The Place offers a variety of dance for children and young people. Our Learning & Access department is internationally recognised for its dance-education, particularly for its contribution to the development of new teaching and learning approaches in primary education.
LearnPhysical Interactive
Building on findings from the pilot project “A New Place for Dance in Schools” LearnPhysical Interactive is a practical research project looking at how dance can be used within multi-sensory teaching approaches for cross-curricular learning.
The project looks at how interactive digital technologies, from interactive whiteboards to Sony Playstation Portables (PSPs), can be used within multi-sensory teaching, combining dance with music, visual display, discussion and debate.
A New Place for Dance in Schools has been supported by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and the John Lyon's Charity.We would particularly like to thank the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation for their generous grant to help us research and develop LearnPhysical interactive as a new learning and teaching initiative and also the John Lyon's Charity for their continued support.
Shift
Shift is The Place’s youth dance company for 13-19 year olds, with members selected on the basis of their creative and technical potential. The company is led by professional dance specialists and works regularly with guest choreographers. Members have gone onto pursue pre-vocational training at The Place’s Centre for Advanced Training and on to courses at London Contemporary Dance School.
Shift is kindly supported by the Jack Petchey Foundation and The John Lyon’s Charity.
Junior Dance Club
Junior Dance Club (JDC) is a free after-school dance club for young people aged 8-12, with priority given to children from the London Borough of Camden and areas local to The Place. JDC work with experienced tutors to create original dance pieces and have the opportunity to present their own choreography in a performance for parents and friends at the end of each term. In many cases JDC acts as a progression route into The Place’s other recreational and pre-vocational programmes.
Hurricane
An intensive course for boys aged 10-14 years, Hurricane takes place for five days during the summer. Boys work with a specialist choreographer to develop a performance, providing them with an insight into contemporary dance in an accessible environment. In previous projects, participants have worked with professional photographers and film makers to create interactive and multi-media dance works. Hurricane continues to attract growing popularity and many participants go on to access The Place’s other recreational and pre-vocational programmes.
Hurricane is kindly supported by John Lewis Partnership and the John Lyon’s Charity.
Fresh
Fresh is a night of outstanding dance with and for young people, bringing together dynamic youth dance companies with professional performing artists. Fresh in 2008 featured performances from The Place’s youth dance company Shift, plus youth dance company Cando2. There were also performances of some young dancers’ own choreography selected from this year’s Youth Dance England Festival. Alongside Fresh a special workshop, “Unwrapped”, gives 13-19 year olds the opportunity to gain an insight into how professional choreographers make work.
If you would like to discuss ways of supporting our Learning & Access projects please contact Craig Edwards in the Development Department on 0207 121 1054 or email
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