Chattenden Primary School

Dance

 

Dance is delivered inclusively at Chattenden to all students.

 

Lessons are offered with cross-curriculum teaching and can be adapted to help support the requirements of the class teacher.

 

Chattenden Primary School got through to the finals of the National Dance Competition - a wonderful performance of 'The Cat In The Hat'.

Over the past few years, we have been extremely lucky to have built a good relationship with the mentors of the Create and Dance project organized by The Royal Opera House. The National Nutcracker Competition open to Primary schools in the U.K was entered into by some of our KS2 students who created their own 3 minute performance piece using newly taught skills.  We were blown away and were immensely grateful to have won first place! This gave the children the opportunity to visit the Opera House in London where they participated in a workshop and watched the full length ballet of Swan Lake. The feedback from the children was amazing and it was such a phenomenal opportunity for developing dance skills within our students, as well as providing a cultural experience many students would have missed, had they not been given this chance. 

 

Every year, a wide range of our students are given the opportunities to perform within our Summer Showcase, at sports day and at the local church. Dance is an imperative subject that allows our children to express themselves.  Although the curriculum only stipulates that all pupils can balance, perform basic sequences etc.… dance is far greater of an artform than that. It is the fundamentals of story telling, it is creative problem-solving, it is letting go, it is bettering oneself.  It gives the pure and unfiltered opportunity to shine away from the books and rigorous discipline of academic learning! It is an essential to well-being, teaching students self-understanding, serenity, and focus.