Arts at Te Kauwhata College

The Arts department at Te Kauwhata College encompasses Visual Art, Dance, Drama, and Music (theory, practical, and technology).

Why learn Dance and Drama at Te Kauwhata College?

“I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being.” Oscar Wilde.

Arts education explores, challenges, affirms and celebrates unique artistic expressions of self, community, and culture. It embraces toi Māori, valuing the forms and practices of customary and contemporary Māori performing, musical, and visual arts.
Arts education values young children’s experiences and builds on these with increasing sophistication and complexity as their knowledge and skills develop. Through the use of creative and intuitive thought and action, learners in the arts are able to view their world from new perspectives. Through the development of arts literacies, students, as creators, presenters, viewers, and listeners, are able to participate in, interpret, value, and enjoy the arts throughout their lives.

Drama 

Drama expresses human experience through a focus on role, action, and tension played out in time and space. In drama education, students learn to structure these elements and to use dramatic conventions, techniques, and technologies to create imagined worlds. Through purposeful play, both individual and collaborative, they discover how to link imagination, thoughts, and feelings.

As students work with drama techniques, they learn to use spoken and written language with increasing control and confidence and to communicate effectively using body language, movement, and space. As they perform, analyse, and respond to different forms of drama and theatre, they gain a deeper appreciation of their rich cultural heritage and language and new power to examine attitudes, behaviours, and values.

By means of the drama that they create and perform, students reflect and enrich the cultural life of their schools, whānau, and communities.

Dance

Dance is an expressive movement that has intent, purpose, and form. In dance education, students integrate thinking, moving, and feeling. They explore and use dance elements, vocabularies, processes, and technologies to express personal, group, and cultural identities, convey and interpret artistic ideas, and strengthen social interaction. Students develop literacy in dance as they learn about, and develop skills in, performing, choreographing, and responding to a variety of genres from a range of historical and contemporary contexts.

At TKC we provide many opportunities for students to perform for their peers, our community and their families.

In Year 9-10 Dance, students will:

  • Develop dance vocabulary and range of movement possibilities
  • Be introduced to the Elements of Dance and the language of Dance
  • Learn new styles of dance from expert tutors, research and collaboration
  • Explore choreographic concepts and develop your ability to do your own choreography
  • Enhance performance skills and audience skills

In NCEA Level 1-3 Dance, students will:

  • Cultivate an understanding of Dance in context
  • Extend practical skills and techniques in Dance
  • Develop ideas through choreography and learn to use dance as a way to express ideas
  • Communicate and interpret a range of Dance works, both live and recorded performance

All Year 7/8 students have the opportunity to explore Drama and Dance.
At Year 9 you can take Drama and Dance as a half-year option.
At Year 10 you can take Dance as a full-year option.
At Year 11, 12 and 13 you can take NCEA Level 1-3 Dance.

Create

Participate

Confidence

Perform