People Dancing

Introduction by Liz Clark, Associate Artist for Early Years, People Dancing

Over the past 15 years, there has been a steady rise of participatory performance for early years audiences, some of it by artists who have a rich and varied community practice and some by artists who are exploring creating work with and for very young children for the first time. All with a desire to create meaningful, quality experiences for young children, not so we can create the audience and participants of the future, but recognising that these children are the audiences and participants of now – very distinctive and very special, and who certainly let you know when they’ve had enough, when they love something and when they want to join in!

As a maker of participatory performance, I was personally interested in the topic of participation within performance because I felt it was an extension of my community dance practice and that the two were part of the same continuum. I was interested in discussing this phenomenon with other artists. How would they make choices about how they include participation within performances? How are they blending or fusing the two different disciplines successfully? And what were the things they learnt along the way?

As an early years community dance artist, as well as a theatre maker, I love that both participation and performance can be hands on, play-based, creative endeavours. Both often have improvisation at the heart, creating the opportunity to engage very young children in art and dance making. In early years participatory dance, there is a sense of collaboration and a ‘tuning in’ to the unique contributions that the very young can bring. This mirrors what is at the centre of most early years curriculums - the important notion of the uniqueness of each child and their discovery and exploration as a key process in the way they understand the world. This is what’s so wonderful and unique about early years, the notion of the child’s own enquiry taking precedence in education and the arts, that both can work to support them through those early developmental stages in their lives.

In participatory performance, the elements of theatre and early years dance practices are brought together. In the first of a two part series about Participation in Performance, I interview artist and dance maker Takeshi Matsumoto who, at the time of this recording, is touring his participatory performance Club Origami in the UK and beyond.

Takeshi offers wonderful insights into how and why he makes his work, and the impact it can have on his audiences. We talk about what motivated him to make Club Origami, which is partly linked to his own culture and heritage, and partly about a very personal journey that he has taken as an artist himself. It is fascinating to hear how he draws upon his community dance practice in making theatre and how the two complement and enhance each other. 

People Dancing are working alongside Associate Artist Liz Clark to deliver the early years Dance Network (EYDN) programme for artists and organisations working in dance and Early Years. For more information, visit our Early Years Dance pages and Sign up to the Early Years Dance Network mailing list here.