance is a unique form of communication that can change the way pupils feel, think and act. Dance forms part of an individual’s identity and positive interaction with dance and movement can develop student’s competence as learners and increase their self-esteem and general well – being. Dance offers many opportunities to celebrate success through unique performance opportunities. Dance brings together body and mind feeling and enables personal expression, reflection and emotional development. As an integral part of culture, past and present, dance helps students understand themselves, develop relationships with others and to develop their cultural understanding, forging important links between home, school and the wider world.

Dance at Friesland is an excellent vehicle for enhancing cultural capital. Our students will develop their knowledge of cultural dance and different dance styles. The GCSE course includes capoeira, samba, hip hop, contemporary. The A Level course includes knowledge on the history of dance in England and explores many influential and predominant figures in dance and their origins. All professional works incorporate a unit of contextual, political and social influences on the work. At Friesland we are committed to giving our students extensive opportunities to perform and showcase their achievements to others. We run a varied selection of performance evenings both in school and in a wider setting across the year which includes all year groups. The ambition, appreciation and respect for others that develops throughout this process is fundamental to the ethos of the department. Alongside this, the opportunities the Dance Departments provides for students to experience workshops and wider external performances gives our students the chance to experience cultural capital on a much wider scale. This inevitably creates well rounded individuals that play a positive part in society and the world we share.

By the end of their education, a student of Dance at Friesland School will:

1. Develop the skills and knowledge required to understand what ‘being a performer’ means and to appreciate the importance of the physical, technical and expressive skills in this process.

2. To acquire an understanding of how the arts benefits the world around them and to be able to appreciate all forms of dance within this.

3. To become competent creators of dance and to understand the process behind choreography.

Process

Powerful knowledge

The curriculum is intelligently sequenced to ensure students remember powerful knowledge and apply skills in context. Starting in Year 7 we start to develop the key skills needed at GCSE and A Level. Sequencing occurs through two routes. Some elements of the curriculum are delivered within the Year 7/8 P.E course but many of these early skills are developed in the extensive extracurricular programme we offer at Key stage 3. Keys skills such as expressive, technical and physical skills have therefore already been established in these early years alongside an understanding of the important actions, dynamics, space and relationship play in all pieces. This early introduction ensures our students develop this skill set each year to become masters by the time they reach the end of their Dance education.
The GCSE anthology consisting of 6 professional works have been carefully selected by the exam board to be broad, varied and fully inclusive. They deal with various social, cultural and political issues and ensure give the student a wide experience of dance appreciation. The students sequencing of works facilitates a pattern of understand of what needs to be considered in a full analysis and appreciation of a work.
Within each scheme of work, key knowledge is taught and re-visited on a regular basis through interweaved ‘Do Now’ quizzes and repetition of key skills. In addition, 100% sheets provide students with a succinct format for the most powerful knowledge in Dance and ensure students are exposed to the knowledge needed in order to succeed. Choreography units for example are carefully sequenced to include a solo composition in year 9, a duet in year 10 and a group dance in year 11. This allows the students to refine and develop their confidence in their creative skills each year.

The Dance curriculum will support and scaffold all students to be successful:

All lessons follow an explicit modelling process of I do, we do, you do. This gradual release of responsibility allows students to see the metacognitive process involved in their written and practical work. For example, teachers would model a series of balances that the students learn before creating their own.
Tier 2 and 3 vocabulary runs throughout the entire curriculum, which ensures students are equipped with the word power they need to succeed, at school and beyond. Copy me, is used in Dance and is a useful tool when teaching student’s new practical techniques, new words or short verbal and movement phrases, Key terminology is on 100% Sheets and tier 2 words are visible on lesson plans and booklets and referred to throughout the lesson.
The Dance curriculum contributes to the personal development of students at Friesland School:
We teach beyond the specification requirements to ensure students are well prepared to be successful in GCSE and A Level examination and this is evident in the vast amount of extended after school sessions we offer to support students in the practical elements of the course. We also offer a variety of Dance clubs outside of the dance classroom to further their skill set, but also to develop a love for the arts and to provide them with another outlet for their creativity. These come in the forms of school shows, dance shows, showcase evenings, dance clubs/workshops and performance groups.
Students are exposed to a number of dance styles that might be different from those shared by their own experiences which develops a greater understanding of the myriad of dance that exists in the world and the role it plays in different societies.
Students mental and physical health is a focus in lessons and in our provision. It is an outlet for some students to express themselves freely alongside the obvious health benefits that regular exercise brings to both to the mind and body.
Dance develops the confidence and a wider social skill in all our students. Every lesson there are opportunities given to work cooperatively, alongside others extending into leadership opportunities as the students’ progress through the years. There is a genuine cohesions and culture of respect in every classroom and in all the opportunities we offer to our older and younger students to work cohesively together.
We believe in the power of movement and this is a central pillar of our curriculum design. All students from our Year 7/8 extra-curricular programme through to Year 13 use their physicality to express themselves and they do so with joy and positivity.

