This is a core module for all level four students. It is the first in a series of three modules designed to improve your critical appreciation and creative skills. In these sessions you will learn new choreographic techniques from a variety of performance disciplines. You will also learn how to draw upon, frame, develop and appraise your existing creative skills. You will develop collaborative skills and learn how to critically appraise their work and the work of others.
They extend and shape their choreographies through:
The teaching for this module front-loaded and delivered in a weekly 3 hour session. As this module aims to develop practical, creative and critical evaluation skills, it is delivered through a combination of workshops and seminars. At the mid-point of the second teaching block, students will be engage in guided independent study. This will allow tutors to give tailored feedback relevant to students' individual needs.
In order to build students skills and confidence, in the early stages of the module improvisational and creative dance making tasks set will be brief and tightly structured. As the module progresses students will be set longer and more creatively open tasks. In the classes leading up to a formative creative assessment at the end of Teaching Block 1, they will practice employing the strategies they have learned in sustained performance contexts and formative self and peer assessment will be used to aid them in recognising their strengths and weaknesses.
The strategies developed will feed-forwards and inform their preparation for the summative choreographic assessment. The viewing and subsequent evaluation of existing professional choreographies and those produced by students, will form an integral part of the learning and teaching strategy.
The formative and summative assessments for this module will particularly develop the following key skills: Self Awareness: 1) Take responsibility for own learning and plan for and record own personal development, 2) Organise self effectively, agreeing and setting realistic targets, accessing support where appropriate and managing time to achieve and recognise own academic strengths and weaknesses, reflect on performance and progress and respond to feedback, 3) Work effectively with limited supervision in unfamiliar contexts. Interpersonal: 1) Work well with others in a group or team. 2) Work flexibly and respond to change. 3) Give, accept and respond to constructive feedback Communication: 1) Actively listen and respond appropriately to ideas of others
| Definitive UNISTATS Category | Indicative Description | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled learning and teaching | Workshop | 62 |
| Scheduled learning and teaching | Seminar | 10 |
| Guided independent study | Independent Study and tutorials | 206 |
| Scheduled learning and teaching | Technique Class | 22 |
| Total (number of credits x 10) | 300 | |
Formative assessment is an important part of this module as students develop their ability to explain and evaluate their own work and that of others. At the end of each block of creative work, therefore, students will participate in informal ‘sharings' in which they watch each other's choreographies and participate in self and peer assessment. One of the informal sharings will constitute a formative assessment and part of the confidence building process. This will test skills in employing strategies for creating and dance performance over time, and responding sensitively and appropriately to others in a group context. During this assessment students will employ strategies and devices they have learned.
For the summative assessment, students will choreograph a performance piece of up to 6 minutes of material inspired by their "works-in-progress" from earlier in the module. These might include solos or duets from the material they have created during the module.
A creative diary will be kept throughout the year, which will include strategies used in the creation of their work and choreographic techniques and devices of established practitioners. It will be used to construct a supporting critical reflection (1200 words) for the practical coursework.
To demonstrate students knowledge and understanding of professional practice students will write a review of a professional piece of chorography discussing dance making principles, structures and strategies used by the choreographer/s. This forms a diagnostic assessment as part of students' induction to the BA(Hons) Dance course.
| Learning Outcome | Assessment Strategy |
|---|---|
| Employ dance making structures and strategies in dance performance | Group Improvisation (formative) Short choreography and essay |
| Apply a range of choreographic tools in the interpretation of abstract and concrete ideas through movement and dance to create and develop dance studies on their own bodies | Short choreography and essay |
| Demonstrate understanding of choreographic principles through critical reflection upon and evaluation of their own and others' choreographies including the work of professional choreographers / dance makers | Review Short choreography and essay |
| Description of Assessment | Definitive UNISTATS Categories | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| PRC | Short Choreography | 60 |
| Coursework | Essay | 20 |
| Coursework | Review | 20 |
| Total (to equal 100%) | 100% | |
It IS NOT a requirement that any major assessment category is passed separately in order to achieve an overall pass for the module
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Sofras, Pamela Anderson (2006) Dance Composition Basics. London: Dance Books
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