Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance: Programme Handbook FDA Year 1

University of Kent at Canterbury

Rambert School

FDA in Ballet and Contemporary Dance

Year One

Programme Specifications

Please note: This specification provides a concise summary of the main features of the programme and the learning outcomes that a typical student might reasonably be expected to achieve and demonstrate if he/she passes the programme. More detailed information on the learning outcomes, content and teaching, learning and assessment methods of each module can be found [either by following the links provided or in the programme handbook]. The accuracy of the information contained in this specification is reviewed by the University and may be checked by the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education.

Degree and Programme Title

1. Awarding Institution/Body University of Kent

2. Teaching Institution Rambert School

3. Teaching Site Rambert School

4. Programme Accredited by:

5. Final Award Foundation Degree

6. Programme

7. UCAS code

8. Relevant QAA subject benchmarking Dance, Drama and Performing Arts

9. Date of Production/Revision

10. Applicable Cohort(s)

1. Educational Aims of the Programme

Aims of the programme are consonant with the distinctive features of Foundation Degrees. They thus reflect that the programme provides students with the knowledge, understanding and skills that employers need. The aims listed below and the degree itself have been formulated through employer involvement. It is delivered and monitored through employer involvement and partnership. It is also characterised accessibility, articulation and progression, and flexibility.

The Programme aims to:

1.To provide an education and training in the technical execution of Ballet and Contemporary Dance to the level of professional competence.[1]

2.To enable students to realise their individual potential as professional performers, to a level of professional competence, through the development of their capacity for experience and expression in dance.

3.To enable students to find, to a level of professional competence, their individual choreographic voices and/or the capacity to contribute to choreography through improvisation or building product out of material provided by a choreographer and/or the capacity to productively inform their work as dance performers through knowledge and understanding of choreographic structures, styles and methods as performers.

4. To provide students with subject knowledge concerning the technical and stylistic development of Ballet and Contemporary Dance as genres such that this contributes to their capacity as dance artists.

5. To enable students to contribute to the advancement of the genres of Ballet and Contemporary Dance during their subsequent careers.

6. To provide students with a secure body of knowledge, understanding and skills through the study of the underlying concepts and principles of Dance Technical Studies, Choreographic Studies and Critical Studies.

7. To provide students, through the consideration of qualitative and quantitative data, with the ability to develop lines of argument, make critical judgements and solve problems through different approaches in accordance with the basic theories and concepts of their subject categories and through these to identify broader principles, issues and impacts. This will be done through knowledge, understanding and skills in the use of the academic methodologies of critical thinking, discussion and debate, reflection, writing, presentation, analysis, interpretation and evaluation.

8. To allow the student to undertake further training and develop new skills within a structured and managed environment.

9. To cause or allow a holistic educational experience through the provision of an attitude, environment and methodology, as regards teaching and learning, that supports students in their development such that they may achieve their unique potential as people and as artists. Through this to provide students with the opportunity to move forward in their vision, awareness, knowledge and insight into their world and their selves.

Programme Outcomes[2]

The programme provides opportunities for students to develop and demonstrate knowledge and understanding, qualities, skills and other attributes in the following areas. The programme outcomes have references to the subject benchmarking statement for

Knowledge and Understanding

Knowledge and Understanding[3]

1. Comprehension and intelligent engagement through secure knowledge and understanding, of the components of, and the processes by which, Ballet and Contemporary Dance performance are created and realised.

2. Comprehension and intelligent engagement with, group and collective processes as these relate to the production and performance of Ballet and Contemporary Dance.

3. Comprehension of, and intelligent engagement with, the potential of the use of movement quality, musicality, presence, commitment, empathy and co-operation, and dance technical ability towards allowing dance to become a vehicle of expressivity.

4. Comprehension of the creative uses, and the potential of, the interplay between the performers’ conscious and subconscious resources in the act of dance itself, in dance-making and in the realisation of performance.

5. Comprehension of, and intelligent engagement with, the interplay between practice and theory within the fields of Ballet, Contemporary Dance and dance-making.

Teaching and learning strategies and methods[4]

Teaching and learning as concerns knowledge and understanding, intellectual skills, subject specific skills and transferable skills are interwoven. There are three principal categories of study. Dance Technical Studies and Choreographic Studies are most obviously taught in sessions associated with dance studios and performance spaces. Critical Studies are most obviously taught in sessions associated with class and seminar rooms. Nonetheless, it is a tenet of the programme that the teaching and learning of these three categories of study should be deeply integrated.

