Performing Arts
At St Dominic's College, Year 7, 8 and 9 students complete a year long Arts rotation in which they are exposed to key aspects of Dance, Drama, Music and Visual Art. After Year 9 students are then able to choose which Arts they would like take with all areas going through to Year 13 and NCEA Level 3.
St Dominic’s Catholic College Dance
St Dominic’s Catholic College teaches dance because we recognise that the physical, social, emotional and spiritual well-being of students is enhanced through active participation in dance. Through practical work in dance students integrate thinking, moving and feeling; they also develop their ability to move with variety, sensitivity and control. Engagement in creative and collaboration processes in dance helps to develop self-awareness, confidence, literacy and management skills.
Dance is one of the primary ways of transmitting cultural understandings. Dance at St Dominic’s Catholic College allows students to explore the dance heritages of diverse cultures in our school and from the wider community as well as allowing students to explore styles associated with their own culture.
Dance is a unique form of expression that is usually not mediated by words. The emphasis in the St Dominic’s Catholic College programme on choreography allows students to express themselves in a non-verbal way, and gives them another way of responding to the world.
Students become literate in dance as they explore and use dance vocabularies and practices to choreograph, perform, view and understand dance works across a range of genres and contexts.
“Dance is expressive movement that has intent, purpose and form”.
The New Zealand Curriculum, (2007), p20.
Outside of the classroom students have the opportunity to participate in ASB Auckland Secondary Schools Maori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival (Polyfest) and there are also a number of other performance opportunities including the annual Dance Showcase. St Dominic’s Dance students have been successful in 2012 our Head Girl gained Top in New Zealand for Dance Scholarship and a number of students have gone on to purse dance further at tertiary level.