A Level syllabus – Dated Vs Current

 

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 Something that occurred to me when analysing the A Level syllabus is the outdated works that are on the criteria to analyse still.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.

Community/Education Development Programme

I looked at a community and education based programme and wrote up a short review of their aims in action.

One of the many Loop Dance Company’s projects is the dance for health project which aims to work with 3 -11 year olds that did not participate in any physical extra curricula activity and promoted a trial dance as part of an extension of after school or community based programmes.  It also aims to increase the physical activity level in Ashford, where this company is based.  The project is mainly focused on dance as a way of staying fit and healthy and not seen as an art form as such. Part of the programme is to research into the children’s progress as well as their confidence levels, assessed from their parent’s views on how they may have changed over the time spent doing the community programme. Phoenix Community Primary School requested for the dance sessions to be delivered to the whole school, reception through to year 6 students, so Loop Dance company offered the sessions to one year group each term allowing them to have five/six weekly sessions per year group. Each week consists of aerobic and anaerobic activity, fun dance routines and mild strength and flexibility exercises delivered in a creative way, therefore isn’t seen as a artistic company but more of a community dance company mainly for fun and fitness.

Events Management – What do they do?

As part of my Professional context module at University, I am taught about different career paths the arts or dance degree may lead you. I had to lead my own 5 minute seminar for a career path we had not yet talked about in our lectures throughout the year.

This is mine on Events management which is something I have looked into previously.

Dance in Education

This is a short response of mine from the Sheets-Johnstone reading ‘ Dance as Art’ , 34 years later which is considering the current state of the dance education in the UK

Arts education is often said to be a means of developing critical and creative thinking. Arts education has also been argued to enhance performance in non-arts academic subjects such as Maths and science to strengthen students’ academic motivation, self-confidence, and ability to communicate with others in a class effectively. Using the arts subjects in education seems to have a positive impact on students within schools or out of school clubs therefore are used even when it isn’t compulsory. An example is ‘Dance Equation’ which offers dance programs about maths and helps teach early years about maths in an innovative way and also to explore mathematical concepts with the pupils through cross – curricular learning. This is used more and more in local schools and organisations that use dance as a tool for education in curriculum subjects.

Maxine Sheets–Johnstone argues that to teach dance as an artistic practise, it must be a means to creation of dance, performance of dance and criticism. When these are the main focuses in an educational or community setting this is when dance is taught as an artistic practise. Furthermore when the focus is on teamwork and growth as an individual dancer, this is actually a way of ruining the dance; what the audience might see is dance because the process of it was not focused on the composer or creativity of the work but is actually how the dancers will feel after learning communication skills and self-realisation. The end of an education is are by products that happen as a result to teaching dance.

“To consider dance as an educational means creates, in practise, a dichotomy which need not exist between any phase of development and dance since, in fact, individual growth or self- realization need not be measured by anything other than the success of the dance itself”

Sheets–Johnstone believes the value of dance is dance and it shouldn’t be taught as anything else other than artistic purposes and the rest comes as a result of this.

In comparison to Sheets-Johnstone, Sara Houston in ‘Participation in Community Dance: a Road to Empowerment and Transformation?’  emphasises that dance is for everyone and is taught as a means to doing it, making it, sharing it, watching it, reflecting on it and owning it. She says that it is fundamental to individual’s personal, social and artistic development and will empower them. According to Sheets-Johnstone this wouldn’t keep the integrity in the setting as it doesn’t follow creation, performance and criticism of the dance which would mean it would keep the value of the dance setting high.When dance isn’t taught as a means to teach dance, sheets-Johnstone thinks that dance itself is being removed from the centre of attention it deserves. To summarise, dance to Houston is empowering a dancer and an individual in a society at large, and therefore widens participation of inclusion but doesn’t teach dance as an undivided practise. This could be an impact on the years the 2 articles were written. Sheets-Johnstone’s article was written approximately 34 years ago some the current state of dance education has changed over the years and I feel Sara Houston briefly shows this by her views in her article which was published in 2005, so a much more current view of arts education.