The following methods are deployed as regards all areas of knowledge, understanding and skills and for all categories of teaching and learning;

- dance technical classes,

- group learning and individual learning in workshop situations,

- performances,

- lectures,

- tutorials,

- seminar presentations,

- project work including that conducted through student leadership,

- resource based learning,

Assessment[5]

Assessment specific to each of the three principal categories of learning of the programme are given in the modules. The integrated assessment processes of the programme include;

- regular dance technical classes,

- test dance technical classes,

- rehearsals,

- performances (public and internal),

- showings of solos,

- assessed course work; seminar and discussion,

- written work,

- project reports.

Skills and Other Attributes

B. Intellectual Skills:[6]

1. The ability to consider and investigate concepts and principles associated with the traditional academic method in accordance with the accepted conventions of this through the cognitive skills of critical thinking, discussion and debate, reflection, writing, presentation, analysis, interpretation, evaluation.

2. The ability to evaluate the appropriateness of different approaches to solving problems and making sound judgments.

3. The ability to intellectually process qualitative and quantitative data and identify relationships within it using defined techniques.

4. The ability to communicate the results of study accurately and reliably through structured and coherent arguments.

Teaching and learning strategies and methods

The programme depends on an integrated system of Teaching and learning. Intellectual work involves coming to understand how to apply conscious cognitive or intellectual skills in critical thinking, discussion and debate, reflection, writing, presentation, analysis, interpretation and evaluation. These processes are employed in pursuance of the traditional academic method as well as in the practical or technical study of dancing and making dance.

C. Subject-specific Skills[7]

Performance of Ballet at the level of professional competence.[8]

Performance of Contemporary Dance at the level of professional competence.

A professional level of choreographic skill and/or the related skills of improvisation and/or building movement based on material or tasks provided by a choreographer or director.

The use of cognitive skills and the exploitation of theoretical subject knowledge towards the application of this, or the ‘physicalisation’ of it, within the practical skills of Ballet, Contemporary Dance and dance-making.

The skills of rehearsal and performance by which performance is created.

The ability to understand the possibilities contained in choreographic material sufficient to realise the potential of this in performance.

The skills sufficient to contribute to the creation and/or production of performance through an understanding of appropriate performance vocabularies, techniques and working methods.

The ability to contribute to appropriate independent research as part of the process of creating new performance.

D. Transferable Skills

The following outcomes are consonant with, and integrated within, the teaching of the programme’s learning outcomes.

critical, analytical and physical skills in relation to theoretical and practical applications;
creative and imaginative skills as shown through the realisation of independent subject specific skills and knowledge based tasks and through practical projects and practical research projects;
communication in a variety of oral, written, visual and performance media;
reflexive, critical and independent thinking;
sustaining concentration and focus, in various categories of application, for extended periods;
awareness of inter-disciplinary approaches to study;
developing ideas and constructing arguments and the capacity to present them in appropriate ways;
understanding of group dynamics and an ability to implement them in practical contexts;
handling creative, personal and interpersonal issues;
negotiation and pursuing goals; dealing with success and failure with others;
managing personal workloads; the staging of timing within projects; meeting deadlines;
producing written work with appropriate scholarly conventions;
information retrieval skills, involving the ability to gather, sift, synthesises and organise material independently and critically evaluate its significance;

information technology skills including word processing, electronic mail, and accessing

Teaching and learning strategies and methods

- transferable skills are developed throughout the programme.

3. Programme Structures and Requirements, Levels, Modules, Credits and Awards

Structure

This Foundation Degree is a two-year, full-time course. Each year of the course is of 36 weeks and divided into two semesters. The year is divided into a number of study modules of 10 or 20 credits where the accumulated credit value is equal to 120 credits. All modules delivered in the first year of the course are required in order to progress to the second year. All modules are required in the second year of the course in order to be awarded the Foundation Degree.

Modules delivered on the first year of the course are designated at Certificate Level [C], while modules on the second year of the course are designated at Intermediate Level [I].

Students who fail to gain sufficient credits at the end of Level 2 (240) may be awarded a HE Certificate (120 credits) in Ballet and Contemporary Dance.

Students who successfully complete Level 2 may proceed to the one-year BA (Hons) in Ballet and Contemporary Dance.[9]

Categories of Study

There are three principal categories of study. They are highly integrated:

Dance Technical Studies

The centre of this foundation degree programme is the process of coming to possess and apply a progressively sophisticated body of knowledge, understanding, cognitive and other skills such that the student is able to dance Ballet and Contemporary Dance to the level of, and in many cases well beyond, professional competence. Other aspects of the programme either derive from or support this central process in a number of senses.

