Good Practice Case Study

Pixmore Junior School/Killigrew Primary School

Sing Up Dance Gala 2010

DanceDigital, working in partnership with the Hertfordshire Music Service aimed to enhance the quality and diversity of dance in schools, by providing a school dance project with a focus on the positive inclusion of boys in dance activity.

Pixmore Junior School in Letchworth and Killigrew Primary School in St Albans were selected by DanceDigital in collaboration with the Hertfordshire Dance Adviser, Clare Mellish to take part as dancers in the Hertfordshire Music Service Sing Up Gala event.  The project aimed to work with up to 60 (50% boys) primary school children to create a dance to The Winner’s Dream, by composer, Paul Burrell.

Staff Outcomes

Pixmore Junior School and Killigrew Primary School took to the stage to perform together a piece they created in just seven weeks with DanceDigital. 

The project involved 58 nine and ten year olds as dancers, of which 27 were boys.  The dancers gave a wonderful performance as they joined 3000+ other primary school children at the Hertfordshire Music Service event, Hertfordshire Sing Up 2010 at The Royal Albert Hall in London on Sunday 7th March 2010, reaching an audience of 4627 people.

“Thank you so much for your support and for giving us the opportunity to be part of the project. The children, staff and parents are all very pleased and proud of what was achieved.” Pixmore Junior School.

The theme of the piece looked forward two years and celebrated the Olympic Games coming to London in 2012.  The dancers from the two schools explored movement material that represented the entry of athletes, the coming together of nations, sporting tensions and victories, team work and the image of the Olympic rings.

Pupil Outcomes

Fifty-eight year 5 pupils were given the opportunity to work with professional dance artist and choreographer, Diccon Hogger, during seven workshops, to create the dance piece. 

All the pupils demonstrated great commitment and enthusiasm in preparing to take part in this great event, which was driven by the performance outcome.  The music for the event was performed by the Massed Hertfordshire Sing Up Schools (approximately 3000+ children over the two performances), the Hertfordshire County Youth Choir and the Hertfordshire Schools’ Symphony Orchestra.  The live music and the spectacular setting gave all the dancers an unprecedented, once in a life time, performance experience.

During the workshops the pupils experienced the choreographic process and developed an understanding of the creation and rehearsal skills needed to make a dance performance piece.  The project developed their practical and performance skills and naturally focussed the groups on working together as a team.

Progress

The schools groups will be able to use the dance ideas and techniques demonstrated in this project to inform their planning and delivery of dance in the future, extending the benefits of the project further.