 

McMaster Report – Recommendation in Action

‘I recommend that the board of every cultural organisation contains at least two artists and/ or practitioners.’ (McMaster,2008: 12)

McMasters recommendation relates to a dance company because if you were to run a dance school or organisation without a key dancer or practitioner helping make decisions, some of these ideas or decisions made may sound impractical  as the people making them most likely won’t be experienced in that field; dance.

A working example of this would be, Dance UKs board member; Farooq Chaudhry, although he is on the board of a dance organisation he, just like McMasters recommendation, is a dancer and a famous practitioner. Chaudhry still addressed politicians in the summer of 2007 just as every other board member would have, but he had the expertise in the subject, to talk about specific elements of the art.

At the same time as being on the board of directors for Dance UK, where Chaudhry is a producer, he was also helping Akram Khan; a dancer who studied Contemporary Dance at De Montfort Universityand Performing Arts at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance and is seen as one of the most celebrated and respected dance artists today by many external and internal audiences, set up his company driven by him and Khan in 2000. Surprisingly this company doesn’t follow the recommendation of McMaster and the board is made up of Psychologist’s, English scholars and composers, although the artistic director is Khan shadowed closely by Chaudhry, the McMaster report says different and McMaster would disagree with an organisation not having two practitioners of dance at least so that the artists running it can reach their full potential. However I disagree with McMaster’s recommendation in this context as those career paths can bring something to the company which can be vital, for example, psychologists work very closely to people and composers are praised by dancers and choreographers as they work very closely with them in making scores and etc. McMaster states that the effects can be hugely damaging if there is not professional knowledge in the sector; such as if there was an individual without a professional undertaking it could have a negative impact on the running of the company because someone with less experience in the sector is less likely to know more about it. In McMasters words; “it is individuals that matter and we need to put the focus of the appointments process on getting the right people into the right places”.

To conclude, McMaster’s recommendation doesn’t apply to all organisations as Akram Khan Company is a well-known and loved company around the world and yet does not follow the recommendation of McMaster theory but this does not necessarily mean that McMaster is ‘right’ as these organisations/companies could be seen as successful even though they don’t follow McMaster’s recommendation/s.

A Dance Organisation – Dance4

I researched a dance organisation and critiqued their aims and objectives, this meant looking into operations and polices of the organisation and compare them to what they actually do as an organisation.

Dance4 is an international and experimental dance organisation with a strong regional program, within the East Midlands.Their role as an organisation is to connect performances and opportunities to wider audiences and communities for children and young people’s programming. Since 2011 they have covered Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Rutland, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire. This however the main venues are based in Nottingham but they have people travel in from all over the East Midlands; this organisation is the closest to the Northampton.

‘We are working to actively strengthen our relationships with venues, arts organisations and a broad range of partners to support the strategic development of dance across our region, working towards a cohesive dance offer for each county.’  [1] As you can see from this quote from the Dance4 website, the organisation is trying to develop a stronger relationship with existing dance performance venues. Such as performances at Nottdance Festival and Space4; ‘ a centre of local, regional, national and international significance that will provide world-class facilities for Dance4 and the creative industries.’ Their reasons for this are; audiences will know where the company are more likely to perform, it would be more reliable for both Dance4 as an organisation and the venue because Dance4 would always have that venue to train in and the dancers would know their facings and spacial awareness. In this quote it also tells us that Dance4 want to join together to enhance the development of dance across their region so that each county has a strong bond.

One of their many aims is to provide performance opportunities for children and young people, they choose to focus on young people because they want to introduce dance at a young age and hope they will carry it on. This however could be a barrier for the older generation as they aren’t catered in this organisation. You can see this through their venue choices as well, such as; The Cube. This would be an example of a venue for a younger generation, somewhere they can feel comfortable and yet still professional enough to focus, meaning they are more likely to dance as needed. Somewhere like a bingo hall or where the older generation may be familiar with would be a more suitable and comfortable venue. When working with children and young people the venue is something you must take into consideration and Dance4 do that. In contrast if they were trying to appeal to an older generation they may choose somewhere more like, a church hall or something community based.

 

 

 

[1] http://dance4.co.uk/about/our-region