AQA GCSE Performing Arts : Dance Textbook

Section 1 (Performance skills) concentrates on five styles of dance: Ballet, Contemporary, Street, Lindy and Capoeira, and includes exercises to improve dancing skills, as well as phrases of movements to learn.

This section aims to help students fulfil the requirements of the specification to present two practical assessments for internal moderation: a solo dance and a group piece.

Section 2 (Choreographic skills) will support students as they work towards making a solo or group dance that they choreograph, and as they learn to create motifs and structure dances as a choreographer.

Photographs of dancers included in this section will inspire students as they approach the process of creating motifs.

Section 3 (Appreciation skills) introduces students to specific dance terms and vocabulary, so that they can identify, describe, explain, discuss and analyse what they have seen in a visual recording (or live performance) of a Set Work and four other dance works.

Also included in this section are photographs of scenes from professional dance works which provide a useful visual resource to support the learning of the analysis skills required by the students. Section 4 (Resources) will help students broaden their knowledge and interest in dance with information about performances, agencies and dance companies that run workshops and provide additional resource materials, as well as lists of dance books, music and DVDs.A glossary is included at the end of the book as knowledge and understanding of specialist dance words are required by the specification.

The textbook can be used alongside the AQA GCSE Dance Student Workbooks.