Summer School
The NRCD Summer School is an intensive four days designed for teachers of Dance at GCE AS Level and A2, National Curriculum Key Stage 3 & 4, BTEC First & National Performing Arts - or those thinking of introducing any of these programmes.
The programme allows delegates to explore issues relating to the specifications through dedicated sessions for each level, through development of ideas that can be practically applied, and through study of set works and key focus areas. The courses provide information on specific elements of the specifications; give guidance and advice on application of material and teaching strategies; and enable new material to be learnt and approaches explored.
Experience new ideas, expand your knowledge, make new contacts,
network with colleagues, and prepare yourself for the academic year.
Come along for the whole course or just a day or two!
Dates Monday 23rd July - Thursday 26th July 2012
Closing date Friday 6th July 2012 (although you can still book after that date if there are places).
All days are allocated of a first-come-first-served basis so book early to avoid disappointment.
Summer School Programme | |
Day | Content (one level only per day) |
| Monday 23 July | An introduction to the planning and delivery of the AS/A2 Dance specification (with Gail Graves) - the day will focus on how to construct a two-year course, schemes of work, tasks and ways to integrate the theory and practice. It will also look at delivery of a set work and area of study, and explore approaches to the practical and written papers. |
| GCSE Dance: structuring a two year course (with Liana Sadler) - this day will provide a detailed overview of the GCSE specification and assist with how to meet the AQA expectations. It will include course planning and delivery and explore how to enrich the learning experience to support choreography and performance. | |
| Analysing Cunningham and using his work for choreographic development (with Alison Curtis-Jones) - The day will focus on the use of Rudolf Laban’s principles and practice and choreological perspectives to analyse Merce Cunningham’s work. It will involve video analysis and practical investigation to encourage embodiment of material, choreographic exploration and development of Cunningham’s work. Participants will explore how Laban’s theories can enhance expressivity and how principles can be applied to practice to generate material and to define performance skills. The work will encourage physical and verbal articulation of the specificities of space and intricacies of dynamics, and is applicable to teaching at all levels. | |
| Tuesday 24 July | GCE A Level Dance: Zero Degrees (Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui & Akram Khan) (with Lorna Sanders) - Delivering the Set Work to address the requirements of the A Level specification: contextual overview, key points and analysis; warming up in an appropriate style; and exploring the repertoire practically and theoretically in relation to supporting the content of other AS/A2 units. THIS SESSION IS NOW FULL |
| Learning the GCSE Set Dances (with Dawn Burnham) - A day offering teachers the opportunity to learn both the GCSE Set Dances for the Unit 2 practical examination (Find it! and Impulse). This will be useful for those needing to learn the dances or refresh their knowledge. The day will also focus on meeting the specification criteria and improving performance skills in the dances. | |
| Open Level - Release - based Technique (with Lauren Potter) – this workshop will examine the tools and methodologies that underpin a ‘release’ based class. It will unpick the practice and address what would seem relevant and appropriate to the age groups under investigation. Time will be spent embodying material, discussing and questioning how to present to students and exploring ways to connect and place the content in a valuable context. Participants will work experientially, and sometimes use a ‘hands-on’ approach alongside a certain amount of improvisational suggestion to increase the awareness and sensitivity of the body. Potentials for creative expression and further compositional tools will also be explored and developed within the day. | |
| Wednesday 25 July | West Side Story and Jerome Robbins study day (with Gail Graves) - this day will examine the Set Work West Side Story choreographed by Jerome Robbins. The day will focus on Robbins as a practitioner, the context of West Side Story in relation to the development of Musical Theatre as a dance genre. Approaches to the analysis of the choreographed sections and their context will be considered through practical and theoretical tasks during the day in relation to the requirements of the A Level specification. |
| Raising Attainment in GCSE Dance Unit 4(a) and 4(b) (with Debbie Hartley) - A day focusing on the solo and group choreography for GCSE Dance which will: help teachers with delivery of these modules, provide strategies for supporting and developing students’ choreographic work, address the requirements of the specification and explore ideas for useful resources. The day will include both theory and practical tasks. | |
| Open Level - Contact Improvisation (with Robert Anderson) – this day will offer exercises, tools and scores for delivering contact improvisation as a technique for dance students. Sessions will explore warm-ups, games and somatic-awareness exercises to prepare students for dancing; solo patterns and ‘puzzles’ will familiarise participants with moving through spherical space efficiently and fluidly; and methods to build a solid technical basis for moving with a partner through a shared point of touch will be addressed. Exercises will examine principles for leading and following, connecting from centre to centre, following a shifting point of contact, and getting comfortable with giving and receiving weight. Lifts and supports and how to deliver these safely to students will be explored. To facilitate more open and creative dancing, we’ll look at some scores and structures that involve witnessing, dancing in ensemble improvisations and giving and receiving feedback. Also time to explore specific questions and concerns. | |
