Since 2017, we have been delivering our successful ‘Moving Stories’ project in schools in our local community. The project sees one of our dance artists delivering a series of 10 – 12 weekly dance and movement sessions in a local primary school. The weekly sessions focus on a cross-curricular theme, which is decided in partnership with the school, enabling the project to support the children in their learning in the classroom.
The weekly sessions work towards and culminate in a performance sharing from the children who have been taking part. This is a great opportunity for family, peers and the rest of the school community to come together and celebrate the work of the children taking part. By performing to the rest of the school, the participants gain performance experience, which helps build their confidence, self-esteem and sense of achievement, as well as potentially inspiring other children who watch them to take part in similar projects. In addition to the children performing, two of our professional dancers perform one of our fantastic duets at the sharing, enabling students, staff and families to enjoy live professional dance work as part of their school day.
The main benefits of our Moving Stories project are:
- Helping children to integrate as a group, with the aim of supporting them in their learning
- Building children’s confidence and self-esteem whilst taking part in healthy and enjoyable exercise
- Encouraging children to be creative through setting story-telling tasks interpreted through the common language of movement – research suggests that creative learning helps support literacy, comprehension and other key developmental skills.
The performance elements of project provide a setting for parents/carers to meet each other and socialise, bringing the community together, encouraging family involvement in children’s activities
