QCAA Dance case studies
QCAA Dance · Put your knowledge to work in context.
QCAA Dance is a senior secondary subject in Queensland, Australia, offered under the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority and contributing to the Queensland Certificate of Education and, for eligible students, an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank. It suits students who want to combine practical dance work with analytical study of how dance makes meaning. The syllabus is organised around two interrelated processes: Making, which covers choreography, performance and production elements, and Responding, which covers analysis, interpretation and evaluation of dance works and practices. Assessment is school-based for most of the course, with external assessment in the final year. The QCAA Dance case studies are 5 cases and about 2,243 words.
1The Overcrowded Trio
A Year 12 student is choreographing a three-dancer work for an assessment. The motif is a sharp, off-centre balance on one leg with the torso twisting away from the supporting side.
462 words, about 2 min2The Unreliable Count
A soloist is preparing a 2-minute 30-second contemporary solo for performance. The choreography includes a slow, sustained floor phrase followed by a rapid, percussive travelling section.
461 words, about 2 min3Reading the Intention
A student is analysing a recorded group work for a responding task. The work opens with eight dancers standing in a tight cluster, facing away from the audience, for 40 seconds of near-silence.
442 words, about 2 min4The Two Readings
Two students are evaluating the same recorded solo for a responding assessment. Student A argues the work is powerful because the dancer's sustained, controlled movement conveys resilience, citing the long balance held near the end.
431 words, about 2 min5The Lighting Cue Conflict
A school dance production has three works in a 40-minute program. The middle work uses a single overhead special that must snap to black at the final pose, followed immediately by a slow fade-up for the closing work.
447 words, about 2 min