Outline of Course
This course enables students to explore dance's fundamental elements (body, time, energy, space, and relationships) and delve into movement, choreography, and presenting their dance sequences. They also get to experience diverse styles while creating, filming, and editing a group dance film.
Students will explore dance in greater depth through tasks and activities with a focus on choreography and performance. Students will view, respond to and understand a range of dance styles from a variety of cultures and contexts covering social, ethnic and theatre dance. They will explore and learn styles that could include Contemporary, Hula, Jazz, Hip Hop, Disco and African dance. Through this exploration of performance, choreography and technology, they will develop an understanding of dance vocabulary and learn to describe dance movements and intentions. They will experience how dance can be adapted from a live performance to dance on film.
Unit 1 -Performance Unit
All genres of dance can be sorted into three main categories, Ethnic, Social and Theatre Dance. In this Unit, students will learn repertoire from each of these categories. They will partake in physical sessions including workshops from guest choreographers and are given opportunities for performance.
Unit 2 - Group Presentation
In groups, students will immerse themselves in a genre of their choice, followed by crafting a captivating presentation to showcase understanding of the selected genre. The presentation will encompass a physical demonstration, highlighting their chosen style of dance.
Unit 3 - Dance Film
The purpose of this Unit is to experience how dance can be adapted from live performance to dance on film. Students will have the opportunity to create, film and star in their own Music Video.
Outline of Course
Theatre provides opportunities to focus on creativity, share ideas, problem solve, analyse text and build confidence. During this course, students will develop knowledge about how to create, design, direct and perform theatre. Through working collaboratively students will reflect on their place in the world as well as the vital contribution that Theatre makes to their individual, social and cultural identity.
Unit 1 - Playing with Convention
Throughout this Unit, students will be exposed to different theatrical styles and devising companies, broadening their understanding of how different conventions can create the style of a performance. Students will be given multiple stimuli across the Unit for them to experiment with before the final assessment where they can select a stimulus of their choice to devise an original piece of theatre.
Unit 2 - Page to Stage
Students will explore the play Chaos by Laura Lomas, transforming the words into actions and meaning through the staging of a section of the play. As a group, students will direct, perform and create a concept/intention for their audience and each will take on an individual production role. In this role they will have to design and plan a presentation evaluating how their designs within their chosen production element (set, lighting, sound, costume, set or directing) meets the concept of their selected scenes.
Outline of Course
In Year 9, students explore key elements of music with a focus on performance, composition, style and research. They develop key skills to enable them to prepare, rehearse and present music, through the contemporary genres of blues and reggae.
Unit 1 - Blue(s) to Gold
Students develop the ability to interpret and perform music in small ensemble settings and are encouraged to transfer this understanding across multiple instruments. Students demonstrate conceptual acquisition of knowledge gained through this process, by writing and recording an original composition in the style of the blues.
Unit 2 - Don’t Forget Your Roots
The impact of reggae music on the culture of Aotearoa New Zealand is used as a lens to study the aesthetics of genre and explore how style is connected to the ways in which people live and express themselves. By investigating a classic Kiwi reggae song of their choice, students develop not only media and information literacy skills, but an awareness of how to ethically use information from a variety of sources and media.
Outline of Course
The International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (MYP) in the Arts places a greater emphasis on developing the ability to think deeply & creatively, based on individual experiences & contexts.
Through a Visual Arts focus, students are given opportunities to make connections to their own identity & sense of place or belonging.
Students develop their understanding of ‘What, How & Why’ we make Art, applying perceptual, conceptual & technical skills in selected art disciplines, including drawing, painting, printmaking & photography.
Revising & building on existing skills, knowledge & understanding reinforces skills & concepts in a creative learning environment
Unit 1 - The Constructed Landscape
This unit investigates the ways we shape & relate to our environment & how our interactions reflects our Social & Cultural Identity. In this course, year 9 students will explore their personal & cultural identity through an investigation of the area in which they live & work using a Visual Arts Vocabulary.
The unit will explore the Landscape in an Art Historical context. Aspects to be studied could include topics such as: Habitat, Remaking the Landscape Ecological systems, Geographical features, Conservation, Cartography & typography (present in the constructed environment in the form of signs, billboards, advertising & road markings) & Cultural Attitudes.
The Portfolio: For each task students will use a visual language to communicate meaning in their artworks & they will discuss their creative intentions in their planning & their reflections.
Learning in the Visual Arts is an ongoing process that references relevant research from established practice and other sources as appropriate, to support each individual investigation & the best way to document this is through the art journal or process portfolio.
Students, will:
Use a workbook to document each stage of their learning.
Learn about how artworks reflect society & cultures through time & place.
Understand how we value artworks; our motivations for making artworks & how people respond to them.
Engage in a Practice-based Visual Inquiry, using Visual Arts Practices to explore Mātauranga Māori concepts ( systems of knowledge from an indigenous perspective) & related to the Visual Arts including Tūrangawaewae: A Place to Stand. Places where we feel especially empowered & connected. Cultural traditions are an important part of this concept.
Develop their Art literacy (Visual Arts vocabulary) learning to communicate effectively.
Explore the formal elements of composition in their own work & the work of others
Apply knowledge of elements & principles to make artworks
Use a practice-based research approach to investigate visual ideas & images.
Understand the characteristics & constraints of selected techniques
Investigate a range of materials & processes in different fields to establish their visual vocabulary.
Make preparatory studies to show the development of ideas in a workbook.
Learn the value of reflection & evaluation as a means of developing their ideas, their skills & their intentions for their work.
Course costs: $80 for art materials supplied