Before the performance of the solo Composition Dance, 3 copies of your rationale that explains your concept/intent and the process of development of the Core Composition Dance are presented to the examiners.

Your rationale should be an individual and personal explanation of YOUR process of creating your Core Composition dance. 300 words will not allow you to go into depth about all of the areas of study. You will need to be succinct in your response, yet still demonstrate your knowledge by using correct composition terminology and specific examples.

After the examiners have read the rationale, they seek further detail or elaboration of up to 6 minutes about the process of composition in relation to your Core Composition Dance. This is called the ‘elaboration’.

This provides you with the opportunity to orally and physically demonstrate your applied knowledge and understanding of the compositional process. In awarding marks for Core Composition, the examiners will take into account the skills and understanding demonstrated by you in the rationale and the elaboration, and in the performance of your composition. The rationale appears in both Criterion 1 and 2 of the marking guidelines used in the HSC Core Composition examination.