Dance Little Laddie

Jane Nimmo, head teacher at Arbirlot Primary School, can see the benefits of having a contemporary dancer such as Claire Pencak working with her pupils straight away. She points out one little boy who is not so good at academic subjects, but who is clearly captivated by today's lesson. 'He becomes totally absorbed in all the expressive arts,' says Jane.

Claire, who has recently set up her own dance company, agrees that this is an important aspect of her work in schools. 'Sometimes children who are not great at maths or reading have a very creative way of thinking which they can't normally express,' she says. 'This lets them join in.'

Claire has been working at Arbirlot Primary School as part of the Angus Arts Initiative, which is providing each of the Council's 623 primary schools with an artist in residence for up to seven days. Many
different artists are involved, including folk musicians, sculptors, cartoonists, playwrights and painters. 
Angus Council's education convenor, Brian Milne, wants this project to change the way schoolchildren view art and artists. He explains, 'Pupils will have the opportunity to find out how an artist works and what he or she does to achieve their finished piece.' He is enthusiastic about the benefits to the children. 'We are trying to broaden their horizons, to give them a different perspective which they can apply to other subjects such as writing or music.'

Claire likes to work on a topic chosen by the teacher. Arbirlot's chosen subject is the story of the Widow's Mite, which the children had been studying. Since the story is about caring and sharing, she helps the children to devise a dance based on the idea of sharing and trust.

After a little warm-up, Claire shows the children a few of her ideas, then asks them to work in twos, trying out their own balancing acts to make up a little sequence of moves. They are soon able to balance on their partner's back and crawl either headfirst or feet-first under their partner (who is on his hands and knees). They take turns rolling each other across the floor, leaning on their partner's back while executing a balance on one leg, and holding their partner's hands while they whirl round. 

Claire works with young children for about an hour at a time before giving them a break. It can be hard work, they have to listen, understand, remember and concentrate on top of doing the actual movements. It can be physically demanding, something which comes as a surprise, particularly to the boys. Claire generally finds that when boys realise that for contemporary dance you need strength and stamina, they are happy to take part and show off their skills. They can even be more creative than the girls, who often have a more rigid idea of what they think dance should be.

Sometimes Claire has to teach children how to do such basic moves as leapfrogs and forward rolls. Children used to learn these quite naturally when they were playing outside in groups, but they no longer automatically get the chance to do this today. Claire praises the work done in kindergyms, which is where many children learn to do such movements nowadays.
Artists-in-residence schemes in American schools have proved highly successful and it is anticipated that the Angus scheme will lead the way in Scotland. The overall cost of the initiative is being met jointly by Angus Council, the Scottish Arts Council Lottery Grant and the individual schools involved.

Arbirlot is a small rural school, so Claire was able to work with all the children. Her next residency, however, will be at a school with 500 pupils. She plans to work with a group of infants, a group from the middle of the school and with some of the older children. Each group will be able to show their peers what they have done, so every child will be touched by the dance programme, though they cannot all actually take part. Claire will also run a separate teacher's workshop.

Jane Nimmo is delighted with what has been achieved at Arbirlot over such a short time. 'Claire is so enthusiastic, the children respond really well to her,' she says. She even incorporated the dance into the school's Christmas service, to give the children another opportunity to show off their new skills.                                                                    l