| Ballet 7,8 Honors is the culmination of the dance education of the advanced ballet student, as it not only connects their performance skills with their ability to investigate and solve dance challenges in a sophisticated manner, but also requires deeper subject research, more analytical thinking, and new complex interactions with ballet. Students demonstrate independence by performing alone and in small groups, making appropriate personal choices of interpretation, artistry, and musicality/phrasing at a superior level of technique. Students independently analyze, monitor and modify their foot articulation, body alignment, body and directional positions, musicality/phrasing, execution of elite ballet vocabulary and artistry as they further refine these core ideas. Students perform repertoire integrating a professional level of rehearsal etiquette/protocols, technical skill and intent. Students conduct in-depth research and analyze diverse repertoire with foci on current ballet dance notables and significant balletic works of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, including ballet variations. They develop an expanded knowledge of professional-level ballet techniques and vocabulary. Students create intricate ballet compositions using dance structures, musical forms, and technology with artistry. Students notate these dance compositions using established forms or their own personal system. Students evaluate intellectually challenging live and/or recorded performances using sophisticated analysis. Final written and performance projects in both semesters cover in-depth research, challenging repertoire selection, critical analysis of dance challenges, and an individual capstone performance. |