GCSE Dance at Babel
Turn Your Love of Dance into a GCSE Qualification
For some young dancers, there comes a point when dance becomes more than simply something they do each week.
They want to understand it.
Create it.
Analyse it.
Perform it.
And discover just how far their passion for dance could take them.
GCSE Dance gives young people the opportunity to turn something they already love into a recognised academic qualification.
At Babel School of Dance, we have been delivering GCSE Dance successfully for many years, giving students the opportunity to study the qualification outside of their mainstream school.
Why Study GCSE Dance at Babel?
Not every secondary school offers GCSE Dance.
That shouldn’t mean a young person who is passionate about dance has to miss the opportunity to study it.
At Babel, students can complete their GCSE Dance alongside the GCSE subjects they are studying at school.
Our students benefit from learning within a dance environment where they are surrounded by people who understand the subject, understand dancers and understand that GCSE Dance requires much more than simply being able to perform.
It is a challenging, creative and incredibly rewarding qualification.
And we absolutely love teaching it.
GCSE Dance Is So Much More Than Dancing
One of the biggest misconceptions about GCSE Dance is that students simply turn up and dance.
They don’t!
GCSE Dance combines performance, choreography and theoretical study.
Students learn to become performers, choreographers and critical thinkers.
They develop their ability to analyse professional dance works, understand choreographic intention, recognise and evaluate performance skills and communicate their ideas using appropriate dance terminology.
They also learn how to create their own choreography, taking an idea from its earliest stages through to a completed piece of work.
It gives young dancers the opportunity to understand dance on an entirely different level.
What Will I Study?
GCSE Dance is divided into two main components.
Component 1 — Performance & Choreography
Students develop their practical dance skills through performance and choreography.
They will work on:
Performance — developing physical, technical, expressive and mental skills.
Set phrases — learning and performing prescribed movement material.
Duet/Trio Performance — performing as part of a small group and demonstrating the ability to work effectively with other dancers.
Choreography — creating an original solo or group dance in response to a given stimulus or task.
Students learn how movement choices, structure, dynamics, space, relationships and choreographic devices can all be used to communicate an intention to an audience.
This practical component represents 60% of the final GCSE qualification.
Component 2 — Dance Appreciation
Students also study the theory behind dance.
They develop knowledge and understanding of:
Choreographic processes and skills
Performance skills
Their own performance and choreography
Professional dance works
Dance production and performance environments
Students study the GCSE Dance anthology and learn how to analyse, interpret, compare and evaluate professional works.
Component 2 is assessed through a written examination and represents 40% of the final qualification.
Yes — There Is a Written Exam!
We always think it’s important that students and parents understand this from the beginning.
GCSE Dance is an academic qualification as well as a practical one.
Students need to be prepared to write about dance as well as perform it.
They learn subject-specific vocabulary and develop the skills needed to explain, analyse, interpret and evaluate movement, choreography and professional dance works.
For many students, this is where GCSE Dance completely changes the way they look at dance.
They stop simply watching a performance and begin asking:
Why did the choreographer make that choice?
What is the dancer communicating?
How are the movement, music, costume, lighting and staging working together?
They begin to see dance through different eyes.
A Two-Year Journey
GCSE Dance at Babel is delivered as a two-year course.
This gives students time to develop their practical skills, understand the theoretical content, explore choreography and gradually prepare for their final assessments and written examination.
GCSE Dance requires commitment.
Students need to attend regularly, complete work between lessons when required and take responsibility for their learning.
But they won’t be doing it alone.
We support our students throughout the journey.
Who Can Study GCSE Dance?
Our GCSE Dance programme is primarily available to students in Years 9–11.
We may consider younger students where they demonstrate both the dance ability and academic maturity required to undertake GCSE-level study.
Students do not necessarily need to be studying every style of dance at Babel to enquire about the programme.
What matters is that they have the appropriate dance foundations, enthusiasm, commitment and willingness to learn.
If you’re unsure whether your child is ready, please talk to us.
We would much rather have that conversation and advise you honestly about the best time to begin.
You Don’t Have to Be the “Best Dancer in the Room”
GCSE Dance isn’t only for the student who can do the highest kick, the most turns or the most complicated choreography.
There is so much more to being a successful GCSE Dance student.
We look for students who are prepared to listen, learn, think, question, create, practise and persevere.
Students develop throughout the two-year course.
That’s the point.
They aren’t expected to arrive knowing everything.
We’re here to teach them.
Discovering Choreography
For many students, GCSE Dance is the first time they have been given the opportunity to really explore choreography.
They learn that choreography isn’t simply putting some favourite steps together.
There is an idea.
An intention.
A structure.
Choices about space, dynamics and relationships.
Movement is selected, developed, refined and organised to communicate something to an audience.
Watching a student take the beginnings of an idea and gradually transform it into their own piece of choreography can be one of the most exciting parts of the course.
Developing the Whole Dancer
GCSE Dance can help students become more thoughtful, independent and versatile dancers.
They develop:
Performance skills
Choreographic skills
Creativity
Critical thinking
Analytical skills
Written communication
Teamwork
Independence
Time management
Confidence
Resilience
Students learn to give and receive feedback, evaluate their own work and recognise where improvements can be made.
These skills don’t only matter in dance.
They are valuable skills for education, employment and life.
Our GCSE Dance Results
Babel has a proud history of GCSE Dance success.
Over the years, our students have achieved some outstanding GCSE Dance results, including students achieving the highest grades.
