A-level Dance Specification Specification for first teaching in 2016
PDF | 742.45 KB
Students must develop and apply the knowledge, understanding and skills required to perform dance, as a soloist and in a quartet. The knowledge and understanding of physical skills, including : flexibility, strength, cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance, agility, neuromuscular coordination and kinaesthetic awareness, underpin and inform the development of both the physical/technical and interpretative/performance skills outlined in:
Through learning how to perform and choreograph dance, students must develop and apply the following knowledge and understanding of safe practice:
Students must develop and apply the knowledge, understanding and skills required to perform as a soloist in the style of a specified practitioner.
The practitioner must be selected from:
either
or
The selected practitioner can be from any area of study . Students can either use the same or a different practitioner to those selected for Component 2: Critical engagement .
The solo performance can be choreographed by the student, their teacher or a dance artist. It may also result from a collaboration between the student and teacher/dance artist.
The choreography of the solo performance should strive to encapsulate the style of the chosen practitioner. It does not, however, need to be a reconstruction of existing repertoire.
Students must develop and apply the following embodied knowledge, skills and understanding to perform as a soloist in the style of their selected practitioner .
Through engagement with the work of their selected practitioner and development and application of the above, students must be able to perform as a soloist for a minimum of two minutes in a live performance setting. The maximum duration of the complete dance must be no longer than three minutes.
Please see Assessment task 1: Solo performance in relation to a specified practitioner for details of the assessment task and Solo performance assessment grid (20 marks) for how the performance will be marked by examiners.
Students are required to write a Programme note, of no more than 150 words, which identifies the chosen practitioner and reveals an insight into the stylistic features explored. The Programme note can be written in collaboration with a teacher.
Please see Assessment components for details of the assessment task and Solo performance assessment grid (20 marks) for how the performance will be marked by examiners.
Students must learn how to perform as part of a quartet.
The quartet performance can be choreographed by the student, their teacher or a dance artist. It may also result from a collaboration between the student and teacher/dance artist.
The dance can be performed in any dance style relevant to the defined genres, see Critical engagement .
There is no requirement for students to perform in the style of a specified practitioner from the set works or the areas of study. However, if they do:
Students must develop and apply the following embodied knowledge, understanding and skills to perform within a quartet.
If fewer than four students have entered for the assessment, your school/college may use additional non-examined students, including students from other year groups. It is important that the additional dancers are of an appropriate standard and have the physical maturity to complete the performance of the choreography.
Students must be able to perform in a quartet for a minimum of three minutes and a maximum of four minutes in a live performance setting.
Students must write a Programme note, of no more than 150 words, which clearly references the style(s) (and the dance idea(s) if applicable) . The Programme note can be written in collaboration with a teacher.
Please see Assessment task 2: Performance within a quartet for details of the assessment task and Performance within a quartet assessment grid (20 marks) for how the performance will be marked by examiners.