Dance
We offer dance as part of our curriculum at senior (SACE) levels. Dance is also a popular co-curricular activity and performances occur regularly as part of the Performing Arts program. Students are involved in musicals and dance evenings and are trained by experienced dance teachers. Dance is held in the David Jarman Room, which is a large purpose built dance studio equipped with ballet barres, mirror, special dance flooring and video facility.
Our Dance curriculum includes Ballet, Jazz, and Contemporary.
Our highly qualified Dance teachers specialise in Ballet and Jazz (many styles of Jazz) and also have a Contemporary dance background, offering a real advantage to the students to broaden their dance experience as well as providing options for Year 12 assessment. At Westminster we are giving them the chance to achieve their best marks by showing the genres in which they excel.
All levels are being trained in Jazz, Ballet and Contemporary and body conditioning and will have the opportunity to perform during the year. All students also create dance by learning and practising composition and choreography. Students also do some dance theory which gives them a deeper insight into the arts and culture.
Year 8 theory includes learning about what goes on in a theatre and theatre personnel, as well as other aspects of dance production (design, costumes, stage make-up etc). From Years 9 to 11 students learn about safe dance practice and injury prevention, dance in Australia (history and current companies and choreography) and learn how to analyse and evaluate dance.
Trips to the Australian Ballet are organised for students to watch a class in progress as well as some performance work. We aim to broaden their knowledge of all of the possibilities that dance offers.
There are five co-curricular dance groups, three in the Preparatory School based on their year level and two in the Senior School based on ability, technique and experience. We currently have more students doing dance than any other private school in Adelaide. Both male and female students are involved over 12 year levels at Westminster.
