Higher Education: Special Focus on Evolution
Degrees of Change
Head of Children and Young People’s Dance Laura Nicholson looks at how higher education institutions are adapting to various challenges and producing graduates of world-class calibre.
Laura Nicholson
The achievements of all graduates of 2021, having completed their degree programmes under such unusual and challenging circumstances, cannot be underestimated. There is no doubt that Higher Education organisations, staff and students, regardless of subject specialism, have been significantly challenged by the pandemic and extended periods of remote learning. The unique combination of practical, technical, creative and academic skills involved in dance courses in particular– along with being a subject built upon the
need to collaborate with others brought a unique set of challenges. Over the last 18 months we have seen the heroic efforts and creative responses of Dance HE providers to sustain the world-class education and training available in the UK. We have seen dance programmes, course content and assessments re-shaped and reframed with ingenuity, preparing graduates to enter the sector, all whilst balancing the pastoral and wellbeing needs of students.
Graduating from a year like no other: a celebration!
Photo: Funmi Adewole
De Montfort University Melanie Knott, Senior Lecturer in Community Dance Practice When the January 2021 lockdown was enforced many of the live choreography pieces had to be reimagined into digital responses. This sat aside from our screendance work, which is already a specialist provision embedded into our programme, but instead asked the students questions about how they might find hybridity between a live and screen context. They still needed to demonstrate the structures and processes we would expect to see in a fully developed piece for stage or site and use the camera and editing process to reflect this, not detract from it. Returning to the studio in March was exciting for some and anxietyridden for others. It was important 46 The One Dance UK Magazine | Autumn 2021
De Montfort University students take part in Livestreaming University Dance Festival from The Venue
for us to embrace these variations in how we managed the final part of the academic year. Due to our fabulous facilities and technical support everyone managed to achieve positively through this assortment of dance learning. Whilst it has been a very difficult and challenging time, some wonderful positives have emerged that may change the way we deliver the future. For example, continuing to consider how digital interfaces can be used to learn in real time, to choreograph
and to present performances, and livestreaming some performances far exceeded the number of live audience members , giving family and friends a new way to access work. Studying dance at Higher Education… will provide you with a fully rounded knowledge of the artistic context and place of dance in today’s society, experienced through practicebased learning and research which develops your skills and understanding of and in the art form.
