Animated Edition - Autumn 2015
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Focus on: practice & current issues in participatory dance
In this issue
I am delighted to introduce this edition of Animated in my relatively new role as People Dancing’s Associate Director. Since starting in May 2015, I have been exploring some of the incredible participatory dance work happening in the UK and internationally, work that at times can feel hidden and without the exposure or recognition it deserves.
Dance professionals and dancing communities have been hit hard by cultural sector funding cuts in recent years. In this edition we share some new talent and some fresh thinking from established practitioners, highlighting how dance leaders are picking up the pieces and have become resilient and entrepreneurial in their direction and practice.
Health and wellbeing continues to be at the heart of community dance practice. Jan Burkhardt, a leading specialist in the field of dance and health, outlines the epidemic of physical inactivity and significant benefits that dance can play in public health interventions, and Andrea Haley, working on behalf of Air Arts, shares her approach to and experience of delivering dance in hospitals.
We feature Chaz Bonnar, an international videographer and dancer from Glasgow, on developing his breakdancing practice across the UK, Europe and USA supported by a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship. Yael Owen-Mckenna talks about her leadership role in influencing special schools across Coventry to fully embrace creative dance within the curriculum and to use the Sherborne Developmental Movement technique.
Leading British choreographer Rosie Kay offers an insight into her work with military communities as part of a tour of her show 5 Soldiers, as well as her continued support for developing a skilled dance workforce. Jemma Bicknell questions how performance can challenge limiting perceptions of older people and the implications this has for dance practice.
Alongside news from People Dancing, we are pleased to share with you an idea we’ve been piloting to provide dance artists and teachers with credit for the continuing professional development they undertake, and to introduce ArtWorks Alliance – a new cross-artform UKwide collaboration for participatory arts.
2016 will mark People Dancing’s 30th anniversary. We’ve got some new events and programmes planned as well as time for reflection and celebration of community dance over the past 30 years, and looking forward to the next 30 years and beyond. Celebrations will commence in January, with some nice surprises!
Vanessa Oxspring
Associate Director, People Dancing
In this issue
Continuing professional development
Continuing professional development (CPD) – why do we do it and what value does it hold for us? What is ‘good’ CPD and how can we make the most of the CPD that we take part in? People Dancing’s Anna Leatherdale explores
Dance and disabled people
Yael Owen-Mckenna, dance practitioner and Joint Head of Service at Coventry Performing Arts Service and Music Education Hub, reflects upon the development of a programme of creative dance and Sherborne Developmental Movement for Special Schools across Coventry
In the midst of Edinburgh Festival madness, arts writer Donald Hutera listened in as the disabled arts community tried to answer the question – if not now, when?
Dance and health
Jan Burkhardt, dance and health specialist, makes the case for dance as a remedy for inactivity across all communities and ages based on research in England
Dance and older people
Dance Artist
Paula Turner and ethnographer
Dr Trish Winter have been collaborating for the past two years on an ethnographic research project with Grand Gestures Elders Dance Group in the North East of England. Here, Paula writes about what this collaboration has brought to her practice
Jemma Bicknell, Senior Hub and Creative Projects Manager at Open Age and an independent choreographer, looks at the benefits of dance and performance, how it can challenge limiting perceptions of older people and the implications this has on dance practice
Development
Cultured Mongrel Dance Theatre (CMDT) acts to drive dance as a vehicle for social innovation through making socially relevant dance theatre that challenges the audience and the sector. Here, Emma Jayne Park, CDMT’s Artistic Director, considers new ideas for access and inclusion in the arts
In practice
Chaz Bonnar, aka ChazB, is a 23-year-old international videographer and dancer from Glasgow. In 2014, he was the youngest person to be awarded a Travelling Fellowship by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust as his research took him to the US to learn how Breaking and Hip Hop culture benefits young people from deprived backgrounds
Lead dance artist for Air Arts: Engage, Andrea Haley, focuses on her experience of finding the space to deliver dance and connect patients, visitors and staff on hospital wards
Senior Lecturer in Dance and Course Coordinator for the MSc in Dance Science at the University of Bedfordshire,
Imogen Aujla PhD explains how a relatively new area of dance science research can help to support the continued development and diversity of community dance
Rosie Kay, Artistic Director, Rosie Kay Dance Company, reflects on a revival of 5 Soldiers – The Body is the Frontline, taken on a UK tour to military bases and theatres with a community outreach programme
Partnerships
A new body – ArtWorks Alliance – has been formed as a cross-artform UK-wide umbrella for strategic organisations and networks in participatory arts. Chris Stenton brings us up to date with developments and why it’s a good thing for People Dancing (and people dancing)