8b · 6-Mark Explain Questions

🎯 Section C · Mini Site 8b

6-Mark Explain Questions

Explaining Production Features — the mid-weight question in Section C. Short enough to control, heavy enough to make a real difference to your total.

1
question per paper
6
marks up for grabs
~7
mins suggested

📚 What you'll learn on this page

  • Recognise what a 6-mark Explain question looks like and how it pairs with the 1-marker
  • Understand the mark scheme ladder — why L3 is the critical threshold
  • Structure your answer using PEE (Point · Evidence · Explain)
  • Read mark-scheme exemplars for all six anthology works
  • Match features to works and try your own practice answers
How 6-Mark Explain Questions Work

The 6-mark question always follows a 1-mark question on the same work. Together they form a pair: the 1-marker asks you to name a feature; the 6-marker asks you to explain how that same feature helps the audience understand the stimulus, intention or theme.

Example pair — A Linha Curva (Mock Paper 02)
Q22 · 1 mk
Describe the blend of dance styles used in A Linha Curva.
Q23 · 6 mk
Explain how the fusion of dance styles named in question 22 helps the audience's understanding of the stimulus of a Celebration of Brazilian Culture.

The command word is always Explain. The question will always link the feature to one of three things:

  • a stimulus — what inspired the work
  • a choreographic intention — what the choreographer wants to say
  • a theme or mood — the feeling or idea running through the work

Three real examples:

Infra
Explain how the relationship you have named helps the audience's understanding of the stimulus of The Waste Land by T S Eliot, in Infra.
6 mk
Shadows
Explain how the type of dynamic you have named helps the audience's understanding of the tense mood in Shadows.
6 mk
Artificial Things
Explain how the type of space you have named helps the audience's understanding of the theme of life's limitations and resolution in Artificial Things.
6 mk
👁️
Examiner's Eye Whatever feature you named in the 1-mark question is what you must explain in the 6-mark. Pick wisely — choose a feature you can discuss with two or three specific examples.
Building Examples from All 6 Works

A real past-paper 6-mark Explain question and its mark-scheme exemplar answer for each anthology work. Tap Show PEE colouring to see the structure at work.

P — Point E — Evidence E — Explain
Artificial Things
Choreographer Lucy Bennett · Stopgap Dance Company · Theme: life's limitations & resolution
Mock Paper 08 · Feature: space (levels)
Explain how the type of space you have named helps the audience's understanding of the theme of life's limitations and resolution in Artificial Things. [6 marks]
Named space: levels

At the start of Dave and Laura's duet, low level movement is used. For example, Laura sits on the floor, lies and rests her head softly in Dave's hand. This shows the theme of life's limitations because at this point Laura is on the floor, out of her wheelchair and unable to move very far.

Level is used to resolve this problem later on. Laura lies on her back whilst David and Amy crouch beside her and receive the wheels of her chair from Dave, who sits higher on the display cabinet upstage left. The three dancers reassemble the chair at low level. David and Amy then lift Laura into her chair gently. This use of level supports the idea of limitations and resolution because the dancers now move from the floor to higher up, enabling all to move freely.

Contrasting levels are used in the Gliding trio later on. This is where three dancers work in a 'unison of textures': Laura is the source of the movement and David and Amy adapt her movement into their own bodies. For example, Laura reaches forwards at medium level, Amy lunges and reaches at a low level, David reaches at a higher level. This supports the theme of life's limitations and resolution because it shows that all three dancers can perform a variation of the same movement together, unified, no matter what their physical ability. The limitations Laura faced at the beginning are now fully resolved.

Why this earns top marks
  • Uses the three-act journey of the dance — low level (limitation) → reassembly (resolution beginning) → gliding trio (full resolution)
  • Names specific dancers and moments — not "someone moves low"
  • Each Explain links directly back to limitations and resolution
A Linha Curva
Choreographer Itzik Galili · Rambert · Stimulus: a celebration of Brazilian Culture
Mock Paper 02 · Feature: fusion of dance styles
Explain how the fusion of dance styles named helps the audience's understanding of the stimulus of a Celebration of Brazilian Culture. [6 marks]
Named styles: samba, capoeira, contemporary

The opening motif in A Linha Curva is called Liris. The dancers use a grounded, rhythmic dynamic and sway their hips in a sensual manner. They perform shoulder rolls, wrap their arm over the head and pad their steps from side to side. These movements are rooted in Samba, a Brazilian dance style which also makes use of the hips and a lively, fun rhythmic yet sensual dynamic and so supports the stimulus of a celebration of Brazilian Culture well.

Another Brazilian style used is the non contact martial art form Capoeira. This style uses kicks, dodges, is acrobatic and is performed in duets. The canon duets near the beginning are performed on a diagonal from upstage right to downstage left and involve kicks over the head, dodges and close partnering. All of these extracts link to the stimulus of a celebration of Brazilian Culture through Capoeira and also through the party-like, lively dynamic.

