Dance

The aim of the Dance Department is the provision of high quality dance tuition that develops pupils’ physical and creative skills.

Bede’s Prep Dance offers a wide range of styles available from Nursery through to Year 8, either via curriculum dance, specialised dance classes during the school day within the Dance Programme or through our clubs and activities. Pupils can take Ballet, Contemporary, Modern/Jazz, Tap, Street, Musical Theatre and Choreography.

Whether students want to learn purely for fun or if they are looking to train for a career in the Performing Arts then Bede’s Prep Dance offers them everything they need to fulfil their ambition.

There are two elements to the Dance Programme at Bede’s Prep – Curriculum based classes and CoCurricular dance activities. Curriculum dance is taken by all pupils up to and including Year 4. The delivery of these sessions is practically focussed to ensure that students are engaged at a level most suited to the stage of development of their bodies. All classes are taught by professional dance subject specialists and all classes are delivered at the highest possible standard. Pupils in Years 1 and 2 also have access to specialist dance classes in ballet, tap and modern via the Co-Curricular Programme.

What skills will my child develop?

• Strong dance technique

• Self discipline and strong work ethic

• Creativity

• Confidence and self belief

• Independence and teamwork

Hints & Tips for Home

• www.istd.org

• www.royalacademyofdance.org

Nicci Ullah Head

of Dance

Curriculum dance

The main aim of curriculum dance is to offer dance opportunities to all, which enhance confidence, develop the pupils’ physical skills, stamina, creativity, expression, and musicality using a range of sounds and musical styles. This strong foundation in curriculum dance prepares pupils for a successful transition to other dance genres at higher levels.

Creativity and imaginative choreography by the pupils leads to a greater depth of expression through movement improving confidence and recall skills. Pupils have the opportunity to hone the key skills of dancing in duets and groups, encouraging team work and working with partners. Furthermore, dance has a very special place in the school and during their time here children are encouraged to participate in numerous live performances in co-operation with other departments such as drama and music.

In Years 1 and 2 pupils get the chance to show off their dance skills in a yearly nativity production, which includes dancing, singing and acting!

Dance Programme

The introductory Bede’s Prep Dance Programme is aimed at dancers who have a particular talent or interest in the subject. The full programme starts in year 5, but pupils in year 3 also get the chance to access the Dance Programme classes too and years 1 and 2 can also take specialist classes via dance clubs.

The programme consists of weekly classes in three core disciplines- Ballet, Modern and Tap. From Year 2, examinations can be taken in the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) for Ballet and the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance (ISTD) for Modern and Tap.

Each of these three core disciplines trains the dancers in a different way. Ballet is the foundation of all dance and teaches pupils a good strong classical technique, which assists them not only in all other dance styles, but in a general healthy lifestyle too. The RAD syllabus aims to promote dancers who make innovative, artistic and lasting contributions to dance.

With the thoughtfully planned and well-tried ISTD Modern examination syllabus, which combines modern dance, jazz and other dance styles, pupils are trained to become disciplined and versatile dancers who have a professional attitude towards dance. The ISTD Tap exams and Medal Tests are recognised internationally for their quality and excellence and teach the pupils all about rhythm, timing, dynamic and percussive dancing.

All pupils from Year 2 involved in the Dance Programme, specialist classes and/or clubs and activities will be involved in the yearly Dance Showcase as part of the

Bede’s Prep training. The Dance Showcase is a big event in the Bede’s calendar. All dancers taking part get the opportunity to work on specially choreographed dances in all disciplines they study, to perform in front of their friends and family. The show is run as professionally as possible giving the pupils a real insight into the dance world and what it truly takes to put on a show! The pupils gain so much confidence from these performances as well as learning many additional skills like performance quality, performing under pressure and teamwork, to name a few.

Music

Music is a part of life, as intrinsic as reading and writing. It exists all around us from telephone ringtones to scores to accompany films and ‘lift music’ and in the junior years we try to raise the awareness and appreciation of music in all its forms.

Music lessons change significantly throughout these Pre-Prep years. Year 1 starts in a very similar way musically to how classes in Reception ended, with pupils singing songs linked to the topic being studied in class. Music and movement are very intertwined at this stage and many songs have actions that enable pupils to participate physically.

As pupils move into Year 2 the increasing sophistication of the repertoire studied, still largely linked to the topic work in class, means pupils perform in more complex ways e.g.by singing in parts and rounds or adding instrumental accompaniment. Pupils will also undertake instrumental work, using both classroom percussion and recorders. Musical performance is a cornerstone of the work undertaken in these early years. Pupils often perform together, for example in the Holywell nativity or Pre-Prep concerts or as part of the section song at inter-section music. In addition there are opportunities for solo performances in class lessons and in concerts. By the end of Year 2 many pupils are participating in optional individual or paired music lessons, and these pupils have even more performance opportunities as pupils right across the school come together to perform in a series of instrumental family specific concerts.

What skills will my child develop?

• Pupils move from recognising music which is fast, slow, loud and quiet to identifying and being able to play music which gets louder, quieter, faster and slower.

• Pupils develop a greater understanding of the different ways in which music (operas and musicals) tells stories.

• Pupils learn to explore, create and notate their own ‘sound pictures’.

• Pupils progress from singing and simple classroom percussion to instruments, (especially the recorder in Year 2.)

• Pupils learn to practise and perfect music for a performance and play together harmoniously with attention to others.

Hints & Tips for Home

• Listen to music together and discuss how it makes you feel, the instruments used and what the composer is trying to convey.

• Chrome music lab (https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/) is a fantastic resource to support experimentation / collaboration and early composition skills.

• House of sound (https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/class-clips-video/music--science-ks2-house-ofsound/zncr7nb) helps pupils understand how instruments in different musical families make the sounds they do.

• Any experience of live and recorded musical performance, in any form and location, is of great benefit to their musical experience and education.

• Take your child to live music: e.g. musicals, recitals or concerts.

Alex Farley Head of Music

In Year 1, music lessons are frequent, and mostly linked to the topic being studied by the class. While there are some lessons in which the skills of listening and appraising, composing and performing are developed, most lessons are a study of songs, often action songs, that tie to the classwork linked to the current topic being undertaken in other subjects. The variety comes from the ever changing repertoire as the class progresses to different topics over the year. There are opportunities for solo singing as well as group singing.

In Year 2, music lessons are still primarily linked to the topic being studied in class, but the musical complexity of the material steadily increases. Songs are more likely to be sung in parts, or to have instrumental accompaniment, provided by the pupils themselves. Pupils begin to learn instruments together focussing at first on classroom percussion, and also the recorder. They begin to learn how to change volume and tempo in response to a conductor. Many pupils choose to begin individual or paired instrumental lessons.

The Pre-Prep music ‘carousel’ is an opportunity for pupils from Reception to Year 2 to play together and share their music making. This is a vehicle for teaching increasingly sophisticated songs, in which several different groups of children perform in different ways at the same time. There are multiple concerts throughout the year for parents to hear what has been happening. Pupils from Reception to Year 2 also come together in the second half of the Autumn Term to work on the nativity. While Year 2 pupils tend to have the more complex roles, with solo singing and individual lines, all pupils are involved, and learn to sing, dance and act together.

There is a whole series of instrumental, or instrumental family, concerts throughout the year. All pupils having individual or paired instrumental or vocal lessons, in or out of school, are asked to perform at the relevant concerts. In addition some of the older pupils in these Years may be beginning to take instrumental examinations and are given the opportunity to perform their exam pieces to an audience (as no-one gets to hear them perform in the exam).