📚 Performance Skills · Overview
What Are Performance Skills?
Four categories · 36 skills in total · How they work together on stage
📚 What you'll learn on this page
- Name the four performance skill categories and how many skills are in each
- Remember every skill using the mnemonics — MICS FAB PECS, RADS MR T, SPF SPF MC, MC³
- Spot which skills are for duet/trio only vs. solo set phrase answers
- Confidently sort any skill into its correct category
When you watch a dancer perform, what are you actually watching? You're not just watching their body — you're also seeing their accuracy, their artistry, and their mindset. In GCSE Dance, these four elements are split into four separate categories of performance skills.
Get the category wrong in the exam and you lose the mark — even if the skill you've named is real. So before anything else, you need to know exactly which box each skill lives in.
✏️ Where performance skills appear in the exam
Knowledge & Understanding
Short, closed questions that test whether you know the skills.
- "Which category is this skill in?" (MCQ)
- "Define this skill." (2 marks)
- "Name two ways to improve [skill]." (2 marks)
- "Give two reasons to warm up." (2 marks)
Critical Appreciation of Your Own Work
Longer answers about your set phrase, duet/trio or choreography — using the PEE structure.
Name it · Example it · Explain why effective
Aim for 5–6 different skills per 6-mark answer. State what your dance is about first.
The Body — what your body can physically do
11 skills. The raw physical equipment that everything else is built on.
🧠 Remember with
MICSFABPECS
MMobility
IIsolation
CControl
SStamina
FFlexibility
AAlignment
BBalance
PPosture
EExtension
CCoordination
SStrength
The What & How — what your dance contains, and how accurately you perform it
7 skills, split into Movement Content (4) and Performance Quality (3).
🧠 Remember with
RADSMRT
Movement Content 4
RRelationship ContentDuet/Trio
AAction Content
DDynamic Content
SSpatial Content
Performance Quality 3
MMoving Stylistically
RRhythmic Content
TTiming
Relationship content = DUET/TRIO only.
Never use it in a solo set phrase answer — it costs marks.
The Artistry — how you connect with the audience
8 skills. These are what turn a good dancer into a true performer.
🧠 Remember with
SPFSPFMC
SSpatial Awareness
PProjection
FFocus
SSensitivity to OthersDuet/Trio
PPhrasing
FFacial Expression
MMusicalityDuet/Trio
CCommunication of Intent
Musicality + Sensitivity = DUET/TRIO only.
Set phrases are performed solo, so these two can never be credited there.
The Mind — psychological qualities for rehearsal and performance
10 skills, split into 6 for rehearsal and 4 for during performance.
🧠 Rehearsal mnemonic
My Students Plan Rehearsals, Really Carefully
During Rehearsal 6
MMental Rehearsal
SSystematic Repetition
PPlanning of Rehearsal
RRehearsal Discipline
RResponse to Feedback
CCapacity to Improve
🧠 Performance mnemonic
MC³
One M and three Cs
During Performance 4
MMovement Memory
CCommitment
CConcentration
CConfidence
Watch the category!
Movement Memory is a mental skill (the M in MC³), NOT a technical one. Easy to get wrong under exam pressure.
In Section A you talk about the categories separately. But on stage — and in a Section B answer — a single moment uses all four at once. Spotting that is what gets you from Level 2 into Level 3 on the mark scheme.
Analogy Anchor
Think of the four categories like the layers of a painting. Physical is the canvas and paint — raw material. Technical is the drawing underneath — what you paint and in what order. Expressive is the colour, light and shading. Mental is the artist holding the brush — without concentration and confidence, none of the other layers land.
🎬 One moment from a set phrase · four categories · four marks
I perform a sudden, strong jump onto beat 4, landing in a deep plié with strong aligned legs to absorb the impact safely. The jump hits precisely on the accent in the music, and I deliver it with sharp outward projection so the audience feels the aggression of the moment. I only pull it off because I've rehearsed it so many times I no longer have to think about the counts.
💪 Physical
🎯 Technical
🎭 Expressive
🧠 Mental
💪 Physical
"Strong aligned legs" → Strength powers the jump; Alignment keeps the landing safe.
🎯 Technical
"Precisely on the accent" → Timing. The sudden + strong quality is a Dynamic FASST pair.
🎭 Expressive
"Sharp outward projection" → Projection pushes energy out so the audience feels the moment.
🧠 Mental
"Rehearsed it so many times" → Systematic Repetition (rehearsal) → Movement Memory (performance).
▶ Turn it into a Section B PEE answer
Name"I used alignment — a physical skill — during the landing of the jump on beat 4."
Example"My knees tracked over my toes and my spine stayed lifted as I absorbed the impact into a deep plié."
Explain"This was effective because it kept the landing safe AND preserved the strong visual line of the jump — without alignment, the shape would have collapsed."
In the exam
A Level 3 (5–6 mark) Section B answer names 5–6 different skills — usually drawn from two or three different categories. Don't just name: NAME ▶ EXAMPLE ▶ EXPLAIN.
Section A loves this question: "Which category is [skill] in?" Sort each of these 12 skills into its correct category. Tap a skill, then tap the bin you think it belongs in.
Got one wrong? Tap a placed skill to send it back to the bank, then try again.
Flexibility
Projection
Timing
Confidence
Action Content
Focus
Stamina
Movement Memory
Musicality
Balance
Dynamic Content
Mental Rehearsal
💪 Physical0
🎯 Technical0
🎭 Expressive0
🧠 Mental0
📌 Revisit This — The Whole Picture
4 CategoriesPhysical · Technical · Expressive · Mental
36 Skills Total11 + 7 + 8 + 10
MICS FAB PECS11 Physical skills
RADS MR T7 Technical skills
SPF SPF MC8 Expressive skills
MSPR RC + MC³10 Mental skills (6 + 4)
Duet/Trio OnlyRelationship · Musicality · Sensitivity
Section B PEEName it ▶ Example it ▶ Explain
✏️ Revision Check
10 overview questions · work through them all, then hit Submit
1. How many performance skills are there in total across all four categories?
2. Which mnemonic helps you remember the 7 Technical Skills?
3. Which category does Projection belong to?
4. You're writing a Section B answer about your solo set phrase. Which skill should you NOT mention?
5. Which category is Movement Memory in?
6. How many Mental Skills are there in total (rehearsal + performance)?
7. Which of these skills is DUET/TRIO ONLY?
8. A Section A MCQ asks: "Which category is Spatial Awareness in?"
9. In Section B, what's the correct structure for each skill you write about?
10. A student writes: "I used Relationship Content in my set phrase when I mirrored to the front." What's the problem?
Take a screenshot of your score and paste it into your ePortfolio so your teacher can see your progress.