Dance in Education. By that do we mean dance education, or educating through dance, or educating people about dance?
Over the past few months some of the key stakeholders in dance in Wales have been getting together to discuss just what those three words mean. Our first difficulty was agreeing upon a single definition. Through the smoke of debate we realised that our collective concern was with the whole spectrum of activity relating to opportunities for children and young people to experience dance throughout their educational career in Wales. The outcome of our animated discussion was the decision to plan a major conference.
'Dancing in Mind' is an all-Wales event aimed at raising the level of discourse about dance provision, at all levels and at every step along the way, in educational settings throughout Wales. The location is University of Wales Institute, Cyncoed Campus, Cardiff, (UWIC) in January 2004.
The conference could hardly be happening at a better time because, despite our concerns, some real progress is actually being made in Wales and new initiatives are taking root. UWIC will launch the first-ever dance degree in Wales with its initial in-take of dance students in October 2003. This is a huge achievement on the part of Geraldine Hurl, Head of Dance, because until now it was not possible to complete dance training and remain in Wales. For the first time young aspiring dancers will be able to progress from local school or youth dance groups, right through to completing a degree in their homeland. How can this not but help to nurture and retain local talent within the nation, and encourage new young talent to swell the critical mass of dance interest in the country?
Other promising activities have begun to fill the gaps in the dance landscape. National Youth Dance Wales has been set up by Welsh Joint Education Council to bring dance up to speed alongside its older sisters, the National Youth Orchestra and the National Youth Theatre. Diversions, the national dance company of Wales, has recently established an Associate Scheme offering technique classes to promising dance students to make them equal contenders for places at the top dance colleges.
Community Dance Wales (CDW) now has the remit, within its revenue grant from Arts Council of Wales, to provide training for the sector. CDW has begun to realise the recommendations of its report 'Steps in Time', taking powerful steps to meet the training and professional development needs of community dance practitioners. We run on-going training programmes across the country, bringing the highest quality tutors to Wales to provide inspiration and practical skills for existing and potential practitioners.
A major step at CDW has been to establish a brand-new course offering an introduction to the basic skills needed to lead dance in a youth setting, Accredited by Open College Network and piloted in two disadvantaged community areas, the next move is to deliver this course through the medium of Welsh. The key aim is to 'grow' a new generation of potential dance leaders whose heart and home is in Wales. We can do this by giving them an accessible step up onto the first rung of the ladder.
A few more rungs have been built, ideally leading up to a sturdier structure.
Powys Dance has recently created a magical performance and workshop project for primary schools, The Present1/yr Anrheg, which can be delivered through English or Welsh language. The imaginative, supporting work pack includes the original music on CD and a video to help teachers explore the ideas raised in the piece.
North East Wales Dance recently toured Swyrl-y-Tworld1 to key stages 1 & 2. With a theme of multi-cultural exploration and cultural diversity, this project employed live dance performance, music and narrative verse to introduce teachers to a new and fun way of developing dance. It also educated pupils about the various cultures around the world, backed up by workshops, teacher training and an education pack.
Tan Dance, covering the Neath/Port Talbot/Swansea area, regularly works with Gorseinon College, engaging students to expand its company and tour a dance in education project around the feeder schools in the area.
Rubicon in Cardiff delivers an extensive outreach programme in schools. Even more crucially, it has offered work placement opportunities to teachers so that they can, in the long-term, increase their confidence in delivering dance activities themselves.
The network of seven dedicated community dance organisations, directly revenue-funded by ACW to deliver community dance activities across the country, plays a vital role in providing yet more solid steps on that ladder. They already have the art-form expertise, local knowledge, links and relationships with schools to offer services to the full spectrum of education establishments both within and outside of the curriculum. Critically, however, they lack the resources to offer a consistent package of provision in dance at every key stage of a child's educational development. With the proper levels of financial support each of them could happily sustain an independent branch of the organisation just delivering dance in the broad educational context.
The precedent has been set in Wales for a well-established, indeed exemplary network of Theatre in Education (or Theatre for Young People) companies. They have nevertheless had to fight long and hard to survive as eight specialist companies, locally-based, with local authority funding partnerships and an understanding of local issues. Recognising their value, the Welsh Assembly Government has invested an additional £1.3M towards their aspiration to provide a free theatre experience at each of the four key stages in a child's school career. They have often been referred to as 'the jewel in the (ACW) crown'.
This begs the question, where is that kind of level of interest and support for dance in education?
Currently dance in Wales is still subject to the old Cinderella syndrome. Even in the new - look Arts Council, it has only been allowed a half-time officer to champion and nurture the whole of the sector in the whole of the country. This hardly reflects the claim that dance is recognised as being ripe for greater investment, nor that a relatively modest increase could reap enormous benefits.
Opinions as to how dance in education should be improved upon inevitably vary. There is a danger of becoming defensive about existing work in this field because organisations have been forced into a situation of having to fight for funding. This has necessitated protecting areas of work and potential grant income instead of bravely looking at the bigger picture.
The model of one independent, specialist Dance in Education Company may well not be right for Wales. The general consensus seems to be that a far better solution would be to allocate additional resources to the established network, which already aspires to deliver this kind of work. But at the moment they struggle with an inadequate jigsaw puzzle of limited funding opportunities, trying to offer provision which is inevitably patchy and pot-luck to children whose experience depends entirely on their geographical location.
The young people of Wales deserve better odds on the chance to experience dance at a professional level, both as active participants and as receptive audiences. The dedicated dance professionals, working in Wales to meet the resounding demand for dance, also deserve better. It should be recognized that a resolve to improve provision would result in new investment, ultimately benefiting everyone's work.
To conclude, the dance sector in Wales is small and totally inter-dependent. We must be mutually supportive to welcome new growth and development. There is a genuine need for a gathering, which aims to bring community dance practitioners together with the educators and politicians, the movers and shakers who could improve the position of dance on the arts and education agendas. Please come to the conference and keep dancing in mind.
To contact Gillian email gillian@communitydancewales.com or visit www.communitydancewales.com