Course Objectives

The students will be able to:

• Create and perform simple dances based on knowledge of choreography and creativity as well as skills in improvisation, both individually and in cooperation with others.
• Plan, carry out and assess instruction in dance for children and adolescents, and for girls and boys with differing abilities and cultural backgrounds.

Course Description

3 ECTS, 1st year/one-year programme

The target area includes 3 dimensions: creating, practising and understanding.

Creating dance:

• Play and improvisation
• Creativity
• Movement factors/dynamics: Power, space, time and movement

Practising dance:

• Creative dance
• Rhythm work
• Demonstrate basic skills in creative dance, Norwegian and foreign folk dances and rhythm play

Understanding dance:

• Norwegian and foreign dancing traditions
• The elements of dance
• Ability to give an account of the role of dance in the curricula of primary and secondary schools
• Planning, executing and assessing dance for children in lower secondary schools (5th -7th grades).

7 ECTS, 2nd year of study

Content

Dance in the second year of study will be a further development of the dimensions studied during the first year, i.e. creating, practising and understanding dance. The work with dance during this year of study will focus mainly on the 8th to 10th grades and upper secondary schools.

Creating dance:

• Creativity in theory and practice
• Creative dance as a working method
• From idea to dance
• Choreography as a tool for dancing
• Dance performance

Practising dance:

• Dancing skills
• Foreign folk dancing and dances from other cultures
• Dancing and teaching ballroom dancing
• Dancing and teaching jazz dancing as well as a selection of dances from adolescent dance culture
• Demonstrating and teaching creative dancing as a method
• Applying knowledge and skills in the teaching of children and adolescents

Understanding dance:

• Dance as a global, national and local form of expression
• Description of Norwegian and European dance history
• Description of the role of dance in schools
• Dance as a form of expression

Learning Methods

3 ECTS, 1st year of study/one-year programme

The target area dance will be organised into lectures and practical work, with the main focus on the latter. The work will be carried out individually and in groups. Students will gain experience of practical methodological arrangements in dance which will be documented in writing.

7 ECTS, 2nd year of study

The teaching and learning methods will include dance, self-training, lectures, group work, self-study and dance performances.

Practical work involving dance will be given priority in the teaching.

The students will, during the course of the year, complete a project in groups. This will be concluded with a dance performance in which the groups will be responsible for the choreography and presentation. A log must be submitted once the project has been completed.

Assessment Methods

3 ECTS, 1st year of study/one-year programme

Obligatory work must be assessed as passed in the first year of study in order for the student to sit the final examination in the second year. Requirements for the first year of study:

• Minimum of 80 % participation
• Practical – methodological work in dance including a written report; pass/fail.

Each course unit must receive a passing grade in order for the major course unit to receive a passing grade.

Please refer to Telemark University College’s examination regulations for further information.

7 ECTS, 2nd year of study

The students must have received a passing mark for obligatory work before they will be permitted to take the final examination:

• Minimum of 80% participation
• Project work/dance performance in groups including a log
• 3 written assignments, individually or in groups

Final examination

The final examination consists of one practical component and one oral component:

• Individual practical methodological examination in dance, counts for 80% of the grade.
• Oral examination in the syllabus literature related to the practical/methodological examination, counts for 20%.

Organisation

• The students will receive the assignment questions 2 days before the first day of the examination.
• The students will carry out a 20-minute practical-methodological arrangement for fellow students, and in addition will be given a 10-minute oral examination based on the syllabus literature.

Each course unit must receive a passing grade in order for the student to receive a passing grade for the major course unit.

Please refer to Telemark University College’s examination regulations for further information.

Minor adjustments may occur during the academic year, subject to the decision of the Dean