Contemporary dance is woven into the dance throughout, but perhaps the most contemporary of all sections is the slow girl's section, or Adage. The dancers perform a slow, heavy lunge forwards, reaching the arms softly away from the body, contract in the torso, rise with one arm in 5th and pivot. Whilst this does not suggest celebration, it could link to the idea of the lazy, hot side of Brazilian Culture, perhaps a sleepy siesta.

Why this earns top marks
  • Covers all three named styles — each given its own paragraph
  • Uses proper dance terminology — contract, pivot, 5th, canon, diagonal
  • The Adage paragraph shows sophisticated thinking — acknowledges the style doesn't obviously fit "celebration", then offers a nuanced reading
Emancipation of Expressionism
Choreographer Kenrick 'H2O' Sandy · Boy Blue Entertainment · Theme: sharing an emotional journey
Mock Paper 01 · Feature: choreographic approach (musicality)
Explain how the choreographic approach you have named helps the audience's understanding of the theme of sharing an emotional journey in Emancipation of Expressionism. [6 marks]
Named approach: working closely with the music / musicality

At the beginning of the Genesis section, the music features a steady throbbing pulse sound underneath a slow drum rhythm as the dancers writhe on the floor. There are also synthesized 'zapping' sounds over the top and clattering drum sounds. The central dancer points to individuals on a series of accents in the music, and the dancers respond by reaching out. This supports the theme of an emotional journey because we can interpret this section as the beginning of life. The pulse sounds could represent a heartbeat as the dancers lie and contract on the floor, the zapping sounds suggesting the electrical impulses kickstarting life.

Later, in Flow and Connection Between People, the dancers again work closely with the music. This time the music features violins playing rapid notes up and down the scale, creating an ebb and flow effect. Over the top, a high pitched violin pierces the air. The dancers are using waving technique here, rippling energy from the hands, up through the arms and through the torso. The correlation between music and movement, both moving fragments of notes and body parts in rapid succession, helps to communicate the emotional journey — this time communicating a flow of energy both within a dancer and between dancers.

Finally in Empowerment, the dancers work very closely with the music 'Til Enda' throughout. The music builds in power and intensity from slow piano notes at the start to an aggressive drum rhythm, 'machine gun like' rattles, piercing violin accents and then a driving rhythm moving the pace on. The movement works closely with it, beginning softly, hitting the accents, and moving into athletic contact and freestyling when the dynamic builds again. This all supports the emotional journey because this section represents empowerment and freedom — music and movement working together to communicate strength, endurance and climax.

Why this earns top marks
  • Uses three sections of the work (Genesis → Flow → Empowerment) showing a clear arc
  • Detailed musical terminology — accents, countermelody, pulse, rhythm, rattles
  • Each Explain connects movement to the emotional journey — not just describes the music
Infra
Choreographer Wayne McGregor · The Royal Ballet · Stimulus: The Waste Land by T S Eliot
Mock Paper 03 · Feature: relationship (counterpoint)
Explain how the relationship you have named helps the audience's understanding of the stimulus of The Waste Land by T S Eliot, in Infra. [6 marks]
Named relationship: counterpoint

A good example is the trio in Section 1. The three men perform solos in counterpoint to each other. Their movements are rapid, twisting, awkward with leg extensions and curved spines. The use of counterpoint suggests they are strangers with no relationship between them, much as the crowd in The Waste Land might have been. It also suggests a lack of emotion or empathy between people which reflects the destroyed and depressed mood of the poem.

Another example is in Section 7 when a man performs a painfully slow gestural solo stage left in counterpoint to a more supportive female duet upstage right. The counterpoint highlights a huge contrast between the dancers and places a focus on the solo as grief stricken and alone whilst the two women remain close. This supports The Waste Land because the poem has a depressed mood where the people were struggling to cope — the counterpoint in this section emphasising one man's struggle.

Later on in Section 7, counterpoint is used to show The Waste Land in a very literal way. A crowd of people walk across the stage from stage right to stage left, expressionless. In the middle, one female dancer faces the front and silently screams as she collapses to the floor. The counterpoint highlights her as the only person to be different amongst the crowd, or perhaps the only person showing their true feelings. This supports The Waste Land because the crowd represents the crowd in the poem, walking over London Bridge, and the solo girl symbolises the desperation that the city was experiencing.

