International Dance Program
An innovative Dance Program and Teachers Guide designed for Australian Schools to support the Australian National Curriculum.
In 2014 Australian School Dance launched our International Dance Experience to Australian and New Zealand Schools. The program uses dance to engage students in learning about different cultures. Students learn a vibrant, fun and engaging dance syllabus over a school term that has been professionally choreographed for each learning Stage. The syllabus has been created to be an enthralling experience for students and includes dances from four different cultures such as African, Hawaiian Hula, Indian (Bollywood) and American (Hollywood). Taught by Australian School Dance industry professionals, the aim is to use dance to engage students in learning across all areas of the curriculum with a strong focus on cultural studies.
The International Dance Experience is supported by a tailor made Teacher's Guide. This resources database in the style of an annotated bibliography may be used by teachers to implement a study unit based on Africa, Hawaii, America (Hollywood) or India (Bollywood). The Teachers Guide encompasses a range of resources such as internet websites, background information on cultural relevance, books, videos, images, teacher’s resources and lesson plans, activities and project ideas for students from Early Stage 1 to Stage 3. The resources enable teachers to implement lessons to comply with a range of areas across the curriculum from dance, social studies, geography, music, personal education, history, art, drama, numeracy and literacy. The Teachers Guide includes a section on cross-cultural perspectives so students can examine how different cultures impact on each other. It also introduces concepts such as culture, tradition, customs, colonisation, ethnocentricity, globalisation and natural resources.
The International Dance Experience enables each student to learn four dances throughout the term in the style of African, Hawaiian Hula, Bollywood and Hollywood. Each learning stage has different dances designed for that age and learning ability. The program focuses on learning each cultural dance over two weeks with an option to culminate a performance at the conclusion of the term. The classes are a maximum of 30 students and run for 40 minutes. With the help of our annotated bibliography, the class teacher may chose to study the cultural relevance of the dances they are learning. Educators have the flexibility to focus on one dance and culture as a study unit for the entire term or spend two weeks studying each culture in correspondence with the dances the students are learning.
Australian School Dance has professional dance teachers to implement the International Dance Experience in schools. Reliable, fun, friendly and positive individuals who love to share their passion for dance with school students. The International Dance experience is sophisticated dance syllabus supported by a comprehensive Teacher’s Guide to maximise your student’s enjoyment and learning.
