NATD Dancers Under the Spotlight

Students who have been part of Anja Nash’s co-curricular Dance hobby this year were pleased to have the opportunity to show off their skills to National Association of Teachers of Dance (NATD) examiner, Sharon Roberts on Tuesday 13^th June.

The dancers have been diligently working on their set pieces and their original choreography as well as learning the ‘Teacher’s Dance’ choreographed by Anja over the past three terms. The examinations for Grades 5, 6 and for the Annual Performance Awards were nerve-wrecking but also provided a chance for students to reflect on how far they have come since starting the NATD course. The students will discover how they have done in the end of term Collect.

Anja commented, “The Grade pieces are a lot of set choreography that they are given whereas the Annual Performance Awards are a lot freer and a lot more open. There is a chance for students to do their own choreography; we had some people do street; we had someone doing a chair dance. Grade 5s work on the syllabus then work on the choreographies. With the Grade 6s, which was new for us this year, we did duets for their teacher’s dance which was lovely as you can work more on the contact work and working together.

There is a lot of prep for the questions that the students can be asked as well. This really varies depending on the examiner. This year she was really interested in their choreographies. It was a long day but it was lovely.

The students have done really, really well. It was our first year of doing it last year and a lot of them that did it last year had never done a dance exam before. I was really impressed with their commitment and how they really rose to it. The Grade 6s took a real step up from last year; I was really proud of them.”

Dance is a real highlight of life at Leighton Park with the subject providing a popular option for GCSE study as well as a range of co-curricular options. At the lower end of the School all students enjoy one Dance lesson per week whereas in the Sixth Form a new course from September 2023 will provide A Level classes.