9DAN - Dance

Performing Arts Whakataukī:

Te toi whakairo, ka ihiihi, ka wehiwehi, ka aweawe te ao katoa.

Artistic excellence makes the world sit up in wonder.

9DAN - 9 Dance

The creative skills and confidence developed in the Dance curriculum are valuable to students in all their studies and whatever career paths they choose. This semesterised course is aimed at all learners who want to explore self-expression and creative performance. Dance is an embodied language that recognises, values, and contributes to the unique bicultural and multicultural character of Aotearoa New Zealand. Dance students develop skills in movement, performance, and choreography. They learn to understand and respond to a variety of Dance genres and styles from a range of contexts, including but not limited to, Jazz Dance, Choreographic Creation and Cultural Dance. In Dance education, ākonga integrates thinking, moving, and feeling. We use Dance to express personal, group,  and cultural identities, to convey and interpret artistic ideas, and to strengthen social interaction

Units in this course include; 

Creative Dance - Dance Elements and Choreography

Creative dance and choreography inspired by Māori Kowhaiwhai patterns.  Creating dance is a way of expressing ideas and emotions. In this choreographic unit of work, students will explore and learn about the elements of dance (body, energy, space, time and relationship) to help create unique and imaginative choreographies. Students will work together in groups to create motifs (sequences of movement) to help portray their chosen kowhaiwhai patterns. Students will create dances with meaning which they will share with their whānau and the Macleans community. 

Dance Fusion - Jazz, Contemporary & Hip hop

Dance can bring communities together, help build relationships, and communicate ideas. In this dance performance unit, students will learn different genres of dance. This Dance Fusion unit will allow the students to explore rhythm and tempo, focus on their memorisation of steps, and work in unison with their groups. Students will look at the evolution of these dance genres over time and the techniques pertaining specifically to these styles of dance.

Dance is a collaborative and creative subject which asks ākonga to think, communicate, and problemsove in real time. It will help with confidence, interpersonal relationship skills, body and spatial awareness. We encourage all students to choose dance as an option at Year 9, regardless of if they have taken dance before. It is a subject for everyone.