Choreographic Studies

Students may exercise a degree of choice in their approach to Choreographic Studies. Focus can be directed towards learning to make dance works as a choreographer and/or how to contribute to the process of making dances through improvisation and/or through the development of movement material introduced by a choreographer or director. Finally work can focus upon discovering and developing expressive capacity in the more traditional role of the dance artist who brings finished movement material to life in performance.

Critical Studies

Within Critical Studies students acquire the knowledge, understanding and skills through which they may deploy established and traditional academic methodologies.

It is stated above that Critical Studies derives from or supports the processes of the act of dance and the making of dances. However, Critical Studies also focuses upon the academic method itself. The structure and content of the programme thus assure its integration. Thus the need to develop knowledge, understanding and skills as regards the academic method particularly in respect of critical thinking, writing, presentation, analysis, interpretation, evaluation and research is emphasised within each module under ‘Synopsis of the Curriculum’. This need is also highlighted within the Statement of Assessment Criteria.

Teaching, Learning and the Spiral Curriculum

Within all three subject categories, each semester, the student both acquires new subject knowledge and revisits, in order to understand more deeply, previously considered material. Thus within each category of study an important portion of the work is characterised by a spiral curriculum and a phased approach. The spiral curriculum most obviously addresses what is called in module specifications “13.1 essential content”. Sometimes this content is taught directly. Sometimes it is approached through what is called “13.2 procedural content”.

As concerns revisited material, on completion of each semester attainment advances over the phase reached in previous semesters.

The level of advancement required is articulated in subject specific criteria set out in the Rambert School Statement of Assessment Criteria. The subject specific criteria are there given under identical main headings for all semesters. However, under these main headings are articulated the characteristics through which the student demonstrates that new achievement, which is unique and appropriate to the new semester, has taken place

We wish to emphasise that this subject specific criteria names substantive essential content within each module.

Level One Required Modules level credits semester
RA 1001	INTRODUCTORY BALLET	C	20	ONE
RA 1002	INTRODUCTORYCONTEMPORARY DANCE	C	20	ONE
RA 1003	COMMUNICATION AND ARGUMENT	C	10	ONE
RA 1004-8	INTRODUCTORY CHOREOGRAPHY AND PERFORMANCE PRACTICE	C	20	ONE
RA 1005	ELEMENTARY BALLET	C	20	TWO
RA 1006	ELEMENTARY CONTEMPORARY DANCE	C	20	TWO
RA 1007	EFFECTIVE THINKING, READING AND WRITING	C	10	TWO

Work begins at level one upon the Reflective Professional Progress Portfolio for those who are considering continuing on to a BA (Hons) degree.

Level 2 Required Modules level credits semester
RA 2001	PRE-ADVANCED BALLET	I	20	THREE
RA 2002	PRE-ADVANCED CONTEMPORARY DANCE	I	20	THREE
RA 2003	THE TECHNICAL AND STYLISTIC DEVELOPMENT OF BALLET	I	10	THREE
RA 2004-8	CHOREOGRAPHY AND PERFORMANCE	I	20	THREE AND FOUR
RA 2005	ADVANCED BALLET	I	20	THREE AND FOUR
RA 2006	ADVANCED CONTEMPORARY DANCE	I	20	FOUR
RA 2007	THE TEHNICAL AND STYLISTIC DEVELOPMENT OF CONTEMPORARY DANCE	I	10	FOUR

Work continues on the Reflective Progress Performance Portfolio.

4. Support for Students and their Learning

Academic support

Overall academic and artistic leadership is in the hands of the Principal of the School.

Additionally Academic Leadership is in the hands of The Teaching Steering Committee, the Head of Learning and Teaching (responsible for oversight of quality assurance and implementation of quality assurance requirements) and the Director of Studies (responsible for oversight of the delivery of the programmes).[10]

Student academic support is implemented through collaboration between students and staff and through a system of committees. These include;

- The Academic Board/Board of Studies (meets termly),

- The Administrative Committee (all administrative staff) (meets weekly),

- The Teaching Steering Committee (three full time members of teaching staff) (meets weekly),

- The Staff/Student Consultative Committee (meets termly).

General pastoral care and academic guidance

Rambert School has worked with many foreign students. It deals with a wide age range (from sixteen to the mid-twenties and occasionally older). Processes of pastoral care have become efficient and effective in taking into account the differing ages, characters and needs of students.

