Sixth Form  Dance Course

The Sixth Form Dance Course is a three year programme of study, built around the Trinity National Diploma in Professional Dance. The course culminates in a year of pre-professional experience, delivered through the schools own touring company Encore Dance.

The Course

From September 2013 the 6th Form Dance Course will deliver the core subjects of Classical Ballet, Contemporary Dance and Jazz for the first Foundation year. At the end of the first year, students can choose to specialise further on Classical Ballet or Contemporary Dance for their final two years of training. Classical Ballet course students will major in ballet and minor in Contemporary Dance but the majority of their studies will be around improving technical and artistic standards in ballet. Allied subjects such as pas de deux, repertoire, pointe work, and solos will be taken alongside rehearsals for performances.  Dance Course students will major in Contemporary Dance and minor in Jazz dance, but will also have a ballet class every day. They will study at least two different genres of Contemporary Dance. All students can opt to take syllabus classes in RAD Ballet and ISTD Tap and Modern Dance as an extra class on Saturdays.

Third year students will have rehearsals for their UK tour with Encore Dance Company and prepare performances with guest choreographers under the direction of Artistic Director Christopher Moore. Students can expect to perform in 6-8 external venues during this UK-wide tour.

Morning dance classes are offered for Dance students to opt into classes in Pilates, stretch, jazz, ballet and contemporary dance. For those students who choose to not do A Levels, these classes are compulsory, but each student can choose which classes they prefer to do so that they can build their own morning timetable to suit their needs. These classes can also be taken by those students who may be able to combine academic classes with some dance classes.  

Performances

There are a number of exciting performing opportunities structured into the 6th Form Dance Course.  In addition to the annual showcase which is held in a professional theatre, there are many in-house performance opportunities along with chances to both dance and present work in the student choreography show.

Assessment

As well as being formally assessed twice a year in the three core subjects of Ballet, Contemporary and Jazz students are externally assessed in performance by a Trinity assessor. Following their assessment each dancer is given one-to-one personal feedback from their teacher and is guided in identifying strengths, areas for improvement and goals. Our goal in the assessments is to put Upper 6th and final year students in front of industry professionals in order to showcase them and build potential links with future employers.

The Industry

We are constantly developing and maintaining our contacts with professional dance companies.  We work to secure employment for our graduating students and we also have a number of apprenticeship schemes in place with companies such as English National Ballet, Ballet Theatre UK and AD Dance Company.

More information about the final year and gaining employment can be found on the Encore Dance page.
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For further information on the 6th Form Dance Course please contact Director of Dance, Rachel Rist at or Tel. 01442 821665.

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