I was very pleased to be invited by the Irish Museums Association (IMA) to present my work on the Dancing in Museums project at their 'Creative Museum' Event in Belfast on the 23rd October 2015.
Yesterday I had the pleasure of being invited by Pavilion Dance South West and Bristol Museums, Galleries and Archives to speak about the Dancing in Museums project so far and some of my plans for the future.
On the 27th November 2014 I attended Trinity Laban/the Horniman Museum's Symposium entitled: 'Dance and museums working together'. I have jotted down some of the notes I made during the day.
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.