AS 91589 annotated exemplars

This annotated exemplar is intended for teacher use only. Annotated exemplars are extracts of student evidence, with commentary, that explain key parts of a standard. These help teachers make assessment judgements at the grade boundaries.

Download all exemplars and commentary [PDF, 143 KB]

TKI Dance assessment resources (external link)

For Excellence, the student needs to choreograph a dance to fully develop and resolve ideas.

This involves creating a dance that communicates, refines and synthesises ideas in response to a dance question or challenge through, for example:

• clear selection of dynamic qualities
• presenting a dance with a sense of unity
• effective use of contrast, climax, sequencing
• use of abstraction.

These students have collaborated to create a dance that communicates, refines and synthesises ideas in response to the quote ‘Break the monotony, do something strange and extravagant’.

Unison is used to show uniformity, monotony and following the crowd. Non-unison contrasts to this, conveying the idea of breaking away from the norm and expressing individuality. Levels are used to show difference. A motif has been developed and varied to show the efforts to break from monotony.

There is clear selection of appropriate dynamic qualities, and the effective use of breath enhances these. Movements have been abstracted creatively, and sequences flow together well.  

The dance has unity, and effectively uses contrast and sequencing. There is repetition of key movements to create a sense of order and resolution. 

Ideas are resolved in the dance’s conclusion, and a statement on the original quote is made. Appropriately chosen structure and movement vocabulary synthesises the choreographic intention well. Excellence requires ideas to be synthesised, i.e. to integrate ideas into a whole.

For a more secure Excellence, the students could incorporate a more distinct climax to the choreography. More variation in tempo and phrasing could help with this. 

For Merit, the student needs to choreograph a dance to effectively develop and resolve ideas.

This involves creating a dance that communicates, refines, and orders ideas in response to a dance question or challenge through, for example, the use of:

• appropriate phrasing, speed, and duration
• a variety of relationships between dancers
• transitions that give a sense of flow
• repetition for impact.

These students have collaborated to create a dance which communicates ideas about a brother and sister relationship showing support for each other. The students have created movement that incorporated the given movement challenge of finding connections, yet creating space between the dancers. A clear structure gives order to the ideas. 

Transitions are generally fluid. There is purposeful use of energy qualities, levels and contrasting movement to communicate key ideas in mostly interesting ways.

There is variety of relationships between dancers, e.g. contact and support, and repetition for impact with some development and variation. This repetition also helps to create a sense of order and resolution within the dance.

To reach Excellence, the dance needs a stronger sense of unity, and all sequences should fit the purpose of the dance and provide some comment, viewpoint or exploration of central ideas. More synthesis and abstraction is needed.

The students could explore more unexpected movement vocabulary. For example,  varing the relationships, spacing and proximity of the dancers in more imaginative ways to provide stronger synthesis of the ideas and to ensure the best angle is used to communicate these ideas with the audience.

For Merit, the student needs to choreograph a dance to effectively develop and resolve ideas.

This involves creating a dance that communicates, refines, and orders ideas in response to a dance question or challenge through, for example, the use of:

• appropriate phrasing, speed, and duration
• a variety of relationships between dancers
• transitions that give a sense of flow
• repetition for impact.

This student has choreographed a dance to effectively develop, resolve and communicate ideas about twins who are inseparable but where one is more vulnerable. A structure has been applied to create order in the dance.

There is use of repetition, and some development and variation of key movements and shapes in ways that have impact. There are some effective uses of facings, pathways and levels to aid communication of key ideas. There is a variety of effective relationships between the two dancers that are well chosen to support the communication of the choreographic intention. 

For a more secure Merit, the students need more abstract and original movement that enhances communication of key ideas, showing further evidence of interesting movement that has been developed and refined in response to the starting movement challenge.

Further, they could vary timing more effectively. Reliance on the tempo of the music can stilt the flow, and varying this helps to make the movements and phrasing less predictable and therefore more effective.

There is some fluidity to the movement, but transitions could be smoother and flow more effectively to make the work more cohesive and ordered.

For Achieved, the student needs to choreograph a dance to develop and resolve ideas.

This involves creating a dance that communicates an idea in response to a dance question or challenge through, for example:

• manipulating shapes, movements and space
• using unison, complementary or contrasting movements
• using an overall structure.

The students created a dance that communicates ideas about twins separated at birth and then reunited, e.g. the use of a curled position at the start then rolling away from each other. The movement develops from low level movement to reaching out and exploring the space to express the ideas.  

Some effective partnering sequences and an overall structure have been incorporated. There are some effective sequences, e.g. matching movements on contrasting levels, the use of breath and focus to enhance some moments and some changes in dynamics and tempo.

There is a simple lift which provides a climax and signifies the key idea of reuniting twins. This move, in combination with the following final moments and end shape, gives a sense of conclusion to the dance and reiterates key ideas in the work.

To reach Merit, the choreography requires editing to eliminate movements that are less relevant and interesting. More abstraction of the movement is needed to develop ideas and show a more refined sense of development and resolution.

Further, they could experiment more with different facings, proximity and directions of the dancers to ensure that the most effective shapes and angles are seen by the audience.

For Achieved, the student needs to choreograph a dance to develop and resolve ideas

This involves creating a dance that communicates an idea in response to a dance question or challenge through, for example:

• manipulating shapes, movements and space
• using unison, complementary or contrasting movements
• using an overall structure.

These students have collaboratively choreographed a duet to develop and resolve ideas in response to a given challenge.

The students have done this by creating movement to communicate some ideas about two acquaintances that are in disagreement and working towards reconciliation. A small range of complementary movements have been used to communicate key ideas. A structure has been applied to provide some form. There is some resolution in a conclusion and final pose at the end.

There is development of movement ideas and thematic ideas. Repetition has been used to show development and emphasis key ideas. There is some manipulation and contrast of shape, formation and spacing, however, unison is a key feature of the choreography. 

For a more secure Achieved, the student should use more variety of relationships, timing, space and dynamics to develop and resolve the ideas. The manipulation of shapes and movements could be more interesting.

A clearer structure needs to be used to provide more resolution and form to the dance - the resolution aspect of the dance needs to be clearer. Further, there needs to be use of more abstract movement, with dynamics and emphasis to express key ideas such as disagreement and reconciliation.

For Achieved, the student needs to choreograph a dance to develop and resolve ideas.

This involves creating a dance that communicates an idea in response to a dance question or challenge through, for example:

• manipulating shapes, movements and space
• using unison, complementary or contrasting movements
• using an overall structure.

There is no student work currently available at this grade boundary.

A student at this grade would have created a dance and communicated some basic ideas about their chosen stimulus or theme. They would have begun to develop and resolve ideas through movement. There may be some use of complementary movements and use of partnering, weight sharing and relationships, which would help to show the ideas. 

Unison might be used often in the choreography. Some ordering of ideas would be evident through the use of a simple structure. Known shapes and movements would have been reordered, and space used in straightforward ways. 

To reach Achieved, the student would need to show more sophisticated development of the ideas past a basic level. Development and resolution are essential aspects of this standard, and would need to be clearly evident in order to meet the requirements.

Exploration and manipulation of a wider variety of body parts, movements and spatial formations would be needed to ensure that the intended ideas are more clearly expressed, and in order to show more resolution to the ideas. The tempo and dynamics would need to be varied more effectively to show some development of the central ideas.