People Dancing

People Dancing is delighted to welcome Alister O’Loughlin of The Urban Playground Team, Cornwall’s multiple award-winning physical theatre & performance-parkour company, to lead this two-day workshop.

Over two days, you will explore key skills and knowledge to improve your teaching skills for community and participatory dance including:

• Pre-session preparation & session planning
• Class structure
• Teaching and learning theories
• Assessment and evaluation
• Developing good practice.

This workshop is ideal for anyone new to teaching - including performers who deliver education and engagement as part of their company role. It will also benefit more established teaching artists and community practitioners working with any population or in any context.

This workshop is linked with People Dancing’s Online Course - Improving Your Teaching Skills - co-written with Alister and Miranda. It is designed to support artists to enhance teaching skills in community and participatory practice regardless of dance style or background. The online course offers core foundational knowledge about the safe, effective and creative delivery of dance sessions in a range of contexts which will help your learning at the in-person workshop. To gain the most from the workshop, you need to have either completed or started the online course. This can be purchased together with the workshop on the booking page.

If you’re new to teaching, the workshop and online course will introduce key skills and knowledge which you will then explore in more detail in person. If you teach already, you’ll refresh and revisit ways of raising standards.

About The Urban Playground Team

Miranda Henderson trained as a dancer in the UK and at the Duncan Conservatoire, Prague. Alister O’Loughlin trained as an actor in the UK and with Dah Teatar, Belgrade. In 1999, they returned to the UK and founded Prodigal Theatre, creating award winning physical - adaptations of classic texts.

From 2002 – 2010 they managed the Nightingale Theatre, Brighton, contributing to the development of over 100 new pieces of theatre and dance, facilitating artist development at all levels of the profession.

In 2006, they established a second ensemble; The Urban Playground Team, coining the phrase Performance-Parkour to describe its unique blend of free-running and dance. The UPG Team has toured internationally ever since, on 10 occasions for the British Council.

From 2014 – 17, the pair studied the Diploma In Dance Teaching and Learning at Trinity Laban Conservatoire. For four years Miranda taught dance for actors at the Royal Central School of Speech & Drama. Alister is an associate lecturer at Falmouth Uni’s AMATA, the University's arts centre.

In 2017, the company moved to Par, Cornwall, where, having raised over a million pounds, they are building The Creation Works. Charitably run, this sustainable and accessible, residential rehearsal and development centre will open in spring this year. 

Image credit: Alister O’Loughlin & Miranda Henderson © Julie Angel.