GSCE/A Level Dance and appropriate areas of study

GCSE PERFORMING ARTS: DANCE, AS AND A2 LEVEL DANCE are administered by the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA). You can obtain further information on AQA dance courses and guidelines from their website www.aqa.org.uk.

Throughout the UK there are several colleges offering these courses and it is therefore advisable to contact your Local Education Authority (or any further afield if necessary), who should be able to give details of those that do.

Vocational schools do not require potential students to have GCSE/A-Level dance qualifications. They do, however, require evidence of academic achievement. This is normally stated as the attainment of five GCSE’s but is not prescriptive as to the subjects.

Listing your attainment of GCSE or A-Level dance demonstrates an extra curricular interest in and commitment to dance, in addition to pointing to background knowledge of subjects in areas as dance criticism, dance history, etc.

Subjects that are related to dance training will always be an advantage, when considering GCSE/A-Level options, such as human biology (anatomy) and music or art. Many skills, that may not at first seem relevant to dance, may become more useful throughout a career. Studying English will help if one wants to become a dance critic, engineering if a stage designer.

Some vocational schools do offer GCSE/A-Level examinations to external as well as internal candidates. Each school has different entry requirements so contact each relevant school directly for further information.

There are also more details on specific vocational courses from Information Sheet Number 11: Age 10+ Vocational Training.