Find out more
Wellington College has partnered with Avant Garde Dance to enhance the GCSE dance education by providing pupils with the chance to work with innovative industry dancers. Director of Dance, Caroline Kenworthy, collaborated with the leading dance company to arrange six interactive workshops run by dancer and choreographer Adam Coyne, designed to challenge and inspire pupils.
The exciting initiative is part of Courses Within Courses, a series of new bespoke short courses for Fourth and Fifth form pupils to extend their learning beyond the curriculum. Adam Coyne from Avant Garde Dance took the lead during the workshops – each of which was at least two hours long – starting with a creative warm up that focused on improvisation. To thumping house beats, pupils were encouraged to push through any embarrassment, jump around and express themselves without inhibition.
“Avant Garde was a great experience for me, it was really enjoyable to try out a new choreographic process and Adam made our 4th Form GSCE piece for the dance show so fun and really creative!” – Sophie
As the sessions weren’t linked to assessment, Caroline could see how free pupils felt to try new things, trip up and make mistakes. She said, “As I observed each workshop, I realised how liberating it was for the dance students to go wild and put themselves out there without being marked for what they were doing. All eleven pupils, who have varying abilities, were united in learning new skills and they rose to the challenge enthusiastically. They trusted in the process and I could see how much they grew in confidence as they progressed through each workshop”.
As well supporting their dance development, the bespoke course taught pupils resilience and the importance of allowing themselves to try new things knowing that they might fail. These are hugely valuable skills that the students can apply across all aspects of their College experience and to life beyond Wellington.
“I really enjoyed the way that Adam encouraged us to step out of our comfort zones through the original Avant Garde warm ups and allowed us to feel comfortable in the rehearsal process and on stage.” – Emily
The pupils worked with Adam to choreograph a piece of dance that they performed at the annual Christmas dance show which was themed on Tim Burton’s iconic The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Their abstract, character-based piece saw pupils depict creepy Halloween toys and the children opening these gifts. Jagged, angular and distorted movements were used as they burst out of the gift boxes, creating a tense atmosphere, whilst the children’s characters drew upon their acting skills as well as their dance skills, reacting to the sudden appearance of these toys. The piece climaxed with exciting contact work matched by a crescendo in music and lighting. The teamwork required for such an expressive piece, bonded the group in their first term together as a GCSE set.
The experience of learning from a current professional dancer over several sessions has left a lasting impression on pupils who continue to reference his insights during lessons. Caroline says, “As a dancer, it is relatively hard to take on feedback that has to be
applied physically as it takes repetition to change movement patterns. Having a leading commercial dancer come on to campus and validate what we are teaching within school has really helped our dance pupils to elevate the standard and creativity of their work”.
“The rehearsals were innovative and exciting and they taught me techniques and creative styles which I will carry with me throughout my dance journey!” – Sofia
Find out more about Dance at Wellington College
Courses Within Courses
Courses Within Courses prepares pupils fully for the demands of A Level or the IB Diploma, it is necessary to ‘over-teach’ the GCSE. Any curriculum to GCSE that comprises only the bare specification points risks failing to create a coherent narrative within the discipline. It will also leave pupils unprepared for the increased rigour of Sixth Form study.
At Wellington we treat basic specification as compliance, instead striving to craft a rich and engaging narrative within each subject. Each subject also includes a bespoke ‘course within a course’, delivered for three to six weeks (depending on subject) during the two years to GCSE. At any time, pupils will be studying at least one of these unique courses, aimed at providing colour to our teaching, links between various disciplines, stimulating intellectual curiosity, and promoting deeper understanding of the subject at hand.
