Recognising talent in dance

The indicators for identifying talent in dance have been categorised into three strands of learning:

  • Creating/composing
  • Appreciating
  • Performing

It is important when using the indicators to recognise that pupils can possess talent in any of the three strands. A pupil demonstrating a gift in theoretical and academic aspects of appreciation is likely however to be identified as having exceptional ability within English. A pupil having a talent in practical applications of appreciation will show ability in one, or both, of the other two areas and it is these that will be the focus of the advice here. When making and performing dances, artistic and aesthetic judgements are being made. Although it should be understood that these might be at an intuitive level, talented pupils will apply their critical thinking skills to their practice in either creating/composing or in performance.

A pupil may have a talent for performing dance in one specific dance style; for example, high level skill in ballet, without possessing high level ability in the creating and composing category. It is also important to recognise that a pupil without any prior dance experience may also possess talent in performing without it being aligned to training in one dance style. Such an individual may demonstrate talent in expressing the meaning of the choreography through the physicality of their performance and a strong performer/audience communication, and show only limited potential in controlling the body when executing movement, etc.

Often skills in executing accurate and controlled dance movement are more easily recognisable, but it is important not to define performing as narrowly as this, so that pupils who have high level expressive skills and have the potential to extend their technical facility are not excluded.

This particularly applies to those pupils who are disabled and it should be recognised that they could have ability in both choreography and performance. Any pupil demonstrating particular creative ability in dance can still have a talent without being an high level performer of dance.

It is also important in the creating/ composing category to understand that a pupil may be able to apply the structures of choreography to manipulate movement material. However, the pupil is only likely to be deemed talented if this is accompanied by one of the other two indicators which recognise imagination and originality in designing movement.

In using these indicators, teachers may need to make a judgment in comparison with the typical performance of a child of similar age. It is advisable to use the three strands of learning identified here and, if necessary, make some comparison with National Curriculum levels for PE.

However, these pupils' abilities may be very dance specific and not easily related to the attainment levels provided. The National Curriculum programme of study for PE could loosely be aligned to these indicators as follows: acquiring and developing skills (performing); selecting and applying skills, tactics and compositional ideas (creating/composing); evaluating and improving performance (appreciating); knowledge and understanding of fitness and health (performing/appreciating).

The dance indicators

Pupils with talent in dance will show evidence of particular ability in:

Creating and composing by:

  • Responding imaginatively to a range of external stimuli when creating movement, and demonstrating artistic sensitivity
  • Experimenting freely and confidently with movement and making considered decisions about the selection of appropriate material to incorporate into their finished work
  • Using space and relationships meaningfully, to express the intention of their dance idea. Space will include the dancer's own personal space and the general space (directions, levels, staging etc) Relationships may be dancer to dancer, dancer to physical environment or dancer to music
  • Applying the skills of choreography inventively to manipulate movement material and to structure a final product

Appreciating by:

  • Observing and applying critical thinking to their own dance work and that of others, and using their analytical judgments to shape and develop their own practice and performance
  • Making links between the choreographer's intentions, the compositional structures used and the performance qualities displayed by the dancers

Performing by:

  • Controlling and co-ordinating the body when executing movement whilst successfully combining timing, action, spatial and dynamic content
  • Expressing the meaning of the choreography and/or the stylistic features of the dance genre through the physicality of their performance and a strong performer/audience communication
  • Responding to music/sound with sensitivity and rhythmic awareness, and expressing the musical qualities through their performance of the movement

Note exceptional performance in one dance style can constitute a talent, for example, ballet, jazz, tap, break dance, bharata natyam, contemporary, ballroom, etc.