Interlace: Art and Action in Contemporary Dance Education

Dance educators disseminating creative dance in diverse communities play a crucial role in developing said communities. This is why it’s imperative that the educators develop their skills whilst u...

Dance educators disseminating creative dance in diverse communities play a crucial role in developing said communities. This is why it’s imperative that the educators develop their skills whilst understanding the critical value of inclusivity. We provide dance educators with an opportunity to learn how to make their approach inclusive. These approaches concern all pedagogical methods and tools that aim to make students feel acknowledged, empowered, situated in their physical and creative bodies.

MARC will engage 3 dance educators in a peer-to-peer exchange; they will be teaching a community group, reflecting on their experience, and disseminating their observations nationally. Multimedia Hut will provide young dance educators with a modular program focused on developing skills for working with community groups. Wiener Tanzwochen will include MARC and Multimedia Hut in developing parts of the program of their symposium geared towards dance educators that work with community groups.

Dance educators are expected to have more inclusive methods and tools available when teaching creative dance to diverse local community groups. They have a fine grasp of the non-verbal strengths of dance for inclusivity. They gain more competence in creating situations for self-directed learning processes with diverse groups. They know better how to address the needs of diverse student groups. An online resource offers open access to principles and guidelines of inclusive dance teaching.