From July 2016 – March 2017, we undertook a research project exploring how dance might be used to teach history in primary schools, supported by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and informed by the company’s extensive experience of using dance in heritage and museum contexts since 2013. Here is a summary of what we discovered (full report available on request)...
In September 2016 I started working with evaluator Emma McFarland, mentor Elsa Urmston, work placement Hannah Gibbs and the children and teachers of St Mary’s School in Byfleet to deliver a research project exploring ways of integrating dance within the primary school history curriculum. This work is supported by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, through an ‘Explore and Test’ grant. Now that we're nearing the end of our first term, it felt like a good time to take stock of what we're learning, so I wanted to collect together some thoughts here.
We are thrilled that we have been supported through a Paul Hamlyn Foundation 'Explore and Test' grant to develop the work we have been doing with schools, museums and heritage sites since 2013, contributing to the delivery of the primary school history curriculum using dance.
From September-November 2014, I collaborated with the supplementary schools team at the British Museum as part of the Exploring Objects and Sharing Cultures Project, working with 20 dancers from the EC Lighthouse Lithuanian Supplementary School to create a piece responding to artefacts in the museum's Roman galleries.
I have been working specifically with dance in museums and heritage sites for nearly two years now, and one thing I can certainly say about working in this environment is that there is always more to discover: museums are such a rich source for creative dance activity. However, what I have learnt during those two years, and throughout my work as a professional dance artist and choreographer more generally, is that dance has the capacity, if introduced in an appropriate way, to engage all individuals, regardless of ability or previous experience.