| Thursday 26 July | Focus on DANC2 and DANC4 Choreography (with Tim Blowfield) - this day will look at different approaches and strategies for supporting the AS and A2 students to develop their choreographic skills, and to apply these tools to the choreographic stimulus. The course will look at ways in which the students can effectively communicate their dance idea, whilst considering the DANC2 and 4 criteria. |
| Open Level 2 - Using professional work to aid and inform choreography (with Clare Cody-Richardson and Shobana Jeyasingh Dance artists) - this day will be suitable for GCSE, A Level, BTEC and KS3&4 and will be a predominantly practical day exploring how to use professional dance works to inform and inspire choreographic development. Member of Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company will lead the day and use Jeyasingh’s work as a starting point | |
Click here to book
Summer School Tutors | |
| Robert Anderson | Robert Anderson is an independent dance artist based in London. He teaches contact improvisation and dance improvisation in HE (Rose Bruford College, University of East London, Italia Conti) and in various settings in UK and abroad. After graduating from the University of Surrey in 2000, he studied with leading CI teachers (including Nancy Stark Smith, Kirstie Simson, Martin Keogh, KJ Holmes, Andrew Harwood & Ray Chung). Since 2001 Robert has directed London Contact Improvisation, an organisation to promote the form in the capital which runs a weekly class & jam at MovingEast. He has taught and performed at international CI festivals in France, across Europe. Robert has been a company member of Touchdown Dance since 2002 and has performed with the improv collective SoFt since 2008. Abroad he has performed in projects in Israel, Germany, Poland, Russia & Italy. At home has performed in works by Jia-Yu Cortes, Joe Moran, Kate Brown, Tino Seghal, Jovair Longo, Meg Flannigan, Adriana Pegorer, Lalitaraja & Sarah Shorten. |
| Tim Blowfield | Tim Blowfield studied at Doreen Bird College and London Contemporary Dance School. He has performed with AMP (now New Adventures) in Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake and The Car-Man both in the West End and the world tour. He has also danced with Diversions Dance Company, for various choreographers including Ben Wright, Kerry Nicholls, Lisa Torun, and with Glyndebourne Opera Festival, the Royal Opera and ENO. Tim is head of A Level Dance and Contemporary Dance at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts (previously Arts Educational School, Tring). He teaches AS and A2 Dance and contemporary dance form years 5 to 13. Tim is a regular teacher for New Adventures and DanceDigital (teaching ladies aged 40 plus). He has devised the Tring Technique Award in Contemporary Dance, which is an outreach project that has been delivered in 3 primary schools. Tim also has his own company, who have performed his choreography at The Place Theatre, The Jerwood DanceHouse and on tour. |
| Dawn Burnham | Dawn trained and worked in the USA as a professional dancer. After gaining a Post-Graduate Diploma in Community Dance Studies from Trinity Laban, she worked in both community and educational settings including Creative Partnerships for 8 years as a dance artist and Creative Agent. Alongside her dance in education work, Dawn has been a member of the official team who leads training sessions on the GCSE Set Dance representing the AQA and NRCD. Dawn has a Masters Degree in Dance Theatre Studies from LIPA and has been an examiner for the GCSE Set Dance for two years. |
| Alison Curtis-Jones | Ali Curtis-Jones is Lecturer in Dance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance. She graduated from LABAN with a BA (Hons) in Dance Theatre in 1991 and in 2004 gained her MA in European Dance Theatre Practice. She has a PGCE in Dance and is an experienced practitioner in teaching, professional training, performance and creative contexts. Prior to joining the LABAN faculty in 2003, Ali was Head of Dance in FE and Sixth Form colleges for over ten years and taught A Level and GCSE Dance, HND and BTEC Performing Arts. She is a former A Level Dance Examiner and Team Leader and External Examiner for the Royal Academy of Dance, and Artistic Director of Conditioned Reflex Dance Company. Ali has taught internationally and has extensive experience of teaching INSET and workshops for teachers, providing workshops for students and professional dance artists and presenting lecture demonstrations. Her research includes the recreation of Rudolf Laban's dance theatre works, and she has presented conference papers and lecture demonstrations based on her current practical research in the UK at RADA, LABAN, and also in Rome and Strasbourg. She is invited to Hamburg and Switzerland to teach workshops and to present her current research on recreation and technical training in 2013. She is visiting lecturer at the RAD and recently taught workshops on Laban's principles and re-creation techniques at Bedford University as part of a research project. A dynamic practitioner, Ali's specialist skills include Laban's Principles and Practice, Choreological Studies, Contemporary Technique, Performance Skills, Choreographic Practice and Teaching Studies, with diverse experience of the integration and application of dance theory and practice. |