A caring culture is cultivated. Each group (male and female) within each year group has a personal tutor who has pastoral and academic responsibilities towards each student in their care. The personal tutor is usually the student’s principal Ballet teacher who, through teaching each student every day during the first year and often during the second and third, knows them well and can keep track of them. The personal tutor interviews each student of their tutorial group formally once a term on academic and pastoral grounds. Informal interviews may take place much more often.

In addition to the school’s system of personal tutors it provides an open door policy which makes pastoral care as well as academic monitoring easier. At induction students are encouraged to seek advice and general help with problems from any member of staff with whom they feel comfortable. They can speak to the Principal at any time an appointment not being necessary.

IT support

IT learning support is provided in the first year through optional tutorial seminars as well as in RA 1003 and RA 1007. Groups are of no more than ten students. These meet weekly.

Language support

Support for students in cases in which English is not the first language and this is, or is likely to become, a hindrance to learning, is provided on a one to one basis through private tutorials. Such help is given on the basis of need.

Care of younger students

All students of the school must phone in on any day on which they do not attend classes. Calls are logged on the main staff notice board in the staff common room. (Classes, of course, take place for all student five days a week.) In addition on returning to school a student who has been absent must fill out and hand in an absence form before any more classes can be taken. The form specifies the reason for absence and what classes have been missed. These forms are kept in the student’s file which is held in the school office and can be consulted by any member of staff. These methods of monitoring are particularly useful in keeping track, and understanding the situation of, younger students.[11]

Since registers are taken of all classes, in effect the student ‘clocks in’ for each class of every day. The attendance requirement is 100%. Thus absence is noticed immediately.

Specialist consultancy

The school employs two consultants: one dealing with nutrition and the other with physiotherapy and injury prevention. These consultants give at least one lecture/workshop to each group each year during each term. Students with specific problems are referred to these consultants by their teachers, personal tutors or the Principal.

Equal Opportunities and Student with Disabilities

Rambert School is committed to providing equal opportunities and to support all its students with disabilities and/or specific learning needs.

5. Entry Profile

Entry Route

The central objective of the degree is to develop and enhance the students’ ability to perform in Ballet and Contemporary Dance at a professional level. Therefore, irrespective of academic qualifications or prior learning experience, entry is subject to audition.

The audition event will take the form of;

1. A Ballet class,

2. Contemporary Dance sequences,

3. An interview.

In addition the applicant will require; five passes (A-C) predicted at GCSE including English Language (desirable) or equivalent.

In addition, for non-English speaking students, the University of Kent’s normal criteria for language competency will apply. Qualifications accepted include:

5.0 in IELTS (5.0 in reading, 5.0 in writing), TOEFL 495 paper based/169 computer based, or equivalent.

What does the programme have to offer?

Professionalism[12]

Professionalism is acquired through in-house work at professional standard, delivered by resident staff and guests, rather than through a system of work placements. In the areas of Ballet and Contemporary Dance, within which the school operates, a programme of work placements would be unfeasible.

Quality companies working within this area do not, except in very exceptional and very limited cases, posses vacancies for work placements of the kind usually associated with Foundation Degrees: They are invariably companies of soloists working under highly pressurised circumstances. Thus their scheduling is subject to change over any period longer than one year.

It is also the case that work placements would break up the intense and integrated process of professional education and training that make up this FDA programme.

Professional experience within the School is, however, pervasive, integrated and diverse. A professional environment, at a high and exacting level, is provided.

- By the first year, students have the opportunity to rehearse towards and/or take part in public performance through three seasons of student works (two seasons of a week each and one season of two evenings), two seasons of student and professional work (both a week each), one or two showcase performances at the Linbury Theatre (in the Royal Opera House), and three performances of solos in the Rambert School Theatre.

- Some students (five to twenty each year) take part in a professionally based Research Project involving summer performances in cathedrals for a two to three-week period and performances in churches during the rest of the year.

- It is unlikely that so much performance, so often at a pervasively professional level, and open to all three year groups, is matched by any other professional school in the world.

- Given this performance schedule, by the second year and often before, all students are working consistently with visiting and resident professional artists in both classes and in the production of performance material.

- The teaching staff of the School have all performed professionally at a high level. Many continue to do so. Some continue to choreograph and teach for professional companies.

- There is weekly teaching and choreographic input from a senior dancer of Rambert Dance Company.

- The Director of Rambert Dance Company sometimes choreographs on the School.

- The School’s Artistic Director does so every year.

- Professional choreographers and teachers, with no connection with Rambert School of Rambert Dance Company are engaged throughout the year, every year.

