The Place launches Suite of CPD Courses for Professional Dance Teachers

The Place, London’s leading centre for dance creation, education and performance, is launching a new suite of short CPD (Continuing Professional Development) courses for professional dance teachers, to nurture and build a rich and supportive community of global dance practitioners by offering a framework for high quality teaching and learning at pre-vocational and higher education levels.

London Contemporary Dance School was recently awarded world leading status by the Office for Students and is recognised internationally as pioneering and pacesetting in the field of dance education and training. Extending this calibre of excellence, the short CPD courses for Dance Teachers programme opens accessibility globally through a bespoke training provision facilitated online and in-person, both at The Place in London and at a range of national and international locations. The vision is to celebrate and share innovative practices and promote accessibility, inclusivity, and cultural exchange for dance practitioners.

The Place is particularly proud that the Trustees of the Merce Cunningham Trust have endorsed the study unit Teaching Cunningham Technique®, to be led by Jeannie Steele, Head of Learning and Teaching at LCDS and a senior stager of Cunningham’s work. Participants of this program may receive advanced standing in applying for approval to teach Cunningham Technique.

Six independent units of study will be offered that can be picked up individually or in combination, to achieve personal learning goals:

• Introduction to Dance Pedagogy aims to provide theory, practical experiences, tutor and peer support, and collaborative discussion to enhance professional development for dance practitioners with a focus on teaching within pre-vocational, and vocational/HE contexts.
• Reflective Practice in Dance aims to provide theory, reflective tasks, and collaborative discussion to support personal-professional reflection as dance practitioners, while also teaching skills in relation to reflective practice with students.
• · Inclusive Spaces of Teaching and Learning engages with theories and perspectives on inclusivity and diversity and considers their application in dance teaching and learning. It introduces approaches to nurturing safe and accountable spaces for dance and strategies for inclusion and empowerment of students.
• Safe and Inclusive Dance Practice engages with theories within the field of Dance Science and strategies of Safe Dance Practice and Inclusive approaches to teaching dance technique.
• · Developing Creative Skillswith Improvisation aims to provide practical experiences and creative dialogue, engaging with a range of techniques and approaches to using improvisation as a creative tool.
• · Teaching Cunningham Technique® is a short course fully endorsed by the Merce Cunningham Trust. This unit of study will introduce the fundamental principles of the technique; guide through the functionality and the breakdown of exercise; and teach the overall structure, pace, and progression of Cunningham-based work. Participation in this course may provide dance teachers with advanced standing in applying for further accreditation by the Merce Cunningham Trust.
• · Teaching Release-based technique aims to provide the core principles of safe and effective teaching and learning practice specifically in the fundamentals of Release-based techniques.

All course units will offer inclusive approaches to dance pedagogy and progressive pathways of studying and will benefit from integrated dance science and somatic approaches to dance teaching as well as mentoring from internationally respected world-leading practitioners.

More information about the courses, details on fees and the application process can be found here: https://theplace.org.uk/dance/cpd-courses.