DANCE, MOVEMENT, EDUCATION, PLAY, CO-CREATION, COMMUNITY, COLLABORATION
REGION: North
MUNICIPALITY: Thisted
PROCEDURE: 2021
DAILY OFFER: Sjørring Børnehus
Snow story: Sjørring Børnehus (2021)
Research questions
How can you combine land art and dance and how can it support children's education in learning to express themselves in different ways?
How have you experienced the co-creation between artist/cultural educator/cultural school teacher, educators and children and possibly researcher?
The educators experienced that it could be difficult if too much time passed between the programs - and this applied to both the programs with and without artists. The children were quicker to find their way back - it was the adults who were challenged.
The educators themselves think that this may be because PlayArt is not an integral part of their work.
The educators articulate that they came across as having no ideas in relation to the artist. They were afraid of taking too much control.
The educators lacked some physical exercises in the introduction. There was also less dancing in the sessions where they had to continue without an artist.
The division between artist and staff could be thought of differently. Perhaps there could be more alternation between the courses the artist and the educators were responsible for. The transition between the artist-led programs and staff management was very abrupt. The staff lacked inspiration.
How have children's perspectives been expressed/included?
Educators learned about child perspective - how children interpret a message from adults and their impressions.
Work was also done to follow the children's lead, that the children had a say in the project.
Educator; "The children experience recognition when the adults follow their tracks/ideas".
Do the children play different games and with different people than they usually do?
The children have become more practiced at putting themselves in front of others. It gives some children a stronger role to show things/communicate physically. This helps especially those who are not strong verbally.
Children communicate differently, they use their bodies more.
Example; A group of children are playing a quiz game at lunch. The children have to guess a vegetable.
"It grows in the ground" says one child. The others can't guess. "It's orange". "It's green at the top". "It's long". When the other children still can't think of what it could be, the child jumps down on the floor and shows with his body what a carrot looks like and how it stands in the ground and then the other children can guess it.
How do pedagogical staff act differently than they did before PlayArt?
The children began to express themselves in different ways and the teachers learned a lot from this. Among other things, it gave them a new way of being open to the children's imagination and interpretations.
What has it been like to work with action learning?
The institution works continuously with action learning. The type of action learning that is encouraged in LegeKunst is a slightly "diluted" version of the one used in the institution.
To the artist/cultural educator/cultural school teacher, if present: What have you gained from participating in LegeKunst?
Unfortunately, the artist was unable to attend the meeting.
What are educators still/now curious about?
The staff need to broaden the mindset behind LegeKunst and the learning and inspiration the group gained from the project to the entire staff group. This will be addressed at staff meetings, among other things.
How will you use art, culture and aesthetic processes in the future?
Pedagogical leader: "We need to bring it more into play in the playground to expand the learning environments. For example, the staff can read stories outside where there is room for free interpretation and then let the children build the house/castle in the playground.
We must seize it when the children themselves come and tell us something. Ask about how it moves, smells, etc.
Educator; "we experienced that some children got more out of the activities than we thought, it was an aha experience".
Educator; "Yes, it has been an eye-opener that as an adult you can be a bit narrow-minded".