- Dance companies give residencies and workshops at the School. Examples are; Scottish Dance Theatre, DV8, Mark Morris, Rambert Dance Company, Fin Walker and Union Dance Company.

- Seminars are conducted towards finding a job, audition tours and the process of auditioning.

Contacts

A special relationship at board and artistic levels with Rambert Dance Company.

Contacts with professional practitioners in the UK and internationally.

Contacts with dance companies in the UK and internationally.

Access and a relationship with venues in London.

Research Profile

The School has built up a research culture, within a university environment, over recent national Research Assessment Exercises. This profile includes research outcomes and PhD supervision.

Job Destination Record

A modest calculation of successful job destination rates place this at 90% of graduating students.

The School’s graduates have gone on to enter the profession, usually at a high level. Graduates dance with Ballet companies like Dutch National Ballet, English National Ballet, Northern Ballet, Scottish Ballet, the Seoul Ballet and the Cape Town Ballet; and with Contemporary Dance companies like Rambert Dance Company, the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Richard Alston Dance Company, Phoenix Dance Company, the Munich Dance Company and Netherlands Dance Theatre. These are among the most respected companies.

Personal Profile

On entry, at the time of audition and interview, the student will be able to demonstrate:

Mental and physical stamina combined with a high level of motivation towards entry into the dance profession as a dancer or choreographer or both;

The potential to engage in Ballet and or Contemporary Dance at a professional level. The student will thus possess aptitudes for dance movement quality, musicality, dance physicality, stage presence and dance technical ability;

The potential to develop the academic skills of critical thinking, discussion and debate, reflection, presentation, analysis, interpretation and evaluation at a graduate level.

An aptitude for group or corporate creative artistic work.

Methods for Evaluating and Enhancing the Quality and Standards of Teaching and Learning

Mechanisms for review and evaluation of teaching, learning, assessment, the curriculum and outcome standards

- Annual Review of the programme and course modules attended by staff and student representatives. This considered by the Academic Board and the Board of Trustees.

- Academic Board/Board of Studies (meets monthly).

- Participation in examining process by External Examiners and response to their reports.

- Weekly meetings of the Administrative Committee and and Teaching Steering Committee.

- Meetings of entire staff (meets termly).

- Process of double marking.

- Peer observation of teaching.

- Staff appraisals.

- Performances before the general public, critics and dance professionals (at least five seasons each year).

- Reports and evaluations by visiting professionals and artistic advisors.

- Student programme evaluation questionnaires.

- A clearly articulated course rationale and assessment process.

- University periodic programme review.

- QAA Institutional audits.

Committees with responsibility for monitoring and evaluating quality and standards

- Board of Trustees (meets monthly)

- Audit Committee (meets as necessary)

- Finance Committee (meets as necessary)

- Premises/Building Committee (meets and necessary)

- Remuneration and Nominations Committee (meets as necessary)

- Academic Board/Board of Studies (meets monthly)

- Administrative Committee (meets weekly)

- Teaching Steering Committee (meets weekly)

- Staff Student Consultative Committee (meets termly)

- Learning and Teaching Committee of the Faculty of Humanities

- University of Kent Learning and Teaching Board

- Board of Examiners (including External Examiners)

Mechanisms for gaining student feedback on the quality of teaching and their learning experience

- Student feedback is monitored through;

- meeting between students and the Director (termly),

- meetings between students and between any member of staff with whom they feel comfortable,

- tutorials,

- questionnaires,

- the Staff/Student Consultative Committee (meets termly),

- the Reflective Professional Portfolio and other written work,

- student representation on the Academic Board.

Staff Development priorities include:

Individual development as teachers;

- through support in teaching experiences with other internationally recognised centre of excellence inside and outside the UK,

- through support in attending conferences, international competitions and symposiums and long and short courses.

Individual and collective development in Research;

- through the support of individuals in attending conferences, international competitions and symposiums and courses,

- through the support of individual and collective Research projects.

Initiatives towards inter-collegiality with the Conservatoire of Dance and Drama.

Indicators of Quality and Standards

External Examiners Reports; (moderation and assessment)

- As appointed through Brunel University 1985 to 2002

- As appointed by Edexcel 2003-2005

- As appointed by Trinity College 2004/2005

CDET Accreditation Report – 1995

OFSTED Report 2003

Annual Monitoring Reports; West London Institute of Higher Education 1985-1996

Annual Monitoring Reports: Brunel University 1997-2005

Highly successful Employment Destinations record.

