Over 700 individual music lessons are taught each week and there are over 43 different musical ensembles...
We have a Dancer in Residence and hold the world’s most important collection of papers relating to the Jacobean Theatre...
Music A comprehensive range of musical opportunities are available to all pupils. Some 700 individual music lessons are given on a weekly basis and most pupils who take instrumental and/or singing lessons perform in at least one of the 43 different musical ensembles. These ensembles are varied and cater to all musical abilities. There is a Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, Symphonic Wind Band, Brass Band and Madrigal Choir, which are given performance opportunities at Cadogan Hall in Sloane Square and Southwark Cathedral and musicians often join up with JAGS and Alleyn’s School to give joint performances; there are percussion ensembles, jazz bands, rock bands and chamber groups who have the opportunity to perform to their peers and the local community. The College’s Chapel Choir sing regularly at services in the Chapel in Dulwich Village, including as a joint choir with JAGS, as well as in external venues such as St George’s Windsor. The Big Band, jazz bands and vocal groups have gigs at Pizza Express Live, and our chamber ensembles have a variety of performance opportunities.
A regular programme of concerts, masterclasses and competitions takes place across the school year, including annual House Music, instrumental, singing and composition competitions. There are also tours organised around the UK and abroad. About 80 pupils hold Music Awards and facilities at the College include a sound-treated pod for rock bands as well as percussion suites and Music Tech rooms. Classes in Alexander technique are available for all pupils. All pupils study Music as an academic subject in Years 7, 8 and 9 where lessons include a variety of practical elements as well as composition using Logic Pro X. Music is a popular option at GCSE and A level with many pupils continuing to study Music at university or conservatoire and going on to have successful careers in the Arts.
Drama and Dance An appreciation of all things theatrical is part of the Dulwich DNA. Echoing the spirit of their South London ancestors, Middle School pupils seize every opportunity to get involved in productions, House competitions and theatre trips. Drama is a popular subject for pupils at GCSE and A level. All pupils have a Drama lesson in Year 9, taught as a Form throughout the year, which includes dance theatre skills introduced by our LABAN trained specialist. Our own, fully equipped, purpose-built theatre is always a hive of activity where practical performance skills as well as techniques associated with production design and stage management are taught. All pupils are expected to be confident with basic stagecraft and theatre terminology as well as have a sound grasp of performance analysis. Many pupils take LAMDA courses with specialist teachers, in Acting or Public Speaking and there are fantastic opportunities for pupils to develop their interest in the theatre through joint productions with James Allen’s Girls’ School, occasional workshops with visiting theatre professionals, and by experiencing live
and digital theatre productions. This Autumn saw a joint Drama & PE Trip to the smash hit National Theatre production of Dear England in the West End. Year 9 pupils regularly take part in the staging of eight productions for the annual MSHD Festival. Year 9 students also have the opportunity to take part in a scratch production. Recently this has included Vivienne Franzmann’s darkly comic zeitgeist play The It brilliantly exploring adolescent mental health and the rage within. 2023 saw Year 9 pupils from Dulwich and JAGS at the heart of the First Folio Shakespeare 400 celebrations. Finding the Folio was a newly commissioned play allied to the joint Art, Drama, English and Archive project inspired by documents ‘exploding’ from the 1619 Treasury Chest. In the spirit of risk-taking and working to a deadline the performance was staged in promenade on the very day that 400 years previously, on 8 November 1623, the inky pages, both brilliant and imperfect went to press in Jaggard’s print shop, the Half Eagle and Key. This year, looking to the ancient Greek story of rage and the fight for true justice striving to make sense of a world in chaos, the ensemble staged an original interpretation of The Furies inspired by the final act of The Oresteia.
“I’m still on a high from the creativity and talent that abounds in the Edward Alleyn Theatre; it oozes from every nook and cranny and every person connected to it”
Lesley Sharp (BAFTA and Olivier nominated Best Actress and winner of Screen Actors Guild and British Television Society Awards)
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