How does a Higher dancer analyse and evaluate their own technique, performance and choreography, and how is this written up to score in the question paper?
Analysing and evaluating your own work in Higher Dance: judging your application of technical and performance skills in performance and your choreographic choices, identifying strengths and areas for development, and explaining how you would develop them, written as evaluation (a judgement plus a reason and effect) rather than description.
An SQA Higher Dance answer on analysing and evaluating your own work: judging your technical and performance skills and your choreographic choices, identifying strengths and areas for development, and writing it as evaluation (judgement plus reason and effect) rather than description.
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What this dot point is asking
A major part of Higher Dance, both in the choreography review and in the question paper, is the ability to analyse and evaluate your own work: your dancing in the two solos and your choices as a choreographer. The SQA expects you to judge your application of technical and performance skills and your choreographic choices, identify strengths and areas for development, and explain how you would develop them. The single most important skill is turning description into evaluation.
Evaluating your performance
You should be able to judge how well you applied your skills in the two contrasting solos.
- Be specific. Name the skill and the moment, such as projection in the final phrase, not just "my performance was good".
- Give the effect. Say what the skill did to the dance or the audience, such as a clean line reading clearly or a dropped focus losing the intention.
- Cover both styles. Because the solos contrast, a skill might be a strength in one and a weakness in the other, which is worth noting.
Evaluating your choreography
You should be able to judge your choices as a choreographer against your intention.
- Judge against intention. A choice "worked" if it communicated the idea you intended, so always measure it against the intention.
- Name the tool. Use accurate terminology (canon, ternary, formation) so the judgement is precise.
- Be honest about weaknesses. Identifying what did not work, and why, is as creditable as identifying a strength.
Identifying development and writing the evaluation
The final step is to turn weaknesses into a plan and to write everything as evaluation.
- Realistic development. Tie the plan to a real action, such as building stamina so projection holds when you tire.
- Evaluation, not description. "I used canon" is description; "the canon worked because the staggered entries suggested spreading panic, my intention" is evaluation.
- Link to intention. Anchoring judgements to the choreographic intention or the demands of the style is what lifts an answer at Higher.
Examples in context
Example 1. Evaluating a technical skill. "My balance in the arabesque was a strength because my centring held my weight over the supporting leg, so the line stayed still and read clearly, rather than wobbling." The judgement, reason and effect earn the marks.
Example 2. Evaluating a device. "My use of unison was less effective because the two dancers were slightly out of time, so the unified image I intended looked untidy. I would rehearse the counts together to fix it." A weakness, a reason, an effect and a plan.
Try this
Q1. What three parts make a point an evaluation rather than a description? [1 mark]
- Cue. A judgement, a reason and an effect (ideally linked to the intention).
Q2. Why should a self-evaluation include a development plan? [1 mark]
- Cue. Because the marks reward turning a weakness into a realistic plan to improve, not just naming it.
Exam-style practice questions
Practice questions written in the style of SQA exam questions on this dot point, with worked answer explainers. The year tag is the paper they imitate, not the source.
SQA Higher style6 marksEvaluate your application of performance skills in one of your solos, identifying a strength and an area for development.Show worked answer →
A 6-mark evaluate answer needs judgements, each backed by a reason and an effect, covering a strength and an area for development.
Strength: dynamics. In my contemporary solo my use of dynamics was a strength, because I clearly contrasted a slow, sustained spiral with a sudden, percussive rebound. The effect was that the change of mood read clearly to the audience and the phrase had texture rather than staying at one energy.
Area for development: projection. My projection was less secure, because in the final phrase my focus dropped to the floor when I tired. The effect was that the ending lost its connection to the audience, so the intention faded just when it should have peaked.
How I would develop it: I would build stamina through conditioning and rehearse the final phrase with a fixed outward focus, so projection holds when I am tired. This turns the weakness into a plan. Markers reward judgements with reasons and effects, plus a realistic development, up to six.
SQA Higher style4 marksExplain the difference between describing and evaluating your own choreography.Show worked answer →
The command word is explain, so contrast the two and show why evaluation scores higher.
Describing says what you did: "I used canon and a ternary structure." It reports the choices but makes no judgement, so on its own it earns few marks.
Evaluating judges how well a choice worked and why: "The canon worked well because the staggered entries built a rippling effect that suggested the spreading panic in my theme, which was my intention." It adds a judgement, a reason and an effect linked to the intention.
So evaluation is description plus a judgement supported by a reason and an effect. The Higher marks reward the judgement and its justification, not the list of choices, which is why turning every description into an evaluation is the key skill. Markers reward a clear contrast and why evaluation scores higher, up to four.
Related dot points
- Appreciating and evaluating professional dance in Higher Dance: analysing and evaluating professional choreography (intention, motif, devices, structure, use of space), the aspects of production or theatre arts (lighting, set and staging, props, costume, make-up, music and aural setting) and their impact, and knowledge of a chosen dance style and a practitioner.
An SQA Higher Dance answer on appreciating and evaluating professional dance: analysing professional choreography, judging the aspects of production (lighting, set, props, costume, make-up, music and aural setting) and their impact, and knowledge of a chosen dance style and practitioner.
- The technical skills (alignment and posture, balance, control, coordination, mobility and flexibility, strength, stamina, extension, transfer of weight, gesture, technical accuracy) and performance skills (timing and musicality, dynamics, spatial awareness, projection and focus, communication of choreographic intention, sense of style) assessed in Higher Dance, and how each supports an accurate and expressive performance in contrasting styles.
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- The Higher Dance performance component: two tutor-choreographed technical solos in contrasting dance styles, each lasting between one and a half and two minutes, assessed on the candidate's application and combination of technical and performance skills appropriate to each style.
An overview of the SQA Higher Dance performance component: two tutor-choreographed solos in contrasting styles, each roughly one and a half to two minutes, assessed on the application and combination of technical and performance skills, and how to prepare and write about it.
- The Higher Dance practical activity: choreographing a dance for two or more dancers from a chosen stimulus, applying motif development, devices, structure and spatial elements to a clear choreographic intention, together with the written choreography review that explains and evaluates the choreographic choices.
An overview of the SQA Higher Dance practical activity: choreographing a group dance from a stimulus using motif development, devices, structure and space, plus the written choreography review that explains and evaluates the choices, and how to approach both.
- The dancer's body and health in Higher Dance: relevant anatomy, the components of physical fitness (strength, stamina, flexibility, mobility), physical preparation (warm-up, cool-down, conditioning, technique class), safe working practice and injury prevention and management, nutrition and hydration, and the mental skills (focus, motivation, managing performance anxiety) that support performance.
An SQA Higher Dance answer on the dancer's body and health: relevant anatomy, the components of fitness (strength, stamina, flexibility, mobility), physical preparation (warm-up, cool-down, conditioning), safe practice and injury management, nutrition and hydration, and the mental skills that support performance.
Sources & how we know this
- Higher Dance Course Specification — SQA (2024)
- Higher Dance - Course overview and resources — SQA (2024)