In Specialised Dance, students learn as artists, innovators, leaders, and entrepreneurs, by making and interpreting dance performances that communicate ideas and interdisciplinary concepts to audiences. They learn as audiences, by responding critically to dance. Students develop skills in appreciating, choreographing, teaching, leading, performing and producing dance. In Dance, movement is a knowledge. Students learn as they engage with the history, lineage, technical dance skills, practices, innovations, leadership and entrepreneurship of the dancers and choreographers that come before them and become literate in the vocabularies of a range of styles and forms.

Students experiment and engage in calculated risks and accept setbacks when realising their artistic vision. They develop their own creative practice, and that of others, to explore self, life, and the world. Students learn to use, and teach others to use, their body as an instrument to skilfully express knowledge and understanding both of dance and of themselves and their world. They develop proficiency, artistry, leadership, entrepreneurship, innovative practice, and use their physical literacy and dance literacy to solve problems, embody knowledge and express their understanding of issues of concern. They develop their voices as people, artists and leaders and engage with the world aesthetically and intellectually.

Students develop transferable skills useful in any academic, professional, and vocational context, such as independence, collaboration, teamwork, and leadership. Dancers develop highly skilled at working with others and communicating clearly to achieve joint enterprises. They develop skills as researchers and engage with theories and ideas critically and creatively. Students engage with technologies and become adept at pivoting to new technologies that help them achieve their goals. They develop production skills and hone practices that present ideas and projects in ways that engage target audiences. Students develop empathetic awareness and skilled in the practice of collaborating with others respectfully and using Work Health and Safety standards.

The Specialised Dance course is written under The ARTS Framework 2021: BSSS ARTS Framework

Achievement Standards for ARTS courses can be found within the Framework.

Through the study of the Arts, students learn to express their ideas, thoughts and opinions, as they discover and interpret an increasingly complex technological and interconnected world. The subjects in this Learning Area share common understandings and broad conceptual underpinnings and imperatives.

Innovation in Dance

Students learn about innovative dance practice. They explore innovations in technique, choreography, digital platforms, technology, and criticism. They examine barriers to innovation, how innovation occurs, and how innovation changes perceptions of dance. Students apply their expanded knowledge of creative choices to engage in ethical and aesthetic issues as dance artists and audiences.

Leadership in Dance

Students learn about leadership in the context of creating dance performances. They explore techniques and methodologies used to create dance works. Students draw on pedagogical, choreographic, artistic direction, stage production, communication, and facilitation skills to lead a variety of dance activities.

Entrepreneurship in Dance

Students learn about the connections between dance and business. They examine aspects of the dance industry and the opportunities and risks in projecting their practice into the commercial and subsidised arts sectors. They explore the tension between the creative and commercial. Students apply their understanding of the dance industry to produce dance for a range of audiences.

Interdisciplinary Inquiry in Dance

Students learn about how dance works can be used to interact with and embody concepts with other disciplines. They explore dance styles and techniques to interpret and represent perspectives and insight s. Students apply inquiry skills and dance practices to create interdisciplinary dance works.

Independent Study

An Independent Study unit has an important place in senior secondary courses. It is a valuable pedagogical approach that empowers students to make decisions about their own learning. An Independent Study unit can be proposed by an individual student for their own independent study and negotiated with their teacher. The program of learning for an Independent Study unit must meet the unit goals and content descriptions as they appear in the course. Students must have studied at least THREE standard 1.0 units from this course. A student can only study a maximum of one Independent study unit in each course. An Independent Study unit requires the principal’s written approval. Independent study units are only available to individual students in Year 12. Principal approval is also required for a student in Year 12 to enrol concurrently in an Independent unit and the third 1.0 unit in a course of study.

Specialised Dance A/T/M  (723 KB)

Specialised Dance A/T/M (315 KB)

The following courses are also available:

• Dance
• Studies of Dance