Report from Kerry Chappell who travelled to
16
October 2003
Dear Chair of the Lisa Ullmann Travelling Scholarship
Fund
Please
find enclosed two copies of the report of my trip to
Title: Attendance
at daCi conference 2003,
Dates: 3
- 1 0 August 2003
Please
see the report for full information, but the trip allowed me to achieve all of
my objectives and more. I have been able to input peer review within my
research; have contributed to international agendas for both research and
project management in dance education; and have gained unique insights into
worldwide practice in developed and developing countries for comparison with
the current UK agenda.
One
of the highlights of the conference was being able to cement strong
professional relationships with dance education practitioners and researchers
in Brazil, New Zealand and North America in particular, which I am hoping will
lead to exciting collaborations in the future. Each of these colleagues has
showed me very different ways of working within our field, and really brought
home to me the importance of diversity and variety in our approach to dance
education. I have already shared informally information about my project with
colleagues at LABAN, and hope to be able to include insights of the trip within
lecturing that I
undertake in the
future with LABAN and other students. I have published one article already
discussing the conference and am currently negotiating for a fin al article to
be published soon. There is, however, no doubt, that what I have learned from
my time in
I
would like to take this opportunity to thank LUTSF for their generous funding
of the trip, which would not have been possible without this support. Finally,
I would like to take LUTSF up on the offer of a ticket to see Mavin Khoo Dance on Thursday 13
November. I have enclosed a cheque for the price of a
ticket made payable to LUTSF (I hope this is correct) and look forward to
meeting you at the Royal Opera House.
Best wishes
Kerry Chappell
Report
on attendance at the dance and the Child international Conference
In
August
2003
By
Kerry Chappell
Funding from the Lisa Ullmann Travelling Scholarship
Fund has allowed me to undertake a very valuable trip to attend the week-long
dance and the Child international (daCi) conference
in
Specifically, my research is concerned
with ‘how selected specialist dance teachers identify and foster creativity’;
which dovetailed well with the conference theme of ‘bringing
into light the importance of thinking, creating, teaching, and performing dance
within the context of multicultural societies’.
The funding facilitated the
presentation of my doctoral level research to the international dance education
community, and allowed me to learn about other dance education practice and
research being carried out worldwide within this area.
As a result, I
have made new professional connections with practitioners and researchers in
I have been able to include
recommendations from other researchers about the use of dance teachers’
research diaries as a methodological tool, and the use of video for collecting
data. I was also able to learn from
other researcher’s experiences of using theory to sensitise
themselves in preparation for the field within grounded theory studies; and to
learn of new possibilities for presenting data within the final thesis (for
example, poetic interpretations of pupils’ perspectives).
As my research combines the fields of
education, social systems psychology and dance, I was able to highlight to the
dance education community the contribution that it has to make to current
research agendas in other disciplines. Conversely, my presentation was also
able to contribute findings from the
The conference also provided the
opportunity for me to access seminars, workshops and presentations on offer at
the week-long conference. I was brought
up to date with the recent implementation of an arts based dance curriculum in
In line with another of the conference
themes (to promote a worldwide exchange experience
for researchers, artists, teachers, and young people, regarding artistic,
cultural, and scientific production in dance), I was able to exchange my
own knowledge of the dance education system within the UK with international
colleagues and to promote aspects of good practice of which I am aware. This
was particularly in regard to running inclusive dance projects, drawing on my
own experience of managing the Dance-Ability programme
as part of my project management work in the
Following the conference, the
presentation has been published as part of the conference proceedings for the daCi Conference 2003.
I have also written a conference report for the termly
publication LABANlink, which is sent out to alumni,
current students, colleagues and friends of LABAN. I am currently negotiating
to publish a conference report in another dance publication soon.
I have also been able to disseminate
ideas, strategies and information gleaned from the conference, internally
within the Laban Research Department and Education
and Community Programme, together with passing on
useful contacts to colleagues, and reconnecting other colleagues with the dance
and the Child international organisation.
Finally, the conference connected me with the mission,
mechanisms and networks of dance and the Child international, which were very
much at the heart of the proceedings.
Across the week, daCi 2003 offered hundreds of
workshops, practical and research seminars and performances for people of all
different ages from around the developing and developed world, in a multitude
of dance styles. Delegates themselves
ranged from infants to highly respected practitioners in the field, who were
encouraged to get to know each other and explore each other’s experiences, with
the voice of young people often placed centrally. This has opened up a new perspective on dance
education for me, giving me an insight into how dance is perceived and
positioned within other cultures, and placing a real emphasis on the needs of
the child at the heart of our work. One of the most fascinating outcomes of the
conference is that my week’s experience was just one amongst hundreds; and that
the potential for learning, debate, dissemination and networking at a
conference like this is immeasurable.