Next Choreography: Transformative potential for young people in choreographic practice

Abstract

Funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Next Choreography is a three-year Siobhan Davies Dance (SDD) project for 14-21-year-old young people (YP). The fundamental aim of the project is to develop the cohort’s knowledge, skills, insight, and experience to create their own unique choreographic work. Distinct to SDD, the project encourages YP to look beyond dance to the different choreographic processes used by artists across different art forms. Next Choreography offers three different cohorts of YP (2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17) a one-year program over three terms, each term having a different focus, and progressively building their understanding, developing their experiences, and using their skills. The project was conceptualized by the SDD team to be impactful in three main ways: on individuals and communities, on SDD as an organization, and on policy and practice. The paper presented at the daCi 2015 conference presented details of the project’s Year 1 achievements in relation to particular measures of success. It also made connections where appropriate to the existing body of research into creativity in YP’s dance education, specifically, the theory of Wise Humanising Creativity (WHC) as conceptualized and developed by the University of Exeter (UoE) staff, Dr. Kerry Chappell and Professor Anna Craft. The evaluation conducted by the UoE and SDD team used a mixed quantitative and qualitative methodology. Questionnaires utilized quantitative methods and observations, WHC Creativity Wheel, and semi-structured interviews employed qualitative methods. The 1 data collection aimed to discover in detail the key participants’ lived experiences during the project. The project had a number of research questions, and this paper will focus on part of the Impact strand: Individual/Community with a specific focus on the YP’s transformation, choreographic development, and creativity. Analysis techniques appropriate to the data type were used to draw out the findings. The research was bound by the ethical protocols of the UoE.