Heather Walker looks at how Tees Valley Dance worked with young people to get them moving.
In January 2006, Tees Valley Dance embarked on a year-long research project to develop a dance and movement programme for primary schools. The project was initiated by Linthorpe Community Primary School, Middlesbrough, and funded by Creative Partnerships, Tees Valley. We wanted something which could be delivered in the classroom, that sparked imagination, created opportunities for knowledge sharing and also raised the heart rate.
The challenge was to create a user-friendly resource, something which teachers could incorporate within their school day. Headteacher, Lyn Newton, identified that one of the biggest hurdles to increasing physical activity in curriculum time was access to hall space: Linthorpe is a large, urban primary school surrounded by narrow and busy roads where many of our children live. As a Victorian school with limited space and only one hall for our 600 pupils, we needed a creative solution that would help our children to maintain good levels of fitness. The activity would also help to contribute to the Governments target of two hours of physical activity per week during school hours and the Every Child Matters outcomes in encouraging the children to be healthy, to enjoy and achieve, and to make a positive contribution.
So, can you dance in a classroom? Tees Valley Dance had already proved that professional dancers could in their 2004 work, Space Invaders, where dancers explored themes such as bullying by utilising the whole of the classroom. The audience sat at their desks while the dancers squeezed on the chairs alongside them and jumped off the desks and the walls. The piece was co-choreographed with secondary pupils, and then a primary school workshop was devised based on this material. Classroom Moves presented us with a new challenge that of enabling teachers to lead a dance class within this same space.
Our starting point was an initial consultation with the teachers at the school to find out what they really wanted to achieve. This was immediately followed by practical workshops with musicians, dancers, choreographers, teachers and children. We knew from the beginning that it was essential to encourage an effective exchange of ideas between all parties. We also wanted a finished product that teachers could take ownership of, so our approach to the whole project was to work as collaboratively as possible. The children were often the creative brains behind the project, taking the artists on unexpected pathways and often reminding the teachers of what they should be doing! We consulted the children on every aspect of the project. All the exercises were connected to imagery or narratives to engage the children and ignite creativity and curiosity, from swatting a fly to driving a spaceship. To make the resource clear and usable, a teachers focus group was set up to research with the artists areas such as health and safety, language, musical content and structure, and curriculum links.
After the year of research we created and launched the Classroom Moves book and CD. Now Tees Valley Dance is embarking on fine-tuning the training programme in another phase of consultation with schools and teachers. Many teachers resources collect dust on the top shelf or one teacher attends a course and is expected to be the expert and the knowledge gets lost. We are taking a different pathway a whole-school approach. Through a mixture of twilight sessions for teachers, taught sessions for children and collaborative team teaching sessions the whole school is involved in making the shift to get movement into the curriculum. No supply cover is needed, which makes it extremely cost effective. The majority of the training is delivered within the school day, which enables the children to work directly with the artists and minimises additional time commitment from teachers. Having the whole school involved builds team working and sharing of ideas between staff.
Heather Walker is Company Manager of Tees Valley Dance
t: 01642 525191;
e: heatherwalker@teesvalleydance.co.uk