Welcome to Reigate College’s Dance Department.
My name is Helen Patterson and I’m the course leader for Dance A Level. We’re so pleased you’ll be coming to Reigate College to study Dance and we’re looking forward to you joining our busy department at the beginning of the academic year.
Over the coming months, I’d like you to complete a series of tasks and activities to prepare you for the start of the course. These tasks should all be completed independently at home, but you’ll have the chance to talk about what you’ve learnt with other Dance students when your lessons begin in September.
The tasks are organised in three distinct steps and should all be completed by Choices Day on 25 August 2026. This is to give you the best insight into what the courses will be like and/or help prepare you for them.
Please note, some Course Leaders (for example for Music) may release their tasks earlier, as they may form part of the College’s audition process. If this applies to you, you’ll be notified separately.
New Starters Course Tasks and Activities
| Release date | Suggested Completion Dates | |
| Explore your Subject | 1 June | 1 July |
| Get Going | 1 June | 1 August |
| Aim High | 1 June | 1 September |
Exploring Dance
Analysing dance works is a key component of the A-level Dance course. It is vital that you see as many live performances as possible as this will help develop your critical analysis skills and inspire your own choreographic works.
Use the links below to see if there are any live performances that you could attend.
If you are unable to attend a live performance then there are lots of dance works that show on streaming sites or platforms like YouTube.
Make some notes on what you have seen including 3 things that you enjoyed about the performance and 3 things that you might not have understood or enjoyed.
Technical Preparation
Contemporary technique training forms an important part of your A-Level Dance course.
- Take some time to work thorough some of the class links below.
- Make sure you have a safe space to work in.
- Listen to the teaching points that are given for each exercise.
- Once you have worked through the classes make some notes on your technical strengths and weaknesses
- X3 Technical strengths
- X3 Areas for Development.
Complete Contemporary Dance Class #3 – Italia Conti Virtual
Complete online Contemporary Class #1- Follow along version – warm up, adage, allegro and a routine
Analysing Dance
What is Dance?
- What are the different ways that dance can impact our lives?
- Where do we see and experience dance?
- Do particular styles have significant meaning?
- Can dance be enjoyed by all ages and levels of mobility?
- Is dance just about performance by highly talented dancers or can it be experienced within other ways such as healthcare and wellbeing?
- Do we have to physically participate in dance to be able to enjoy it?
Carry out some research into what dance means to different people. Consider some of the above questions during your research.
Decide on a way that you can promote dance and share your research. You could create a poster, information leaflet, PowerPoint presentation or a short written report.
Head of Dance
