Section B · Duet / Trio Performance
Physical Skills
MICS FAB PECS — the body's physical capabilities in your group performance
What you'll learn
- All 11 physical skills and what each means in a group performance context
- How to link physical skills back to your dance intention
- How to write 4 strong PEE cycles for full marks
- How to spot weak explanations and improve them
Physical skills are about what your body can do — strength, flexibility, balance, stamina, and all the other physical qualities that make technique possible. In duet and trio work these skills take on additional demands: you need flexibility not just for your own shapes but to support partner work safely; strength is needed to manage weight-sharing; stamina is tested by the challenge of maintaining both personal quality and group synchronisation across the whole performance.
The 11 Physical Skills — MICS FAB PECS
🏃 All 11 skills — tap each to see definition and exam language
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MICS FAB PECS — Mobility, Isolation, Control, Strength, Flexibility, Alignment, Balance, Posture, Extension, Coordination, Stamina.
Strength in group workStrength is especially rich to write about in duets and trios — it's essential for lifting, weight-sharing, and safely executing contact work. Always connect it to what the physical contact communicated about your intention.
Annotated Level 3 Model
✍️ Full L3 answer — river intention — tap to annotate
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Intention: a river and its changing emotions. Question: "Explain how you used physical skills in your trio performance."
Level 3 model — physical skills — river trio
I performed in a trio. Our intention was to explore the journey of a river and its changing emotional states.
Flexibility was essential in the opening section — all three of us performed deep suspended backbends to represent the river bending around its first obstacles.
This was effective because the full extension of our spines communicated the fluid, yielding quality of water shaping itself around the landscape — effortless and inevitable.
Strength was tested in the weight-sharing duet sequence — I leaned my full body weight into my partner in a supported fall, trusting them to hold and redirect my momentum. This was effective because the physical dependency communicated the river's power being both given and contained — one force meeting another, which reinforced the turbulent middle section of our intention.
Control was vital in the stillness sections — at the climax all three of us held a suspended shape simultaneously, arms extended, before collapsing into the floor. This was effective because the controlled stillness created the visual equivalent of a river pausing before a waterfall — a moment of held tension that made the release all the more powerful.
Stamina was tested throughout — our piece was three minutes long and the physical demands were sustained from the opening to the final collapse on the floor. This was effective because maintaining physical quality from the calm opening to the turbulent climax and back to stillness showed the full arc of the river's journey — any loss of stamina would have broken that arc.
Strength was tested in the weight-sharing duet sequence — I leaned my full body weight into my partner in a supported fall, trusting them to hold and redirect my momentum. This was effective because the physical dependency communicated the river's power being both given and contained — one force meeting another, which reinforced the turbulent middle section of our intention.
Control was vital in the stillness sections — at the climax all three of us held a suspended shape simultaneously, arms extended, before collapsing into the floor. This was effective because the controlled stillness created the visual equivalent of a river pausing before a waterfall — a moment of held tension that made the release all the more powerful.
Stamina was tested throughout — our piece was three minutes long and the physical demands were sustained from the opening to the final collapse on the floor. This was effective because maintaining physical quality from the calm opening to the turbulent climax and back to stillness showed the full arc of the river's journey — any loss of stamina would have broken that arc.
🔵 Point (Flexibility) — Named the skill, located the moment (opening), described what it looked like (deep backbend). Specific and visual.
🟢 Explain + Intention — "Fluid, yielding quality of water." Connects the physical action directly to the river intention.
🔵 Point (Strength) — Named the skill, named the section, described the mechanics of the contact work. Rich detail.
🟢 Explain + Intention — "One force meeting another" — maps strength to the turbulent section. Strong imagery tied to intention.
🔵 Point (Control) — Named the skill, described the climax moment: three dancers simultaneously holding then collapsing.
🟢 Explain + Intention — "Pausing before a waterfall." Uses the river metaphor to explain why control was effective. Excellent L3 language.
🔵 Point (Stamina) — Named the skill, referenced the full duration of the piece.
🟢 Explain + Intention — Links stamina to the arc of the intention (calm → turbulent → still). Four PEE cycles = full L3.
Point — skill + moment
Explain — why it served your intention
Activity: Fix the Explanation
🔧 These explanations are weak — what's missing?
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Each answer has a good Point but a weak Explain. Click "Show stronger version" to see what's missing.
Question Bank
📋 Practice questions with model answers
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Spot the Level
🔍 Level 1, 2 or 3?
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Question: "Explain how you used physical skills in your duet/trio performance."
Mini Test
10 questions. Answer all, then submit. 📸 Screenshot your score.
📸 Take a screenshot of your score now and paste it into your ePortfolio.
🗂️ Revisit This — 6 Key Facts
MICS FAB PECS11 physical skills: Mobility, Isolation, Control, Strength, Flexibility, Alignment, Balance, Posture, Extension, Coordination, Stamina.
Strength in group workEspecially powerful to write about — weight-sharing, contact, lifting. Always say why the physical contact served your intention.
Opening sentence"I performed in a [duet/trio]. Our intention was…"
4 PEE cyclesPoint (skill + moment) → Explain (why it served intention). Do this 3–4 times.
Not just "it looked good"Explain what the physical skill communicated about your intention — not just how it made you look.
Spatial awareness is NOT physicalIt belongs in expressive skills. Common exam error.