Curriculum

If you take the Dance Preparatory Course at ArtEZ in Enschede, you take two courses at the same time: regular education at the Stedelijk Kottenpark secondary school and a professional dance education. You should preferably start with the preparatory course when you are about ten years old.

Internet-Muziek- en dansavond, Bryan Nurhakim: foto Bert Holtman

What do you learn during the ArtEZ Dance Preparatory Course?

The Dance Preparatory Course in Enschede allows you to develop your physical and mental capabilities as a dancer. The preparatory course is good preparation for an audition for a higher professional education in dance. You will acquire a solid technical dance basis and learn different dance styles, but the emphasis is on contemporary dance.

The preparatory course focuses not only on dance technique, but also on developing your individuality in dance, marking the start of your development as an artist.
You will gain insight into the many professional opportunities in dance. From performing dancer to choreographer, from dance lecturer to dance critic and so on. You will develop skills such as expressing and presenting yourself, working together, standing up for who you are, dealing with chaos, improvising and creating. Former students indicate that their preparatory course also formed them as human beings.

Years 7 and 8 of primary education: orientation phase

For students in years 7 and 8 of primary school there is the orientation class. This is a good way to see if the professional dance world really suits you.
In this orientation phase, you will be taught at your own primary school and you will have 3 dance classes a week. Classes are given after school, in the Kaliber Art School dance studios. The programme includes contemporary dance, creative dance, classical ballet and folklore. To gain stage experience, you will perform in several shows for an audience each year. You will be taught by dance lecturers from the Stedelijk Kottenpark. They carefully tune the lessons to your age and abilities. In this way you build a natural and healthy basis, which you will enjoy all your life.

If you would like to be admitted to the ArtEZ Dance Preparatory Course after the orientation class, you will have to audition at the end of the 8th year.

Iris Wilms en Meike Rens: foto B. Holtmann

I started dancing in the Preparatory Course in Enschede when I was nine. At the moment I’m a full-time dancer with the dance company Skånes Dansteater in Sweden, where, together fifteen other dancers, I work with many different choreographers every year. This is a dream come true for me and I would never have achieved it without the wonderful and instructive time I had in Enschede during the preparatory course.

Secondary school: preparatory course

If you take the ArtEZ Dance Preparatory Course, you take two courses at the same time: regular education and professional dance training. To make this possible, ArtEZ in Enschede works with the Stedelijk Lyceum Kottenpark secondary school. Together we make sure that our young people not only develop their dance talent, but also obtain their VMBO (partnership with Innova), HAVO or VWO diploma. You follow a timetable in which regular and dance education are combined. In this way you can combine school and the preparatory course without getting overburdened.

The Stedelijk Lyceum Kottenpark

Kottenpark is a school for HAVO (senior general secondary education), VWO/Atheneum (pre-university education) and grammar school with almost 1,100 students in north Enschede. Kottenpark distinguishes itself through a number of profiles. It is a cultural profile school with four art streams: music, theatre, fine art and the DAMU-recognised Dance Preparatory Course.

Kottenpark has a profiled grammar school and puts science at the heart of the curriculum, for which the science, design and technology classes in the lower years already lay a firm foundation. Students can enrol on an enhanced English programme through Cambridge English Advanced (CAE) and German through the Goethe-Institut. The dance lessons are given in the two dance studios of Kaliber Art School. Performances are staged in ArtEZ’s own Distel hall and on the big stage of the Wilmink theatre.

Course structure

You have daily dance classes on school days, twelve to fifteen hours a week in total. Some students also attend classes at their own dance school in the first two years of school. In order to be able to attend the classes of the Dance Preparatory Course, you are granted exemptions for the subjects of Physical Education and Visual Arts in the lower years. The Preparatory Course is divided into year classes, so that you always have classes with students of the same age. You will be taught all styles of dance, but the focus is on a strong technical basis and individuality in dance. Special dance project weeks and guest lessons will give you an idea of the wide range of possibilities in the dance profession.
In the higher years, the dance programme is one of your final examination subjects. You have exemptions for the subjects of Culture and Arts, and Social Studies. In addition to the dance classes at school, you dance in various shows each year. To conclude your preparatory course, there is a final performance, which is staged at Theatre Concordia and is designed by the students themselves. The highlight of the evening: The presentation of the annual ADRIANA VREELING-LUBLINKHOF (AVL) Dance Prize. The AVL Dance Prize has been awarded since 1995.
In the final examination year you can audition for a Dance course or a Dance in Education course.

Who are your lecturers?

You will be taught by experienced and capable dance lecturers from the Stedelijk Lyceum Kottenpark secondary school. They have gained their expertise in dance as dancers, choreographers or dance lecturers. The lecturers are not only good at dance, but also at conveying dance and coaching dancers.