Opportunities are built in to make links to the world of work to enhance the careers, advice and guidance that students are exposed to:

We run a rigorous performance programme within the department, whereby students get multiple opportunities to perform for wider audiences. This includes A level showcases, winter/summer concerts, the annual Dance Show, choreography showcases and we are now leading the way in our annual Trust Dance Event. These opportunities all build our students confidence resilience, ambition, trust and respect for one another and are central to the success of the department.
Students are taken on numerous Dance trips to see professional companies in action. They discuss and reflect about these trips in lesson and learn to appreciate different genres of Dance. Trips are also offered to our key stage 3 students to simply develop their love of dance and to extend their breadth of cultural capital in experiencing live dance.
Students are offered the chance to take part in a London residential trip where they get to watch two professional shows on the West End, but also take part in a guided backstage tour or either the National Theatre or The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. The students learn about the Performing Arts industry and about the different jobs available to them in a theatre building.
At both key stage 3 and 4 we enter the National U Dance Competition and are always successful in selection. This enables a group to perform work at external venues and to watch and appreciate other groups in the region.
We offer opportunities for students to obtain prestigious qualifications in Rambert Grades, these act towards UCAS points and are highly respected across Dance organisations.
At GCSE/A Level students are given a talk by a local performing arts school on the performing art industry and the potential avenues on offer for them.
At key stage 3 and 4 we buy in external companies to run professional workshops that give a genuine insight to our students about the life of a professional dancer and the commitment it requires. We also have strong links with both Dance 4 (Fabric) and DEDA in Derby which facilitates links to the wider world of dance in the Midlands. We now have many students that though Friesland’s links are part of their development programmes.
Students have opportunities to lead others which develops their skills as choreographers. Our students have the opportunity to lead and perform for the local primary schools that we run a series of events and workshops for. This enables students to gain an insight into the world of teaching and leadership in the wider school setting.

Key Stage 4

GCSE Dance is delivered across 3 years. AQA is the only exam board currently offering a GCSE qualification in Dance. Two lesson per week are in the school day and the third is run as a twilight session after school. Students are extremely committed to the course and this set up works well as it allows all students to select an extra outcome at GCSE level. Where possible we try to use younger students to perform in year 11 coursework and this works excellently as experience and preparation for all students for their future years and this is made possible due to the twilight sessions. The course consists of 2 units. Unit 1 is the written paper and contributes to 40% of the overall GCSE students are required to reflect on their knowledge as a dancer both in terms of the dancer in action, choreography, performance. This requires students to study 6 professional works from the dance anthology that are named by the exam board. There is a deliberate sequencing if the core skills required in the practical element if the course for example in Year 9 students create their own solo, in Year 10 they create a duet and in their final Year 11 they are then fully equipped with the skills to create and deliver a group dance.

Unit 2 is worth 60% of the overall GCSE and is the practical component of the course. This is made up of 4 elements. These are: the group choreography, a group performance and finally 2 solo performances. All practical work at Friesland is completed and submitted by the Easter of year 11 to enable the last half term to solely focus on the theory element of the course. The majority of all lessons across the three years are practical and a significant amount of the written element is delivered through a practical interactive lesson – this works well for our learners.

Year 9 Year Plan

Year 10 Year Plan

Year 11 Year Plan

Key Stage 5

The A Level course to extent builds on the knowledge gained at GCSE but this knowledge is not essential and we do have many external students that are still extremely successful on the course without the GCSE background. The first term in Year 12 focus’s and includes some of the key aspects that would have been covered at GCSE such as performance, creativity and appreciation. This gives an insight into the requirements if the course. If there is a gap in practical knowledge we have extensive links with external groups and companies that are excellent and quickly developing students physical and technical skills. The exam board is AQA, again this is the only exam board that offer the A level course. Students in Year 12 have 9 lessons per fortnight at Friesland, one of these is an after-school twilight session. The year 13 students have 10 lessons per fortnight and again one if run as a twilight session. The twilights are again essential to enable the year 13’s to use younger students to perform in their group choreographies – this well-established routine is beneficial and advantageous to all involved. The course is split evenly between the practical and written elements. The written unit requires the students to study 2 compulsory areas of dance and these are:

The development of Dance in the UK .

Centres may then choose one other area of study and a compulsory set work to accompany this. At Friesland we study the development of America Jazz and the professional work ‘Singing in the Rain’ as this contrasting area ensures our students experience a varied range of Dance styles, adding breadth to their knowledge.

The practical element of the course consists of 3 areas:

The group choreography – students select an exam question set by the exam board.
A performance in a quartet.
The creation of a solo in the style of any practitioner they have studied on the course.

All practical exams are completed but the final Easter in Year 13 to enable the students to spend their last term solely focusing on the written paper.

Year 13 Year Plan