VCE Dance study guide
VCE Dance · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
VCE Dance is a Victorian Certificate of Education study design published by the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA), with an accreditation period from 2019. It is intended for senior secondary students in Victoria who are building performance, choreography and analysis skills within a recognised senior qualification. The study design sets out areas of study, outcomes and assessment for Dance Units 1–4, so it spans both the preparatory and the scored senior units. For Units 3 and 4, the VCAA publishes a prescribed list of dance works that students study and analyse. Topics on this exam: Units 3 and 4 Dance (prescribed list of dance works) and School-based Assessment. The VCE Dance study guide has 2 sections and about 792 words.
01Units 3 and 4 Dance: The Prescribed List of Dance Works
Every question in this domain is anchored to works on the current VCAA prescribed list of dance works. You are not asked to recall trivia about a work but to analyse it through the three prescribed processes: analyse , interpret and evaluate . Know, for each work you study, the choreographer, the year and context of creation, the genre or style, the number and roles of dancers, the movement vocabulary and phrasing, the use of space, time, energy and the design elements (costume, lighting, set, sound), and the intention or theme. Be able to separate movement analysis (what the body does: actions, dynamics, spatial pathways, groupings) from interpretation (meaning created through those choices) and evaluation (judgements about how effectively intention is realised).
410 words, about 2 min02School-based Assessment: Performance, Choreography and Written Tasks
School-based assessment in Units 3 and 4 Dance combines solo and group performance , composition and choreography , and written analysis . Each task has a rubric tied to the study design: technical accuracy, artistry and expression, phrasing and musicality, spatial awareness and group cohesion for performance; and for composition, the development of a movement vocabulary, use of form and structure, manipulation of the elements, and realisation of an intention. Know the difference between safe dance practice (alignment, warm-up and cool-down, hydration, appropriate flooring and footwear, injury prevention) and technical competence (line, extension, control, balance, coordination, elevation). Understand compositional devices such as repetition, inversion, retrograde, canon, unison, contrast, motif development and transitions.
382 words, about 2 min