Exams
Right Our first ever contemporary dance exams to take place in Canada. At the end of November, Denise Fung of the Contemporary School of Dance in Ontario entered candidates for their Intermediate Foundation in contemporary dance.
A round-up of our latest examinations news and features
Appointment of lead examining teams In January 2021 we will begin our annual Examiner Training Programme. Commencing with the Modern and Tap faculties, this will be a historic moment as we take the standardisation process online for the very first time. Much preparation work has been happening behind the scenes in recent weeks, and we are now very much looking forward to bringing this to new initiative to fruition. To better facilitate the process, we have been appointing examiner colleagues to lead examining teams who will collectively take responsibility for leading and delivering the training, monitoring the effectiveness of the standardisation and marking processes, safeguarding standards over time and providing consistent support, advice and guidance mechanisms for our examiners. Further lead examining team appointments and examiner training in other genres will continue throughout 2021. Beyond the online standardisation we will be working with the lead examiner teams to facilitate a number of other initiatives all designed to improve the support we can give to our incredibly hard-working examiners, who have shown themselves to be infinitely adaptable during the challenges of the past year. Liz Dale, Director of Dance
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Gender in dance Jessica Allen, diversity consultant and former professional dancer, gives her perspective With important conversations around transgender people sparking up all over the world, the inclusion of trans identities in everyday life has become an urgent talking point. Over the past decade, the microphone has slowly been turning towards the performing arts, as a community, to speak up about just how we intend to make space for trans individuals. How can we include this ever-marginalised group in performing and creating? As a former professional dancer turned teacher and trans advocate, I’ve certainly encountered pushback. The pushback against trans people in dance often comes in two distinct topics: the topics of tradition and physicality. The idea that trans people didn’t exist in the past, so they can’t possibly be a part of any past narratives, and the argument that trans people’s bodies don’t adhere to the standards that the dance world has deemed ‘aesthetically pleasing.’ Dance has its roots firmly in tradition. When we think of the origins of classical ballet, for example, we tend to imagine French aristocrats, led by Catherine de’ Medici, sculpting the art form from 16th-century Italian dance
Dance | Issue 491
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