Empowering Dance – The Soft Skills Teaching and Learning Approach Erasmus Project

Project Title

Empowering Dance – The Soft Skills Teaching and Learning Approach

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Creativity and culture

Project Summary

The job market of more or less all sectors of today and of the future requires soft skills in order to function, react, adapt and operate in a variety of professional fields. Soft skills are a crucial part of both personal and professional development, fostering a dynamic workforce.
Empowering Dance – The Soft Skills Teaching and Learning Approach (ED2) is the necessary sequel of Empowering Dance – Developing Soft Skills (ED1), a previous Erasmus+ strategic partnership – cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices project (09/2018 – 02/2020). This project demonstrated the development of a large variety of soft skills through the practice of contemporary dance such as: the ability to reflect upon oneself, effectively manage time and information, work with others in a constructive way, the ability to cope with complexity and to lead a health-conscious life, empathizing and managing conflict.
The project aimed at empowering dance artists/educators to become aware of their implicit knowledge and skills in the field of soft skills teaching in order to strengthen their self-confidence and help them develop strategies to transfer their competences to other fields of teaching and expand their job opportunities and their competitiveness.
ED1 however revealed two gaps that need to be bridged to support the professional development of dance artists/educators:
1. The need for dance artists/educators to understand the knowledge implicit in their pedagogical model and the wider applications of what their embodied knowledge can do.
2. The need to equip dance artists/educators with the necessary skills, competences and language to define and apply soft skills in their practices when working with non-professionals – in the dance sector as well as in other work sectors.

Building on these findings, Empowering dance – The Soft Skills Teaching and Learning Approach (ED2) aims to develop a Digital Handbook (IO), that serves as an online learning and teaching toolkit supporting dance artists/educators in their professional practice. It will help them define language, articulate their teaching approach, broaden their skills, competences and scope of working possibilities. It will support them acquire new qualifications and apply with awareness their embodied knowledge that is too often operating tacitly and rarely acknowledged for its unique potential in diverse settings.

The project spans over 30 months, from October 2020 to March 2023. It involves five dance organisations from five EU countries – K3 | Tanzplan Hamburg / Kampnagel Internationale Kulturfabrik GmbH (Germany) , La Briqueterie – CDCN du Val-de-Marne (France), the Croatian Institute for Movement and Dance (HIPP), Comune di Bassano del Grappa (Italy), Dansateliers Rotterdam (Netherlands) – and two university partners – the Dance Department of Roehampton University (UK) and the Fine Arts Academy Zagreb (Croatia). It includes about 20 participants from the partner organisations (project managers, dance artists/educators, researchers, communication/education and animation experts).

Ten transnational project meetings (TPM) are planned to develop the Digital Handbook (IO) through action research in three steps: 1. analysis of the dance practices through local focus group research, development and design of the prototype, 2. testing and piloting of the prototype, 3. dissemination of the Digital Handbook. The Digital Handbook (IO) will contain short animated videos that will illustrate the possible approaches of, and methodologies in, the respective contemporary dance practices that serve as case studies. The innovative animations will provide short, punchy and easily absorbed information that will complement the writing in the handbook. The Digital Handbook (IO) will be made available online and disseminated, amongst other activities, through a series of multiplier events, which are planned parallel to already existing dance events such as festivals, congresses or symposia to extend its reach and visibility.
The Digital Handbook (IO) and the accessibility thereof, will increase the visibility and acceptance of the contemporary dance sector, as it will bring to the surface tacit knowledge that is specific for dance. The Digital Handbook (IO) will teach users how to transfer this knowledge to other contexts and articulate their skills to potential employers.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 317170 Eur

Project Coordinator

KAMPNAGEL INTERNATIONALE KULTURFABRIK GMBH & Country: DE

Project Partners

• ROEHAMPTON UNIVERSITY LBG
• LA BRIQUETERIE CENTRE DE DEVELOPPEMENT CHOREGRAPHIQUE DU VAL DE MARNE ASSOCIATION
• STICHTING DANSATELIERS
• COMUNE DI BASSANO DEL GRAPPA
• HRVATSKI INSTITUT ZA POKRET I PLES
• SVEUCILISTE U ZAGREBU