Dance and Movement
Domain focus
Dance and movement tests choreographic knowledge, performance safety and response to dance works. You should use the elements of dance, structure movement clearly, and explain how cultural context shapes style.
Core rules and concepts
- Elements: body, action, space, time, energy (BASTE). Actions are locomotor (walk, run, jump, hop, leap, slide, gallop, skip) or non-locomotor (bend, twist, stretch, swing, rise, fall).
- Space: levels, directions, pathways, formations, focus, size. Time: pulse, tempo, metre, duration, accent. Energy: sharp, smooth, sustained, percussive, vibratory, swinging.
- Choreographic devices: motif, repetition, variation, contrast, canon, unison, accumulation, retrograde, mirroring, call-and-response.
- Safe practice: warm-up, alignment, suitable floor, hydration, cool-down, progression from simple to complex. Malawian traditional dances such as gule wa mkulu and vimbuza carry social and spiritual meaning, so movement choices need context.
Worked example
Create an eight-count motif and develop it. Reason: counts 1-4 use step-touch right with a low arm sweep; counts 5-8 repeat on the left for unity. Next phrase repeat the motif but change level, then perform it in canon with two dancers. The motif stays recognisable, while variation, level and canon provide contrast. Check that each count fits the pulse and that landings are soft.
Traps
Choreographing to counts that ignore the musical phrase; using no clear motif; copying a cultural dance without context; unsafe backbends or drops; facing upstage; formations that do not fit the stage; forgetting the cool-down.