Code: DNC003
Title: Australian Dance Companies
Pre-requisites: DNC001 or DNC002
Coordinator: Ms Sue Lonsdale

Australia has such a diverse range of dance companies - classical ballet, contemporary, musical theatre, funk, hip hop and tap. The companies are educational and some of the leading dance companies in the world. The companies feature many well known dancers who perform wonderful works of Art, but many people have no idea who they are – let’s seek out who they are!!

Topics

• Identify what is a Dance company – all companies are structured differently. We investigate the roles people play within a company, how it operates and its survival rate fighting for the audience/spectator dollar
• Learn about our national companies – who are they, where are they based, who sponsors them and what success have they had recently
• Learn performance repertoire – repertoire is a dance piece created by a talented person and is taught to another person. You will learn a section of dance work choreographed by one of our leading companies
• Participate in an excursion – attending as a class a performance by one of our dance companies

Assessment

Students will complete three major pieces of assessment:

• An appreciation task - Oral presentation in pairs (End term 3)
• A Performance task – Australian companies repertoire (Mid term 4)
• Choreography task – Fusing two companies styles (End term 4)

At completion students should know

• The roles of people within a dance company
• What consitutes a mission statement
• The main companies within Australia
• The meaning of repertoire
• Who sponsors a company

At completion students should be able to

• Work in groups and apply problem solving skills in oral presentation tasks
• Learn, polish and perform repertoire
• Work as a pair and apply communication and trust skills in performance work
• Read reviews of dance works
• Write own dance review
• Use ICT's for research and complete Power-point presentations
• Create their own dance company

Literacy elements

• Use of ICT's in research and class work
• Use of a range of learning sources e.g. Dance Australia magazine
• Modified curriculum for students in need
• Incorporate highter order thinking e.g. creating our mission statements and company profile

Integrated technology

• Internet
• Word processing
• Power point
• DVD
• PC
• Editing suite for mixing dance works

Assignment guidelines

Please refer to the Assignment Guidelines on how to set out bibliographies and references.  

Resources

• 1 x Document wallet
• 1 x A4 Visual Diary

Related Links

• Australian links to ballet & other dance companies
• Culture & Recreation Portal - Australian Dance
• Sydney Dance Company
• West Australian Ballet
• Raw Dance Company