Vocational training

Vocational training was taken under the loop during the Atelier "New approaches to dance training" organised by Dance Ireland in 2018.

Curated by Dr Jenny Roche and coinciding with the Irish Youth Dance Festival, multi-faceted issues surrounding vocational training will be discussed, including:

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of a ‘conservatoire’ model and how do we innovate in this context?
• How do we foster excellence while promoting autonomous learning; incorporate new technologies in studio-based teaching and embed creative process and interdisciplinarity in the curriculum?
• What role do Somatics, Ballet and Modern Dance techniques have in contemporary dance training?
• What are the potential pathways into and flowing out from vocational training?
• How can training institutions remain relevant and responsive to shifts in the professional field?

Over the two days, different methodologies were presented bysome dance pioneers.

• In his keynote, John Jasperse (Director of Dance, Sarah Lawrence College, New York) presented three spheres of activities.
• Janet Smith (Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Leeds) talked about the learning spiral.
• Caroline Ribbers (Fontys, Tilburg) and Jennifer Coogan (Palucca Hochschule, Dresden) focused on different aspects of somatics - providing insights in yoga practices and the Feldenkrais method respectively.