Royal Albert Hall Education

Summertime is not the only project that is based around English National Ballet’s performance of Strictly Gershwin. There have also been a number of satellite projects taking place as well. Royal Albert Hall Education and the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea have funded art and dance workshops in Parkwood Hall School. This school is a residential school for students with a range of learning difficulties and is based in Kent.

Since the start of the year they have been working with Artist-in-Residence, Billie Evans, to create a series of models and installation art inspired by the musical instruments used in an orchestra. They created huge double basses, saxophones and trumpets that, as well as being works of art in their own right, were used as props integral to the performance of dance work also inspired by Strictly Gershwin. Working alongside three members of the Learning Team from English National Ballet, the students at the school had three days of intensive workshops and rehearsals. On 1st May they gave two moving and original performances at the school to an audience of school students, invited guests and parents. Not only did the students perform newly arranged dance routines, but a number of them also played the music live for the dancers.

Additionally five of the Hall’s Primary Partner Schools have also worked with English National Ballet to devise their own dance performances in school. This has involved English National Ballet in working with over 300 children aged 4–11. These workshops were funded through the Eranda Foundation, the supporter of the partner schools’ scheme.

One of the main aims of Royal Albert Hall Education is to create a programme of activities linked to the calendar of events. As has been demonstrated by the array of projects inspired by Strictly Gershwin, we have been able to bring together a wide range of schools from all over London, with pupils aged from 4–16 with a mixture of abilities and backgrounds, based around a key component of the Royal Albert Hall’s programme.

It is the belief of Royal Albert Hall Education that such activities give much needed opportunities for teachers and young people to come together to enrich the work in schools.

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English National Ballet

English National Ballet is one of the world’s great Ballet companies and is a flagship for the nation. The original vision for the Company – to take Classical Ballet of the highest quality to the widest geographical audience, at a price everyone can afford – remains the foundation of the Company’s philosophy today. The Company presents an extensive touring schedule at home and abroad and harnesses the best of British and international talent, all working as an ensemble to create productions that tour brilliantly and are both accessible and exciting for our audiences.

English National Ballet’s learning programme, Be Engaged, provides a gateway into the world of Ballet, connecting young people and communities to artistic practice and engaging them in a range of aspirational and high quality participatory activities. Be Engaged enriches the artistic programme, bringing Ballet performances, activities and experiences to a diversity of audiences nationally and internationally.

Interaction events include pre-performance talks, behind the scenes activities and on-stage workshops that help to demystify Ballet and introduce audiences to a host of dancers and ‘creatives’ to give the complete inside story.

Activities range from introduction to Ballet workshops, tots and family sessions, adult Ballet classes, lecture-demonstrations, youth dance and master-classes for high level dance students; dance, music and design projects right through to elders’ dance-for-health sessions and work with vulnerable adults. Our extensive schools’ programme feeds into National Curriculum priorities and gives young people the chance to creatively explore the Ballet repertoire and to recognise what they have learnt when they see the Ballet performance.

We develop long term relationships with schools, colleges, dance agencies and stakeholders and initiate strategic projects that add value, inspire, promote health and well-being, increase self confidence, enhance physical skills and essentially leave a lasting legacy.

To find out more about English National Ballet visit www.ballet.org.uk or email learning@ballet.org.uk.

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Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing

The Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) is one of the world’s leading dance examinations board. First formed in 1904, today we are a registered educational charity, an awarding body and the only organisation that covers the full spectrum of dance examinations on a truly global scale. This spectrum includes; Ballet (both Cecchetti and Imperial methods), Classical Greek Dance, Club Dance, Country/Western, Disco/Freestyle, Latin American, Modern Ballroom, Modern Theatre, National Dance, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Sequence, South Asian Dance and Tap Dance.

The primary objective of the ISTD is: ‘to educate the public in the art of dancing in all its forms’. To achieve this we work in four main ways: to promote knowledge of dance; to provide, through our syllabi, techniques upon which to train dancers for the profession; to maintain and improve teaching standards and to qualify teachers of dancing, throughout the world, in our specialist techniques. We offer a number of teaching qualifications from student level to Fellowship and two of these qualifications sit on the National Qualifications Framework. These are the Foundation in Dance Instruction at level three and the Certificate in Dance Education at level four.

As part of our commitment to education we constantly look for ways to be involved in first-class educational projects. One of the new initiatives that we’re currently involved in is the new Creative and Media Diploma for 14–19 year olds, which has been launched by the government and will be live in UK schools from September 2008. Alongside our commitment to education we also work to promote the positive benefits of dance to young people and throughout the lifespan.

To find your nearest ISTD qualified teacher, and for more information on the Society’s teaching qualifications and genre examinations, please visit the following site: www.dance-teachers.org.

For further information on the work of the ISTD please visit our websites at: www.istd.org, www.young-dancers.org and www.dance-kids.org.

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