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RevisionRevision / N11UK · A-Levels
Dance
A-Level Dance is the study of dance as a performer, a choreographer and an informed, analytical critic. It rests on a shared language - the movement components of action, space, dynamics and relationships, the choreographic devices and structures that shape a dance, the physical, technical and expressive skills that realise it in performance, and the constituent features (movement, dancers, aural setting, physical setting and structure) through which any professional work can be read. The course is set against the Ofqual subject-level requirements for GCE Dance and is delivered here through the AQA A-level Dance specification (7237), for which AQA is the sole provider. Its two components carry the whole subject. Component 1, Performance and choreography, is a practical non-exam assessment (worth half the A-level) made of three tasks: a solo performed in the style of a specified practitioner within an area of study, a performance within a quartet, and an original group choreography with its own aural setting - each supported by an accompanying programme note. Component 2, Critical engagement, is a written examination (the other half) that studies named, prescribed material: the compulsory set work Rooster (Christopher Bruce, 1991), the compulsory Area of Study Rambert Dance Company 1966-2002, and one optional Area of Study chosen from four - the Romantic ballet period (Giselle, 1841), the origins of American modern dance 1900-1945 (Appalachian Spring, 1944), American jazz dance 1940-1975 (Singin' in the Rain, 1952) and independent contemporary dance in Britain 2000-current (Sutra, 2008). Because these notes cannot put a dancer in a studio or play a performance, they teach the language, the process and the analytical method of dance: how the movement components and choreographic devices work and are manipulated for effect, how a dance is created from a stimulus and structured into a form, how physical, technical and expressive skills communicate a choreographic intent, how to analyse and evaluate professional works through their constituent features and contexts, and the practitioners, styles and histories of the prescribed set work and areas of study - which, unlike the rotating set texts of some arts subjects, are named in the specification and so are taught here accurately by name.
0/74 Texts15 Chapters~285 min total
AQA 7237 (subject overview)Ofqual GCE Dance subject contentAQA 7237 Component 1 (Performance and choreography)AQA 7237 Component 2 (Critical engagement)AQA 7237 (genres and styles)AQA 7237 (assessment objectives; subject terminology)+67 moreFoundationStandardAdvanced
Table of contents · 15 ChaptersT·15
- Rooster: an overviewText L·394 min
- Subject matter, character and choreographic intentText L·404 min
- Form, structure and the aural settingText L·414 min
- Movement content and Bruce's choreographic approachText L·424 min
- Physical setting: costume, lighting and setText L·434 min
- Context and critical appreciationText L·444 min
- Course overview, genres and terminology
- Safe practice, anatomy and physiology
- Performance skills framework
- Solo performance in the style of a specified practitioner
- Performance within a quartet
- Choreographic processes, devices and structures
- Group choreography and aural setting
- Critical appreciation and analysis skills
- Set work: Rooster (Christopher Bruce, 1991)
- Area of Study: Rambert Dance Company 1966-2002
- Optional: Romantic Ballet Period / Giselle
- Optional: Origins of American Modern Dance 1900-1945 / Appalachian Spring
- Optional: American Jazz Dance 1940-1975 / Singin' in the Rain
- Optional: Independent Contemporary Dance in Britain 2000-current / Sutra
- Written exam technique and essay skills
- Component 1 - Performance and choreography (practical, non-exam assessment)
- A practical non-exam assessment worth 50% of the A-level, marked by AQA (a visiting examiner) and made of three linked tasks. First, a SOLO performance in the style of a specified practitioner drawn from an area of study - the candidate captures that practitioner's movement style, technique and choreographic approach in a short set or learnt solo, supported by a written programme note. Second, a performance within a QUARTET - a group dance for four in which the candidate demonstrates physical, technical and expressive skills alongside spatial awareness and sensitivity to the other three dancers, again supported by a programme note. Third, a GROUP CHOREOGRAPHY - an original dance the candidate choreographs for a group, together with its aural setting (accompaniment), demonstrating the choreographic processes, devices and structuring skills that communicate a clear choreographic intent, supported by a choreographic programme note. Component 1 assesses AO1 (perform dance demonstrating technical, physical, expressive and mental skills) and AO2 (choreograph dance, applying choreographic processes and structuring devices to communicate choreographic intent).