Regarded as of equal standing by the existing affiliates of the Conservatoire of Dance and Drama.

Highly positive press response to performance activity.

The following reference points were used in creating these specifications:

Employment and the equality and importance of the study of Ballet and Contemporary Dance

The full title of the school is the 'Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance'. This title reflects that Rambert School is unlike, for example, the Royal Ballet School, which is primarily a Ballet School or the London School of Contemporary Dance which is primarily a school of Contemporary Dance. At Rambert School both these major genres of Western Theatrical Dance are treated equally and as major studies. One is not undertaken largely or only to supplement the other. This approach, which is unique in the UK, is adopted because, as the record of former students of the School shows, it provides young dance artists with an education and training through which they can, with great success, enter, enjoy and improve the professional dance job market of today.

Benchmarks - The Subject Benchmark Requirement for Foundation Degrees

This degree has been drafted in close consonance with the Subject Benchmark Statement QAA 065 10/2004) and the most recent National Academic Framework Descriptors.

University of Kent at Canterbury

Rambert School

FDA in Ballet and Contemporary Dance

RA 1001

1. Title of Module

Introductory Ballet (RA 1001)

2. Department responsible for the management of the module

Rambert School

3. Start Date of the Module

September 2007

4. Number of student expected to take the module

5. Modules to be withdrawn on the introduction of this proposed module and the consultation with other relevant Departments and Faculties regarding the withdrawal

none

6. Level of the Module

7. Number of Credits

8. Which term(s) the module is to be taught in

Semesters One

9. Prerequisite and co-requisite modules

none

10. The programme of study to which the module contributes

FDA in Ballet and Contemporary Dance

11. The intended subject specific learning outcomes and their relationship to programme learning outcomes:

On completion of this module, students will:

1. be proficient in the basic Ballet technique and vocabulary. Such proficiency involves the acquisition of a basic understanding of stance, placing, turn out, transference of weight and the understanding of the fundamental Ballet technique and vocabulary to an introductory level of performance.[13]

2. be able to demonstrate an ability to work towards their own individual potential;

3. begin to show an understanding of the correlation between accomplishment in Ballet and Contemporary Dance.

12. the intended generic learning outcomes and, as appropriate, their relationship to programme learning outcomes

The following outcomes are all consonant with and integrated within the teaching of the programme learning outcomes:

Students will be able to demonstrate:

critical, analytical and physical skills in relation to practical applications;
creative and imaginative skills as shown through the realisation of independent subject specific skill and knowledge based tasks;
communication in a variety of performance media;
reflexive, critical and independent thinking;
sustaining concentration and focus, in various categories of application, for extended periods;
awareness of inter-disciplinary approaches to study;
understanding of group dynamics and an ability to implement them in practical contexts;
handling creative, personal and interpersonal issues;
negotiation and pursuing goals; dealing with success and failure in working with others;
managing personal workloads; staging of timing within projects; meeting deadlines.

13. A Synopsis of the Curriculum

13.1 Essential Content[14]

All the work of the programme is characterised by a carefully phased approach. These phases are shown in the table below

Phases

Study in the following phases;

Phase 1 Introductory (semester one)

Phase 2 Elementary (semester two)

Phase 3 Pre-Advanced (semester three)

Phase 4 Advanced (semester four)

This phased approach is particularly appropriate in the teaching and learning in Dance Technical Studies (modules dealing with Ballet and Contemporary Dance training) because they are accomplished through a spiral curriculum. This is to say that specific areas, themes and families of movement and individual positions and movements are visited many times and in many cases on every day. Thus, for example, pliés must be studied and practised during every day in the expectation that through this the student will improve. This revisiting of areas of study may involve an increase in difficulty, complexity, diversity and quantity. A simple plié exercise can be as difficult and trying as a very complex one to the sophisticated dancer because that sophistication is applied to it.

Six main areas of focus to which the student is directed, accompanied by sub-headings; are given in the first list below. In the list that follows are given characteristics specifically of concern within this module and phase of study.

Movement Quality

- co-ordination

- flow

- line

- dynamics

Musicality

- rhythmic awareness

- musical awareness

- musical dynamics

- musical phrasing

Stage Presence

- eye line

- confidence

- grasp of appropriate style

- dramatic sense

Commitment, Empathy and Co-operation

- consistency of attendance (100% attendance and punctuality is expected except for bona fide reasons.

- level of concentration

- attitude to the learning of oneself and others

- attitude to the teacher

- attitude to other students

Dance Technical Ability

as concerns the use of

- feet

- legs

- torso

- arms

- head

- the full body in stillness, moving on place and moving across space.

