SINGAPORE — Students who hope to pursue a career in dance can now turn to a new Dance Talent Development Programme, which provides access to quality training by professional dance companies and opportunities to interact with established local practitioners and choreographers.

Aimed at fostering a life-long interest in dance and deepen students’ experiences, the programme, which is open to all Secondary 3 students, was rolled out in June, with about 200 — who mostly have prior dance experiences in Co-Curricular Activities (CCAs) from 79 schools — taking part.

Under the programme managed by LASALLE College of the Arts and organised by the National Arts Council (NAC) and the Ministry of Education, students will be exposed to classes in six dance forms: Ballet, contemporary, Chinese, hip hop, Indian and Malay dance.

They will also get insights into dance companies and what a dance career involves. About 800 students are expected to have gone through the programme by 2016.

LASALLE’s dance programme leader at LASALLE College of the Arts Melissa Quek said there was “a desire to offer more opportunities to students interested in dance and to give them a chance to experience professional training”.

She noted that most students enrolled in the programme to “enlarge their concept of dance and the dance industry and to deepen their appreciation of the form beyond just learning technical skills”.

Students also are able to complement the techniques and skills they learnt in their dance co-curricular activities.

Students do not have to pay for the classes, which are conducted outside of normal curriculum hours.

The NAC will allocate S$150,000 each year for the programme until 2016. It said that it will “look at feedback from students, dance companies and schools to determine plans for the programme beyond 2016, to ensure that the programme meets the interest of young dancers and needs of the local dance community”.

The inaugural batch of students took part in workshops held over three days at LASALLE in June to expose them to diverse forms of dance.

At the end of the programme, 38 students were selected for a three-month attachment from July to September with a dance company of their choice.

During this attachment, hip-hop students, for example, will attend a 90-minute session per week held by O School, one of the partner schools. They will also take part in the school’s regular classes once a week.

From December to February next year, these students will be required to attend dance sessions conducted by LASALLE over a period of 30 hours.

And come March, they will have to put up a two- or three-minute dance performance, based on what they learnt from the programme.

Student Nur Hazwani Mohamad, 15, from Naval Base Secondary School, who is among the 38, said: “During the trainings, the instructor helps us (to) strengthen our muscles and to be stronger in (our) dance steps. We already learn the basics (of dance), but with this programme, we learn the techniques of dance more.”