- Component 2 - Critical engagement (written exam)
- A written examination of 2 hours 30 minutes, worth 50% of the A-level, that tests knowledge, understanding and critical appreciation of prescribed dance works and their contexts. Its content is NAMED in the specification and does not rotate. Section A covers the COMPULSORY set work Rooster (Christopher Bruce, 1991) and the COMPULSORY Area of Study Rambert Dance Company 1966-2002 through short-answer questions and an extended essay - candidates analyse the set work's character, subject, form, constituent features, Bruce's choreographic approach and its context, and discuss Rambert's development and named practitioners (Tetley, North, Alston, Davies, Page). Section B covers ONE optional Area of Study chosen from four - the Romantic ballet period (Giselle), the origins of American modern dance (Appalachian Spring), American jazz dance (Singin' in the Rain) or independent contemporary dance in Britain (Sutra) - through two extended essays on the practitioners, works, style and context of that area. The paper assesses AO3 (knowledge and understanding of dance and its contexts, using appropriate terminology) and AO4 (analyse, interpret, evaluate and critically appreciate dance, making links between constituent features and contexts).
- The three genres and the language of dance
- AQA A-level Dance is studied across three broad genres - modern (contemporary), ballet and jazz - and their many styles, so a candidate meets classical and Romantic ballet, the American and British modern-dance lineages, and theatrical jazz dance within one course. Underpinning all of it is a shared analytical language: the movement components (action, space, dynamics and relationships), the choreographic devices (motif and development, repetition, contrast, highlights, climax, unison, canon, retrograde, inversion, accumulation) and structures (binary, ternary, rondo, narrative, episodic), and the constituent features of a professional work (movement, dancers, aural setting, physical setting and structure). This vocabulary is what lets a candidate perform with intention, choreograph with control, and analyse any work - prescribed or unseen - with precision.
- The prescribed set work and areas of study
- Unlike arts subjects whose set texts rotate, AQA Dance NAMES its examined material. The set work is Rooster, choreographed by Christopher Bruce in 1991 and danced to eight songs by The Rolling Stones, which celebrates the mood, courtship rituals and social dances of the 1960s. The compulsory Area of Study is Rambert Dance Company 1966-2002 - the period in which the company, under Norman Morrice from 1966, reinvented itself from a classical ballet company into a leading British contemporary ensemble, working with practitioners including Glen Tetley, Christopher Bruce, Robert North, Richard Alston, Siobhan Davies and Ashley Page. The four optional areas of study each pair a named work with its practitioners: the Romantic ballet period with Giselle (1841) and Taglioni, Bournonville and Saint-Leon; the origins of American modern dance 1900-1945 with Appalachian Spring (Martha Graham, 1944) and Fuller, Duncan, St Denis and Humphrey; American jazz dance 1940-1975 with Singin' in the Rain (1952) and de Mille, Cole, Robbins and Fosse; and independent contemporary dance in Britain 2000-current with Sutra (Cherkaoui, 2008) and Jeyasingh, Bourne, Vardimon, Khan and Shechter. These notes teach the analytical framework - character, subject, form, constituent features, choreographic approach and context - and apply it to this named material using well-established facts.
- Nature of assessment and grading
- The A-level combines one practical non-exam assessment (Performance and choreography, 50%) with one written examination (Critical engagement, 50%), so exactly half the qualification rewards practical performing and choreographing and half rewards written analysis and critical appreciation. Component 1 is marked by a visiting AQA examiner against published criteria; Component 2 is a terminal written paper. It is a linear qualification, graded A*-E (U below E). AQA is the sole awarding body offering A-level Dance. The two components together assess a candidate as performer, choreographer and critic, and the shared language of dance connects all three.