The list below gives indicative characteristics which are the specific focus of teaching and learning within this module and phase.

Introductory Phase

(Semester One)

Movement Quality

signs of an emerging dance quality,

Musicality

basic correspondence between music and movement over time,

Presence

correct focus of body and eyes,

Commitment, Empathy and Co-operation.

punctuality, 100% attendance and productive attitude to learning,

Dance Technical Ability

indication that a basic grasp of the rudiments of the genre is emerging.

13.2 Procedural Content

Central to the English tradition of classical ballet, based on the purity of line and clarity of movement, with precise footwork and a strong use of epaulement. A lightness and speed of transference of weight with a fluid and lyrical quality in all Ports de Bras and use of the upper body. Influenced over the decades by the Russian, (Vaganova); Italian (Cecchetti); French and Danish (Bournonville) schools and constantly developed to suit the English physique and temperament, and to achieve an excellence by the third year to compete in the international dance world.

Work focuses upon:

Barre Work with:

Correct stance and placing.

Accurate weight placement

Transference of weight

Accuracy of the Positions and alignments of Devant, a la Seconde, Derriere a Terre and en L’air.

How to work to full capacity and full height, and for self.

Vocabulary includes:

Demi –plies in 4, 2 and 1 counts, in all four positions.

Grand – Plies in all four positions

Battements Tendus in 4, 2 and 1 count in all positions and with transfer of weight.

Battements Glisses in all positions

Battements Jetes in all positions

Ronds de Jambe a Terre in 4, 2 and 1 Counts

Battements Fondus in all positions, a Terre, en l’air at 45 and 90 degrees, and on demi-pointe

Battements Frappe in all positions, a Terre and en l’air, and on demi- pointe.

Ronds de Jambe en l’air - single and doubles, and on demi-pointe.

Petits Battements – accented and serres – wrapped and pointed foot

Grands Battements in all positions.

Developpes in all positions

Stretching with Ports be bras and sliding – devant and a la Seconde

Centre Work with:

Use of the en Face, Croise, Ecarte and Efface alignments.

Page 2 (Introductory Ballet – RA1001)

Centre Work continued:

Correct stance and placing.

Aligment

Transference of weight

In the Ports de Bras, Centre Practice, Pirouettes, Adage, Petit Allegro, Allegro, Batterie and Grands Allegro and Pointe Work ( for girls only) sections of the class.

Vocabulary includes :

All positions of the arms and body

Centre Practice exercises based on barre work

Pirouettes – en dehors and en dedans – balances, singles, doubles, closing in fifth and lunges, from fifth, fourth and second.

Chaines, Pose pirouettes

Adages – Developpes in all positions and alignments

Allegro – all five forms of allegro – 2 to 2; 1 to 2: 2 to 1; 1 to 1; 1 to other leg: e.g Changements, Soubresauts. Echappes, Assembles, Jetes, Sissonnes, simple Batterie and Grands Allegro.

14. Indicative Reading Lists

Essential Reading

Arnheim, D. Dance Injuries. St Louis: Mosby, 1975.

Glasstone, R. Better Ballet London: Kaye & Ward, 1977.

__________ The Foundations of Classical Ballet Technique Royal Academy of Dancing, UK Hartolls Ltd, 1997.

Movement Quality

- co-ordination

- flow

- line

- dynamics

Musicality

- rhythmic awareness

- musical awareness

- musical dynamics

- musical phrasing

Stage Presence

- eye line

- confidence

- grasp of appropriate style

- dramatic sense

Commitment, Empathy and Co-operation

- consistency of attendance (100% attendance and punctuality is expected except for bona fide reasons.

- level of concentration

- attitude to the learning of oneself and others

- attitude to the teacher

- attitude to other students

Dance Technical Ability

as concerns the use of

- feet

- legs

- torso

- arms

- head

- the full body in stillness, moving on place and moving across space.

The list below gives indicative characteristics which are the specific focus of teaching and learning within this modules and phase.

Introductory Phase

(Semester One)

Movement Quality

signs of an emerging dance quality,

Musicality

basic correspondence between music and movement over time,

Presence

correct focus of body and eyes,

Commitment, Empathy and Co-operation.

punctuality, 100% attendance and productive attitude to learning,

Dance Technical Ability

indication that a basic grasp of the rudiments of the genre is emerging.

