Despite having no formal training in dance, I have been known to bust some serious moves from time to time on the dancefloor. Until this semester, I hadn’t considered the role of dance within the curriculum, but was pleasantly surprised by how straightforward it will be to integrate it into my practice.

My own experience of dance at Primary School was only really the dreaded annual Scottish Country Dancing session, where not only did one have to keep one’s school uniform on rather than gym kit, but one also had to HOLD HANDS with a GIRL! The arbitrary gender division and partnering was the source of acute embarrassment for some and just getting in the way of what could have potentially been a fantastic game of netball/dodgeball/tig instead for others. The rigidness and tartan-and-shortbread Scottishness of it all did not sit well with me back then (and still doesn’t) and that was pretty much it for me and formal dancing. Until now.

The contrast between what I learnt from Eilidh and what I learnt at school could not have been starker. By that I mean dance is now framed (I believe correctly) as a creative, expressive art, almost the exact opposite of the thinly veiled military drills we learnt as “dance”.

One of the main things I will take from the lesson is the ability for dance to help transcend difficulties with literacy and numeracy; learners who may struggle to express themselves on paper may find that dance will help engage them. The second thing was that very little resources are required –  one does not require special equipment or even necessarily a beat to be able to teach and enjoy dance. And finally I am very pleasantly surprised that individuality and creativity are now encouraged and fully supported by the Curriculum for Excellence.