Dance

Welcome to the Ridgeway Dance faculty. We pride ourselves on giving our students a wide range of opportunities and training to develop their love for Dance in addition to  the many social and health benefits the subject offers.  We offer a varied curriculum that explores different styles of dance and provide our students performance opportunities throughout the year.

 Welcome to the Dance Department – Teacher of Dance: Miss N Wilson

We are very proud of our Dance students at Ridgeway Academy and have high standards and expectations in all aspects of their work.

Dance helps students develop a number of skills:

• Visual appreciation of dance and choreography
• Balanced judgement
• Information gathering and assessment
• Ability to work on your own or as part of a team
• Communication

Key Stage 4

Students follow the AQA GCSE Dance course. 60% of the course is practically assessed through three pieces of work, two assessing performance skills and one assessing choreography skills. The remaining 40% of the course is theory based and is assessed in a 1 hour and 30 minute written examination paper.

Through the GCSE course, students develop skills, knowledge and understanding of dance as a choreographer, performer and critic through:

• Applying and adapting a wide range of skills and techniques effectively through the use of performance and choreography.
• Creating dances for a range of purposes and in response to different stimuli.
• Developing the ability to analyse, evaluate and appreciate dance.
• Students also develop their appreciation of the contribution of dance to their personal and social health, fitness and wellbeing and develop awareness of the range of opportunities and pathways available in dance.

Other opportunities include annual Whole-School Musicals and Performing Arts Displays.  All provide quality experiences for our students to be involved in and perform.

Year 10 Dance Curriculum Rationale and Overview (1).docx

Year 11 Dance Curriculum Rationale and Overview (1).docx

After school clubs are available: Key Stage Three Dance Club and Musical Theatre club.

Annual events include: the Whole-School Musical and the Performing Arts Display.  These provide quality experiences for students to be involved.

Follow us on our Instagram page: @ridgewayperformingarts where you can keep up to date with our news and opportunities.