Why this earns top marks
  • Three different uses of the same relationship — counterpoint — across different sections
  • Connects the abstract choreography to specific lines of Eliot's poem (London Bridge crowd)
  • The third paragraph links the literal staging to the stimulus beautifully — "supports The Waste Land in a very literal way"
Shadows
Choreographer Christopher Bruce · Phoenix Dance Theatre · Intent: a family coming to terms with what lies outside
Mock Paper 05 · Feature: structure (semi-narrative)
Explain how the use of the structure you named helps the audience's understanding of the choreographic intent of a small family coming to terms with what lies outside their intimate family home, in Shadows. [6 marks]
Named structure: semi-narrative

The structure for Shadows has a semi-narrative structure taking us through snapshots of the characters' lives and the firmer narrative at the end. It is in 9 sections. The dance begins with Daughter's Solo featuring a frantic child rushing from upstage left to downstage right. She rolls this way and that to an agitated violin. Similarly a few sections later, we see Son's Solo, more desperate as he barricades himself in behind a table. These sections support the choreographic intent because they both show fear and highlight the characters as children.

Each section shows a different insight into the family. Mother and Father's Duet for example shows a calmer, supportive contact duet between parents performed to a more fluid piece of music. The ending of each section is very clear and marked by low piano notes. The transition between sections is shown by the performing character's slow return to the table. This is a contrasting section which shows the audience they are in more control than the children. In this way, the structure shows the end of each character's memory, emotion or interaction — the intimacy suggested by the choreographic intent.

The dance ends with an important moment for the narrative. The dancers put on coats and shoes, pick up their luggage and slowly walk forwards. The final image shows the family frozen mid-walk, looking out towards the audience. This contrasts all other sections and the audience understand the family are resigned to their fate. The semi-narrative structure has taken them through a snapshot of the characters' lives and their despair, to the final moment where they must face their fear.

Why this earns top marks
  • Breaks the work down by section — Daughter's Solo, Mother & Father's Duet, final image
  • Shows understanding of how structure as a device creates meaning — not just sequencing events
  • Final paragraph ties the whole answer together — "the semi-narrative structure has taken them through…"
Within Her Eyes
Choreographer James Cousins · James Cousins Company · Stimulus: A Love Story with a Twist
Mock Paper 04 · Feature: relationship (contact)
Explain how the relationship you have named helps the audience's understanding of the stimulus of A Love Story with a Twist, in Within Her Eyes. [6 marks]
Named relationship: contact

Contact is used throughout Within Her Eyes to show A Love Story with a Twist. In The Beginning, at the start, the man lifts the girl in front of him, her back pressed against his chest and her knees high. He then lowers her to his knee and she reaches away from him whilst he supports her. This shows the Love Story with a Twist because the fact that she is facing away from him and reaching away whilst he tries to draw her close, suggests that she is not committed to the relationship as yet. Perhaps this is the 'twist'.

In Flow One, in the forest, the contact starts to change and the girl starts to give her weight to the man a little more. For example, she kneels on his thigh, her body wrapped around his waist with her head low. After this moment, both dancers arch their backs away from each other, the girl still balanced on the man's knee. This shows that the relationship is starting to become a little closer and perhaps she is trusting him more. This is a more equal sharing of weight, again supporting the idea that the love story is getting closer.

At the end of this section we see the girl wrap her arms around the man's neck, their heads close together. They then look at each other before the girl lowers her head to his chest. This shows an intimacy that we have not seen before and shows that the relationship is moving deeper.

Why this earns top marks
  • Chronological arc through the relationship — distant → closer → intimate
  • Names each section (The Beginning, Flow One) so the examiner can locate it
  • Uses tentative language ("perhaps", "suggests") — interpretation without drifting into personal opinion
Practice

Revision Check — Match, Spot & Sort

Three activities testing your grasp of the six works, their key features, and how to spot PEE in real exemplar sentences. Complete all three, then submit.

ACT 1 · /6 Match each feature to the work it comes from
These are the production features explored in our exemplars. Tap a feature chip, then tap the work it belongs to. Tap a placed chip to return it to the pool.
AT
ALC
EofE
Infra
Shadows
WHE
ACT 2 · /6 Match each stimulus / theme to the work
Knowing the exact stimulus or theme for each work is half the battle — they're what you link your Explain paragraphs back to.
AT
ALC
EofE
Infra
Shadows
WHE
ACT 3 · /5 Spot the PEE — is it Point, Evidence or Explain?
Each sentence below is lifted straight from a mark-scheme exemplar. Tap the button that shows which part of PEE it plays.
0/17
📸
Take a screenshot of your score now and paste it into your ePortfolio document so your teacher can see your progress.
Try it yourself
Now it's your turn. Each work has a practice 6-mark Explain question below. Use the PEE planning prompts to shape your answer, write it in the textarea, then reveal the mark-scheme model answer to compare. Aim for 2–3 PEE paragraphs.

📌 Revisit this — the essentials

The command wordAlways Explain — means you must go beyond description
StructurePEE — Point, Evidence, Explain · 2–3 paragraphs
Mark scheme jumpL2 → L3 is the biggest — switch from describe to because
Pair with 1-markerMust explain the same feature you named
Aim for L5–6Three well-selected examples from different moments
No personal opinionInterpretation belongs in 12-mark Discuss, not here
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