Dance

HSC Dance student. Year 10 Dance student Year 9 student performing HSC Dance work

Katoomba High School offers Dance as an elective subject to Years 8 – 12.

Dance exists in many forms and involved the development of physical skills as well as aesthetic, artistic and cultural understanding. At Katoomba High, it is important that dance students build confidence, develop skills and accomplish their goals.

Dance is explored, performed and viewed all over the world and is a vital part of every culture. It tells us something about the way people think and feel, who they are, and it allows us to bond and communicate. Dance is also a fun way of socialising and exercising not only our body, but our mind also, via coordination and problem solving.

At Katoomba High School, students develop knowledge, understanding and skills in the following areas:

Performance allows students to learn difference dance styles/techniques, safe dance principles to prevent injury, anatomy and the importance of nutrition. They are also encouraged to develop their confidence and performance quality.
Composition allows students to use their individual creativity as a form of expression to communicate ideas and develop original movement.
Appreciation is the study, research and analysis of past and present contemporary dance works, companies and choreographers. Students also study the cultural and social contexts of dance works.

As students' progress through Stages 4, 5 and 6, they build on their previous learning, as dance is

spiral in nature. They build on the knowledge, understanding, values and attitudes offered in the

artform and are challenged to develop physically, creatively and intellectually in all components.

The HSC Practical Examination waiting room!
Congratulations to Year 12 Dance students on completing their HSC studies.

Students explore Dance through a variety of units or work, including Dance on Film, Ballet, Modern Dance, The Elements of Dance, Dance Production, Social and Cultural Dance to name a few. A diverse range of technology is available to be used with dance students. For example, creating PowerPoint presentations, constructing electronic dance journals, developing composition works using choreographic software and generating film.

Dance Production (character make-up)

Katoomba High students are offered several opportunities to represent the school and showcase their talents in various dance festivals such as the Sydney West Dance Festival, Blue Mountains and Nepean Dance Festival and the Upper Blue Mountains Dance Festival. Further performance opportunities include school assemblies, Education week displays, presentation and graduation evenings and local community events, such as Winter Magic.

Recently, students have had the opportunity to view professional dance works by companies such as Sydney Dance Company, Bangarra Dance Theatre and Chunky Move and also participate in workshops with teachers and choreographers from 'youMOVE', ‘So You Think You Can Dance', 'Dancing with the Stars' and ‘Australia's Got Talent'. Dance students are also encouraged to attend the ‘Dance Off!' Regional Dance Camp, Boys Dance Camp and the Indigenous Dance Camp. This year also saw the beginnings of successful Break Dancing workshops.

Break Dancing workshop with Don Napalan