Choosing and notifying students

Teacher dance resource developed by The Arts Unit

Audition process

Having an audition process is a great experience for the students, even if you end up taking all who participated. It gives the students a sense of purpose and a challenge. The audition also helps to set a strong culture of high expectations. Make sure to give the students plenty of notice for the audition. At least a week is preferable. You can announce this in the same way as your advertisement.

Structure of the audition

Decide on how you will structure your audition.

How much time do you have? At least 30 minutes and up to an hour is ideal.
How much space do you have? A classroom or a school hall will be fit for purpose.
Will you have another teacher with you? It is highly recommended that you have an additional teacher sit on the panel with you. It is great for the students to see that multiple teachers are taking part and shows parents/carers that there is a fair and equitable decision making process.
What activities will you complete in the audition? A variety of activities is key to the selection of your group. See below.

Warm-up

A quick and effective warm-up is necessary so that you have time to audition the students. See the ‘structure of the class’ section on warm-up to devise your own.

Sequence

Have a sequence ready to teach the students yourself. See the ‘how to create a dance’ section for further information.

Teach the students a sequence of movement from the work you would like them to perform. Aim for at least 24 counts of movement that includes a variety of skills. Ideally you will use this as a part of your dance.

Creative task

Composition actives are a great way to see the creativity levels of your students. Students often have great ideas to include in your dance and a collaborative approach meets the syllabus outcomes.

1 to 2 creative tasks are sufficient for your audition (depending on time). This should also be related to the theme of the dance you are going to prepare for performance and ideally you will use some of these ideas in the dance.

Creative task for audition example

Select your stimulus/theme and present it to the students.

Improvise 1 gesture (a movement of part of the body, especially a hand or the head, to express an idea or meaning) that you believe could represent the stimulus.
Embellish (add detail to) each gesture, making the gesture smaller or larger, adding levels, or changing the direction of each gesture.
Place them in an 8-count sequence where you hit the pose and hold on count 8.
Repeat steps 1-3 to create a second movement sequence using a different gesture.
Join your 2 movement sequences together using a transition. A transition could include: run, walk, melt, travel or turn.

Recording your audition

Make sure to record the audition, so that you can go back and have a look at the footage to make your decision. This is especially important if you have a large number of students participating and it will assist you in providing feedback to students who are not successful in their audition. A phone or tablet will be sufficient and the recommendation is to record all aspects of the audition. You may like to set this up on a tripod. Ensure the device is plugged into a power source or has enough battery for the audition session.

Marking criteria/rubric

A marking criteria is vital in the audition process and will help you to differentiate between the students skill levels. Decide what you want the group to achieve and what skills students will need to achieve this. A marking rubric will show a transparent audition process and will help you to give feedback to parents/carers and students who are unsuccessful in their audition.

Skills could include:

Performance - how well the students perform set movement
Creativity - how well the students create movement from a stimulus
Collaboration - how well the students work together.

Sample audition marking criteria/rubric and audition spreadsheet

Sample Audition Marking Rubric.pdf

Call back

Depending on the amount of students you have participating in the audition, it may be necessary to have a call back.

A call back is where selected students are asked to participate in another audition round. For the call back you might see the same movement sequences again or get them to learn and/or compose another sequence, depending on time and the amount of students you have.

After this round you should be ready to finalise your dance group list.

Acceptance/non-acceptance

Often the most difficult parts of the process.

Use your marking rubrics and audition spreadsheet to identify students with the highest grades and select from the top down the amount of students you can take into the group.

As a general rule, most dance festivals only allow a minimum of 6 performers and a maximum of 30 performers.

Check with your supervisor and/or principal regarding the numbers as it may be more cost effective for the school to take a smaller amount of students (minimising disruption to staffing if the dance group is out for the day).

You may like to create a reserve list for circumstances where students are unable to be in the dance group after they have been accepted.

Notifying students

Notify the students in the most appropriate way for your school and circumstances. You may like to discuss this with your supervisor and/or Principal. For students that are unsuccessful in their audition you may choose to give them the marking criteria feedback from the audition to improve for next year. It is important that these students still have a positive experience so that they remain interested in the program for next years' audition.

When notifying your successful students it is important that you give them and their parents all of the available information you have about the group. Include information about:

expectations for behaviour at school to be included in the dance group (you may like to discuss with your supervisor and/or Principal)
expectations for commitment to the group
rehearsal times and expectations
proposed performance opportunities
costs involved
parent involvement required.

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Third-party content attributions

State Dance Festival image, photographer: Anna Warr.

Primary dance workshop images 1-6, photographer: Anna Warr.

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