| Gail Graves | Gail trained at London College of Dance and Drama and Roehampton Institute. She has been teaching in further and higher education for 17 years and has taught across a wide range of Performing Arts and Dance courses including GCSE, BTEC and AS/A Level Dance. Gail has worked as a moderator and external examiner on Dance and Performance courses, is an examiner for A Level Dance and is the Head of Vocational Studies at the Royal Ballet Upper School. She has worked as a freelance presenter for a number of organisations and authored the Les Noces resource pack published by the NRCD. |
| Debbie Hartley | Deborah trained at the London College of Dance and Drama. She has taught in Leicestershire for 27 years and, in her role as LEA Advisory Teacher for Dance, she developed and supported the use of dance in all phases of education and via the youth dance network. Her experience embraces primary & secondary dance teaching, Inset provision (central and school based) and support for teachers delivering GCSE Dance. Deborah was involved in the development of the new Specification and is part of the Senior Examining Team taking responsibility for Unit 4 Choreography. |
| Lauren Potter | Lauren is an independent dance artist/teacher. Originally trained at The Place, she was a member of London Contemporary Dance Theatre for many years, and following this, a founder member of Siobhan Davies Dance. She has since performed and taught with a diverse range of companies and choreographers both nationally and internationally, most recently with Rosemary Butcher reinventing the work of Alan Kaprow and as a performer in the Barbican exhibition ‘Pioneers of the Downtown Scene New York 1970s’. She spent some years in the post of Artistic Director for Edge, the Postgraduate Performance Company at London Contemporary Dance School, and teaches regularly within the independent circuit. |
| Liana Sadler | Liana Sadler is the Curriculum Leader for Dance at Hillview School for Girls, an 11-18 specialist performing arts college. She teaches dance at Key Stage 3, GCSE and A Level as well as managing a very busy and successful department. Liana has consistently achieved outstanding results at both GCSE and A Level with 100% of her students achieving A* - C grades. Liana is a practical moderator for GCSE Dance and also delivers INSET training relating to the delivery of dance at key stages 3, 4 and 5. |
| Lorna Sanders | Lorna trained at London College of Dance and has a PhD from the University of Surrey. She has taught from pre-school to higher education and in community contexts. Her PhD constructed a theoretical reconceptualisation of the subject of dance in education, looking specifically at GCSE and A Level Dance which she taught, moderated and examined for many years. Consultancy work includes the development of the 'Gifted and Talented Framework' for the Youth Sport Trust/Dance Network; and assessor for the new Diploma in Dance Teaching and Learning (Children and Young People). Lorna delivers numerous inset courses and is a dance writer with articles, educational publications and two books to her name. She was assistant editor for the 2nd edition of Routledge’s Fifty Contemporary Choreographers published in 2011; and recently edited a book on dance teaching and pedagogy to be published by Youth Dance England in 2012. Currently, she lectures in Malta and Holland on part time MA courses in dance; and is Professional Development Manager (Education and Community) at Trinity Laban Conservatoire. |
| Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company | Shobana Jeyasingh Dance (SJD) creates dance experiences that draw their inspiration from the cultural cacophony of 21st century cities. In the diversity and difference of today’s society we see possibilities: to surprise, intrigue and stimulate. Through innovative use of music, design and the unique composition of movement we seek to place the dancing body in new and unexpected places. We want to create powerful performances that are delivered with visceral power and energy by international casts of dancers to inspire and resonate with audiences. In 2013, SJD reaches its 25th year of creative working, marking A Quarter Century of Innovation. SJD has a strong reputation for high quality dance education work and has been delivering participatory projects for over 20 years. We aim to promote high quality dance practice in the UK, through understanding and appreciation of the dance vocabulary and choreography of Shobana Jeyasingh. SJD has a comprehensive range of workshops and resources to support the study and teaching of our work. Shobana’s 2007 choreography Faultline is currently a set work on the AQA GCSE Dance specification. |
Terms and Conditions:
1. Loss or Injury: no responsibility is accepted by the University of Surrey or the organisers of the course for any loss of property or personal injury. Participants are, therefore, advised to arrange their own insurance against accident and loss or personal property.
2. Cancellation: If you withdraw before the closing date, a 20% administrative fee will be retained. If you withdraw after the closing date or do not attend for any reason, including illness, bad weather, injury or transport difficulties, no refund will be made. If for any reason the NRCD has to cancel the course, your fee will be refunded in full. The NRCD reserve the right to cancel any course which is under-subscribed or where other factors necessitate cancellation.
3. Bookings: telephone reservations cannot be accepted. A place can only be reserved if we receive this completed application form with appropriate payment by the closing date and if the course has not been fully booked. Early booking is, therefore, advisable. Please also remember that places are strictly limited.