Dance as a part of everyday life at school - How to turn a project into a permanent practice

1. Dance as a part of everyday life at school-How to turn a project into a permanent practice Katri Nirhamo Kedja 2009 Kuopio, Finland

2. Pääskyvuori school • An elementary school in Turku, a city of 176 000 people in south-west Finland. • In the 90`s special classes for physical education and for drama. Today emphazis for p.e., health and dance.

3. It started as a project… • ”Children, young people and dance in the Nordic countries” 1997-2000. • Sweden (Cecilia Dahlgren), Finland (Eeva Anttila), Norway, Denmark and Iceland. • Schools teaching dance as an artform. • Meetings and come-togethers, a network. • In Pääskyvuori school all pupils participated in danceclasses.

4. …but turned into everyday practise • School`s own funding and resources. • Dance in curriculum. • Dance periods for all pupils twice a year • Children can choose extra danceclasses in classes 5-6. • Dance appears in school´s special days and occacions. • Visitors from outside of school. • Intergration, co-operation inside the school. • Performing inside and outside of the school. • Children watching professional performances inside and outside of school. • Danceteacher / classteacher works at school every day. • A mutual committment inside the school.

5. Curriculum? • Dance as a means and as a goal. • Constuctivism, phenomenology. • Bodily knowlege, considering body and mind as one entirety. • ”I dance, we dance, the world dances”. • To create dance and to see dance & talk about it. • Creativity, based on the elements of dance. • Evaluation based on the experiance of the pupil and it´s meaning to the child.

6. Benefits of practise vs. project • Continuity: - The teacher can start where he/she left the previous year. - Development in skills, creativity, expression and attitude takes time. - Pupils see dance naturally as an artform. - Curriculum based on constructing on what you already have learned. -The teacher gets to know all the classes and pupils. - The teacher gets to develope his / her own teaching. • Committment: - The children, the danceteacher, whole schoolstaff.

7. The keypoints that made this happen • The Nordic project in the beginning. • Choosing the right school. • Danceteacher working inside the school every day. • Co-operation between the whole staff creates commitment. • Danceteaching is compulsory, regular and goal-directed. • Keeping it in mind: making dance visible in everyday life at school. • Keeping it alive: developing the curriculum and teaching constantly.

8. Challenges in the future • The lack of resources. • Keeping it alive and kicking. • Balancing between the needs of the boys and the girls. • Nationwide: expand dance as an artform to other schools: -National curriculum -Teacher training -Networks between schools and artists - Dance inside of the school structures: not as an exeption but as a permanent subject

9. Thank you! To contact: • katri.nirhamo@turku.fi • Pictures: Lassi Nirhamo