Program and Abstracts
TanzZeit -- Bringing Scientific,
Educational, and Arts Practice Together
TanzZeit (Cornelia Baumgart, Hanna Hegenscheidt, & children from the Fläming-elementary school)
Berlin-based project TanzZeit -- Zeit
für Tanz
in Schulen (DanceTime -- Time for Dance in Schools) was initiated
by dancer and choreographer Livia Patrizi and built up with teacher
and dance
educator Cornelia Baumgart. It started successfully with 37
elementary school classes in August 2005. The project, affiliated
with the Dachverband Zeitgenössischer Tanz, bundles the interests
and
expertise of Berlin dance creatives. It is under the patronage of
well-known choreographer Sasha Waltz. In February 2006 the pilot
stage of the project was completed with a fulminant, large-scale
presentation by 18 classes.
The aim of TanzZeit is to give children of all cultures and
socioeconomic status a better understanding of contemporary dance and
to establish dance within the educational system. By advanced
training for choreographers and dancers, supervision and exchange of
experiences TanzZeit establishes quality assurance for dance training
at schools. First experiences of contemporary dance are transferred
to the children on three levels. They receive dance instruction by
professional artists, they perform on stage themselves, and they go
to the theater together to see dance performances.
Cornelia Baumgart and Hanna Hegenscheidt will give a short talk about the concept of TanzZeit and their experiences at schools. In addition, there will be a lecture demonstration to show the practical work of TanzZeit. After that there will be time for questions and discussion.
The children that are invited are about ten years old and go to the Fläming elementary school in Berlin. They have received dance instruction by TanzZeit before; however, it will be the first time that they meet Cornelia Baumgart and Hanna Hegenscheidt.
The practical demonstration will begin with a short warm-up that can be varied in difficulty according to the age of the children. The children will be made familiar with basic notions of motion, of using the body in space and of phrasing of motion. In successive sessions this training would be expanded step-by-step. After the warm-up the children will be led through a sensibilization task in which they will work out a motion sequence on a certain topic on their own.
In conlusion, we will watch the results together with the children and discuss and reflect about it. By this, children will experience the feeling of presenting themselves to others in an early stage of work, and they will develop a vocabulary to name and articulate what they have seen.
We encourage the participants of the conference to take part in the demonstration, together with the children.
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