Something that I am interested in, is dance in education and how it is taught at schools especially A Level. Something that occurred to me when analysing the A Level syllabus is the outdated works that are on the criteria to analyse still. Therefore in this post I talk about a work i think should be put into the syllabus purely on the fact that it is a current work in the last 10 years, which I see as a good time gap for the works to be on the A level dance syllabus for students to be able to have enough knowledge about the work from other reviews but also isn’t dated and hard for the students to talk about.
The A level dance syllabus specifically states that works that are to be studied are to be current, however most of the set works are dated and most of them have not been choreographed in the past 15 years, some even starting from 1909. I think that a work such as One Flat Thing Reproduced (William Forsythe, 2006) could be a good choice to be used in the syllabus as the choreography isn’t old and dated which would be beneficial to students because if it is more recent it would make it easier for students to relate to it as it would probably be movements that they are aware of. This work of Forsythe’s has a lot to talk about and analyse because of the different elements in it, such as set, props, technology and the number of dancers. As it’s a Dance on film this also gives it another element to talk about; therefore would be great in essays when analysing and comparing in A2 exams. This would be a good example as you have a lot to talk about e.g. aural setting, physical setting, dancers, relationships and movement components; especially space. Not only this work but Forythes’ works can be very varied and could compare and contrast this piece with his other choreographies such as a Dance for film and then a Ballet that he has choreographed. A level dance requires you to know further detail about the choreographer and not just that set work that they are studying so someone like Forythes’ is a good choreographer to talk about.