To do dance at GCSE or not?

[riverdancefan]

DS will need to focus on his options next year.. my dilemma is this,
The dance at school does not stretch him currently nor is it likely to with what I have witnessed, it all seems to be contemporary Laban-type stuff which he is not keen on anyway, and does not find it challenging at this level.
He is 11 and is just about to take his RAD grade 5 ballet, he always gets distinction or has so far, modern and tap grade 4 about to take the exams for those too. He is grade 5 trinity guildhall for singing.
He is a strong Irish dancer and is a member of a street team for lyrical hip-hop.
I think dance at school will be a bit of a waste of curriculum space for him as he does so much examined work out of school (he will do drama GCSE). I would much rather he used that time to do an extra science or language GCSE.
My question is, will not doing dance GCSE disadvantage him in the future for performing arts courses etc? - or will they take audition skill and dance qualifications?

thank you

[Welsh Mum]

My Dd has several friends who are at vocational dance colleges - London Studio Centre. Bird, Urdang, Laines - and ALL went on audition (plus physio exam and interview). Grades did not come into it - not even vocational grades let alone GCSE. It sounds as jf your DS is doing loeads of dance anyway, so I would not think GCSE Dance is needed.

[riverdancefan]

ahh thanks Welshmum x

[islandofsodor]

The school my dd goes to does not even offer GCSE dance yet several students have gone onto vocational college such as Laines, LSC etc. They all studied dance to a very high standard with a local dance school and it went on audition.

[Coco]

Hi riverdancefan, Sounds as though your son is an amazing dancer. My dd took dance for GCSE last year and on the plus side it was a fun way to get an a*. Your son would walk it by the sound of it!
Most of her other choices were quite academic subjects so it was nice for her to have something nice to do, although there was still some written work. They also had to go and watch some dance performances and analyse them.
My dd probably wouldn't have chosen it necessarily, but at her school, pupils were able to chose it instead of P.E, and she was not exactly a sporty spice and so she was ecstatic at the opportunity to take dance instead !
I don't know if you have been given the options yet but sometimes that can influence the choices depending on what else is in that block.

[puck]

As already mentioned neither GCSEs or any dance exams seem to be taken into account when applying for vocational dance school. My dd is currently in the second year at vocational ballet school and did do GCSE dance at a regular secondary school. Like your son she did lots of dance outside school and was of a high standard. She found that while the actual dancing was 'easy' she did actually gain lots of new skills from the course such as learning to analyse/critic a piece of dance in depth, research context and also develop her own choreography. This was the part she enjoyed most although she was frustrated by the lack of other students who could dance at the level she wanted! Overall the was pleased she did it and of course the A* is a nice to have.

[livininabox]

Hi There
We asked dds dance teachers (at her dance school and her academic school) the same question and they both basically said it would be a total waste of time taking GSCE dance. As she has reached Grade 6 in her RAD Ballet and Grade 4 in NATD Tap &Modern i am told that she has already exceeded GCSE standards. As so many syllabii now gain UCAS points these may well be of better value in the long run? Or so im told

[GEORGIEROSE]

dd did GCSE dance lots of people did it that hadn't danced before- depends how you look at it to be honest-it did add another GCSE to her list for ucas points but didn't benefit the dancing,just her way of avoiding another academic subject

[paulears]

GCSE dance has very little to do with becoming a good dancer. Anyone looking for suitable students will see real, hard fought for grades in specific things - and place appropriate worth on them. GCSE at 14 doesn't create actors or dancers, or musicians - it exposes them to something that they could be good at, but unaware. Kid who have been doing proper dance at a dance school, often with a petite and fierce lady in charge with grey hair and a bun, can dance better than a person starting from scratch and doing two years of GCSE - in fact, they can, once 16, usually do the same thing with A Level and BTEC. They're 'real' dancers, used to the effort and pain required to get really good. A* GCSE grades are a breeze for grade trained actors/singers/dancers/musicians - and sometimes they don't get A* because they've been bored rigid by the low technical standard of the dance. The colleges - the Laines, Birds etc, all know this - so don't worry.

[riverdancefan]

thanks everso for all the replies
It is so helpful getting other people's perspectives on this..and know we have so many more insights and opinions to work from

Looks like he may be doing triple science ...

but at least we have more info to work from

cheers all !