But while we’re enormously proud of examination results, we’re equally proud of the journey behind them.
Every student’s starting point is different.
For us, success isn’t only the grade written on a results sheet.
It is seeing a student become more confident.
Watching them discover that they can choreograph.
Hearing them confidently analyse a professional dance work.
Seeing them persevere when something is difficult.
And watching them walk away from the course understanding dance in a way they didn’t before.
That’s success too.
Friendships, Memories & Working Together
GCSE Dance can also create wonderful friendships.
Students spend two years learning, creating, rehearsing, discussing and sometimes overcoming challenges together.
They support one another.
They perform together.
They share ideas.
They celebrate one another’s successes.
For students completing GCSE Dance outside their mainstream school, it can also be a lovely opportunity to meet other young people who share the same passion for dance.
Some of those friendships can continue long after the course has finished.
Where Could GCSE Dance Take Me?
For some students, GCSE Dance will simply be an opportunity to study a subject they love.
For others, it may become the beginning of something much bigger.
GCSE Dance can provide a valuable foundation for progression into A Level Dance, BTEC Performing Arts, vocational dance training and further or higher education in dance and the performing arts.
It can also support young people interested in careers including performance, choreography, teaching, arts administration and the wider creative industries.
Not every GCSE Dance student will pursue a career in dance — and they don’t need to.
The confidence, creativity, communication, teamwork and analytical skills developed through the course can be valuable whatever they choose to do next.
Studying GCSE Dance Outside School
We understand that taking an additional GCSE outside mainstream school is a commitment for both the student and their family.
That’s why we want parents and students to understand what is involved before enrolling.
GCSE Dance requires regular attendance, independent study, practical rehearsals, theoretical learning and commitment across the full two-year programme.
We have high expectations of our GCSE students.
But those expectations come with support.
We want students to take responsibility for their qualification while knowing that they have people around them who genuinely want them to succeed.
GCSE Dance at Babel
We have been involved in GCSE Dance for many years, and we remain passionate about giving young dancers access to a qualification that isn’t always available through their mainstream school.
We know the course.
We know the challenges.
We know there will be moments when students feel incredibly confident — and moments when they need encouragement to keep going.
And we know just how proud they can feel when, after two years of work, they reach the end of their GCSE Dance journey.
Dance is already an important part of their lives. GCSE Dance gives them the opportunity to understand it, question it, create it and achieve a recognised qualification through it.
Interested in GCSE Dance?
If your child is considering GCSE Dance, please get in touch with us before enrolling.
We can talk to you about the course, your child’s current dance experience, the level of commitment required and whether we believe it is the right next step for them.
Have a Question About GCSE Dance?
Please ask us.
There is a lot to understand when considering an additional GCSE, and we’re very happy to talk it through with parents and prospective students.
Call or text: 07961 153666
Email: office@babeldance.co.uk
GCSE Dance at Babel — perform it, create it, understand it.
Doing GCSE dance has helped me make amazing friends and I have a built a very close relationship with the teachers. I have learned so much in 2 years. GCSE Dance is great fun and an interesting course to enjoy.”
Ariana Mihailov (Student) July 2017
“Taking GCSE Dance outside of school has made me a more confident dancer. I really enjoyed the whole of the two years. GCSE Dance has helped me understand dance and choreography on a whole new level, and will help me pursue a career in dance. Thanks”
Amber-Jade – Grade C 2013 (Yr 9)
“Taking GCSE dance made me aware of so much a dancer needs to think about that is so important. Before the course I never really had a chance to choreograph my plans and ideas which is what I want to do. Sara & Sam took me down the right path in helping me every step of the way and advising me and the others, organising, giving up their time, just so that we were comfortable with what we were doing. I made so many new friends. GCSE dance opened me up more as a dancer allowing me to discover skills and a deeper feeling for dance I never knew I had. I thoroughly recommend it as I can assure you that you will leave the course with absolutely the right knowledge to continue on your path to being a dancer or working to help others achieve their goals in the dance world”
Becky P – Grade B 2013 (Yr 9)
“GCSE Dance is a fresh and vibrant specification which includes popular performance and choreography, alongside a new collection of shorter, more diverse and accessible professional works. To engage and inspire your students, we’ve taken a creative new approach to the written paper.”
Liz Dale,
GCSE Principal Examiner and Moderator
AQA GCSE SPECIFICATION
Specification at a glance
This qualification is linear. Linear means that students will sit all their exams and submit all their non-exam assessment at the end of the course.
Subject content
Core content
- Performance
- Choreography
- Dance appreciation
Assessments
Students must complete both assessment components.
| What’s assessed
Performance · Set phrases through a solo performance (approximately one minutein duration) · Duet/trio performance (three minutes in a dance which is a maximum of five minutes in duration) Choreography · Solo or group choreography – a solo (two to two and a half minutes) or a group dance for two to five dancers (three to three and a halfminutes) |
| How it’s assessed
Internally marked and externally moderated Performance · 30% of GCSE · 40 marks Choreography · 30% of GCSE · 40 marks Total component 60% Non-exam assessment (NEA) marked by the centre and moderated by AQA. |
| What’s assessed
· Knowledge and understanding of choreographic processes and performing skills · Critical appreciation of own work · Critical appreciation of professional works |
| How it’s assessed
· 40% of GCSE · Written exam: 1 hour 30 minutes · 80 marks |
| Questions
Based on students’ own practice in performance and choreography and the GCSE Dance anthology. |
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