Dance education stimulates personal development, self-confidence and the mental well-being of children, enabling them to stand more firmly in society. However, children and young people are not exposed to dance enough. To ensure that more future teachers are trained to provide dance education, making dance more accessible to all pupils, all bachelor’s programmes in Dance Education will sign the Dance Educators Agreement on 4 October. In it, they agree to better align dance education in the programmes with the world of children and young people, enabling them to develop expressively, creatively, sensorimotorically and cognitively through dance and movement. The agreement is supported by a broad range of organisations from the fields of education, dance and culture, with the Méér Muziek in de Klas foundation acting as a process facilitator.
Anthony Heidweiller, deputy director of the Academy of Theatre and Dance at the Amsterdam University of the Arts, is the initiator of the Dance Educators Agreement: “Dance and movement are incredibly important within and around primary and secondary schools for the physical, mental and cognitive development of children and young people. Through the Dance Educators Agreement, we are taking a crucial step by properly equipping the next generation of dance teachers.”
Key priorities
The most important priority in the Dance Educators Agreement is therefore that children and young people—and their world of experience—are always the starting point, regardless of their background. To raise awareness among school leaders and administrators of the power of dance education in the familiar environment of the school, the agreement focuses on close cooperation between local, regional and national organisations in the Netherlands and the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. This also includes encouraging classroom teachers and other education professionals to use dance as a learning tool or a way to exercise, and teaching the appropriate didactic and pedagogical skills to (future) dancers so that they can pass on their passion to the younger generation.
Participating organisations
The Dance Educators Agreement is an agreement between the bachelor’s programmes in Dance Education at ArtEZ Arnhem, Codarts, the Academy of Theatre and Dance of the AHK, Leiden University of Applied Sciences, Fontys, Lucia Martha School of Performing Arts, surrounding primary teacher training colleges and the Méér Muziek in de Klas foundation. The agreement will be signed on the day of the Music Educators Agreement, which was established three years ago for the discipline of music.
Jantien Westerveld, director of the Méér Muziek in de Klas foundation, explains: "Within the Music Educators Agreement, an agreement between all primary teacher training colleges and conservatoires, it has always been our wish to broaden this initiative. Music and dance often go hand in hand, which is why today we are passing the baton from music to dance. The aim is to train more teachers to provide dance education in and around schools. This will also give children for whom arts and cultural activities are not a given the opportunity to develop and flourish through dance.”
Many other organisations from the education and cultural sectors also support the Dance Educators Agreement, including the Jeugdeducatiefonds, Dansgezelschap Sally Maastricht, Nederlandse Dansdagen, Beweegalliantie, Algemene Vereniging Schoolleiders, Kunstbende and NIVOZ. The Dance Educators Agreement was unveiled through dance on 4 October, during the Day of the Music Educators Agreement, with a performance by ISH Dance Collective. The Dance Educators Agreement is a growing and open agreement; following the launch, new signatories can join at any time to contribute to strengthening dance and movement in and around schools.
About the foundation
Through the ‘More Art and Culture in School and the Surrounding Community’ programme, the Méér Muziek in de Klas foundation is working on a broad movement to demonstrate the positive effects of a creative extracurricular programme, particularly for those children and young people for whom this is not a given. The aim is to inspire other organisations in and around schools to offer a broad extracurricular programme, thereby expanding pupils’ worlds and contributing to the cognitive, social and creative development of children. Méér Muziek in de Klas does this together with many regional and national partners. In addition, the foundation continues to promote and secure structural music education.
Photo credit: ISH Dance Collective by Anna van Kooij.