13.2 Procedural Content

Central to the study of Contemporary Dance within the FDA is that the Cohan/Graham Style is taught as a core and foundation. It is so taught for the value it has in itself, and as a basis for the study of other styles. In this module three classes each week are dedicated to the Cohan/Graham Style. Two classes each week focus upon other styles presently in use, particularly at the forefront of the profession. These are often taught by guest teachers chosen for their ability to provide instruction consonant with the level and focus of the work being provided in the Cohan/Graham Style sessions.

Work focuses upon;

Floor Work

The principles of contraction and release are introduced

Breathing based contractions explored

The spiral combined with the contraction (breathing)/release principal introduced

All sitting positions introduced

(The breathing contractions are the family of movements probably introduced before Graham by Stebbins. They involve a curve of the back caused by the contraction of the lungs on the out breath. There is little percussive quality.)

Standing Centre and Moving Centre Work

Basic and Isolated use of

- Parallel positions of the legs and feet

- Turned in positions of the legs and feet

- Back curves

- Falls as transitions

- Tension release

The Theme of Lean and Tilt

This theme is characterised by the use of a turned-in fourth position lunge with plié on the front foot (arms in various configurations) in combination with the Graham based position in which the leg is as developé a la second with the spine and pelvis on a 45 degree angle (arms in various configurations).

14. Indicative Reading Lists

Essential Reading

Banes, S. Terpsichore in Sneakers. Hanover (NH), Wesleyan, 1987.

Cohan, R. The Dance Workshop. London: Unwin, 1986.

De Mille, A. Martha. New York: Vintage Books, 1991.

Dyke, S (ed). Your Body, Your Risk. London: Dance Books, 2001.

Graham, M. Blood Memory. New York: Doubleday, 1991.

Horosko, M. Martha Graham – The Evolution of Her Dance Theory and Training (revised). Atlanta: University of Florida Press, 1991.

McKim, R. (Ed) The Essential Inheritance of the London Contemporary Dance Theatre. London: Dance Books, 2004.

INTRODUCTION			5


PROGRAMME INFORMATION AND STUDY GUIDES
	Programme Specifications		6
	Modules Specifications		20
		RA 1001	21
		RA 1002	27
		RA 1003	33
		RA 1004-8	40
		RA 1005	45
		RA 1006	52
		RA 1007	58

SECTION 2:
ACADEMIC CONVENTIONS			64
	Introduction		65
	Academic Offences		65
	How to Reference
	How to Present a Bibliography and Other Sources		73
	Presentation of Written Work		77
	Some Examples		78
		Referencing: Some Examples	78
		Presenting Work: An Example	81
		Presenting A Bibliography : An Example	82

SECTION 3:
STUDY SKILLS AND ACADEMIC WRITING		83
	Introduction	84
	Locating and Using Resources	84
	Note Taking	85
	Writing Assignments	86
	Format of Written Assignments	90

RAMBERT SCHOOL OF BALLET AND CONTEMPORARY DANCE

PROGRAMME HANDBOOK

FDA in Ballet and Contemporary Dance
YEAR ONE
2007 - 2008

Year One Programme Handbook 2007-2008

INTRODUCTION

Section 2 focuses on academic conventions related to the presentation of written work. It is vitally important that you take account of what is written in this section and that you check your work carefully. Failure to adhere to academic conventions will affect your mark.

Professionalism[12]

Contacts

Research Profile

Job Destination Record

External Examiners Reports; (moderation and assessment)

Benchmarks - The Subject Benchmark Requirement for Foundation Degrees

Movement Quality

Musicality

Commitment, Empathy and Co-operation

Dance Technical Ability

Movement Quality

Musicality

Commitment, Empathy and Co-operation

Dance Technical Ability

RAMBERT SCHOOL OF BALLET AND CONTEMPORARY DANCE

PROGRAMME HANDBOOK

FDA in Ballet and Contemporary Dance YEAR ONE 2007 - 2008

Year One Programme Handbook 2007-2008

INTRODUCTION

Section 2 focuses on academic conventions related to the presentation of written work. It is vitally important that you take account of what is written in this section and that you check your work carefully. Failure to adhere to academic conventions will affect your mark.

Professionalism[12]

Contacts

Research Profile

Job Destination Record

External Examiners Reports; (moderation and assessment)

Benchmarks - The Subject Benchmark Requirement for Foundation Degrees

Movement Quality

Musicality

Commitment, Empathy and Co-operation

Dance Technical Ability

Movement Quality

Musicality

Commitment, Empathy and Co-operation

Dance Technical Ability

FDA in Ballet and Contemporary Dance
YEAR ONE
2007 - 2008