Welcome to the New College Dance Department! A vibrant and exciting department which aims to give you confidence in your technical and performance abilities as well as experience in professional environments. We fully equip you to work within the professional performing arts field in and encourage you to find your own path in dance.

This year is an especially exciting year as we move to our new course BTEC Performing Arts Practice (Dance) which provides flexible teaching modules for practical and professional skills development. There are two options available in dance:

• The Foundation Diploma (6 hours of contact time) which is equivalent to 1 ½ A-levels and can be taken over two years alongside two other A-levels. 

• The Extended Diploma (13 ½ hours of contact time per week) which cannot be taken alongside other courses. 

Outline of your first year 

First year students will focus heavily on exploring performance styles. This means that they will take lessons in urban, contemporary and ballet each week with specialist lecturers. Our ballet lessons are streamed so to provide support at a suitable level. There will also be additional sessions in body conditioning, jazz and improvisation to assist students in developing a complete understanding of the physical and creative tools a dancer has and how these can be developed and maintained over time.  

Students will also begin planning a career in the industry and will explore methods of self-promotion and networking in order to be able to establish themselves in the professional environment successfully. Opportunities to work with professional companies and practitioners such as Josh Hawkins, Motionhouse, Rosie Kay and Jasmin Vardimon are offered periodically throughout the year. 

Assessments and Performances 

Currently, students are assessed through two dance performances throughout the year; a formative assessment in December and a summative assessment in May. Additional performance opportunities are provided through the Dance Company, College Production and interdepartmental projects such as: the Fashion show, Dance Platform and the Media Make up performances.  

What to prepare: 

As a department, we understand that not every dancer has experience in every style and there is no expectation to undertake paid lessons before the year starts. However, it is always useful to gain as much understanding as possible. We recommend dance students look at the wealth of free resources online (such as youtube) to begin to become familiar with each style. Keep dancing over the summer to maintain fitness and energy levels so we can get going straight away in September. 

Dancers should also do some research on the current dance scene: investigate which companies are currently touring, explore new or restaged works and make the most of the opportunity to see live or live-streamed work where you can  (look at the #OurHouseToYourHouse playlist on youtube.) 

Dance Kit

In terms of kit, most of your dance classes will be danced in bare feet and will require standard dance attire such as leggings/tracksuit bottoms and T-shirts. You will also need a pair of ballet shoes, a black leotard, and ballet tights (males will need black ballet shoes, black leggings and white vest) for more specialist lessons, a pair of knee pads may also come in useful.  For your theory work, you will need a well-organised file and you should always be equipped with paper and pens.   

Ensure you like us on Facebook so you can keep informed on what we are up to and we look forward to seeing you soon!