The virtual learning lab and other stories

Over the past two years, life switched to the online mode

Ana-Maria Cononovici, 29.11.2022, 13:40

Over the past two years, life switched to
the online mode. So it comes as no surprise that even dance had to learn to
exist online, although it seems counter-intuitive. Today we look at a
one-of-a-kind project, a strategic partnership in the area of professional
training and vocational education, co-financed under the EU’s Erasmus+ programme:
Teachers for SwanZ. A project initiated by the Floria Capsali Choreography
High School in Bucharest, jointly with the Prof. Vesselin Stoyanov National
Art School in Ruse, Bulgaria, the Attitude Company in Vienna, Austria and the
Greek Union in Romania.

The project was launched on December 1, 2020, and
it targeted the so-called Generation Z. Alina Munteanu, a psychologist with the
Choreography High School and the Dinu Lipatti Music High School, gave us more
details:

Alina Munteanu: Generation Z comprises
children born between 1996 and 2010. They are a little special, in that they
were born across a millennium and as such they share some of the features of
Gen X, they adjust easily to working on devices, and are very good at
multi-tasking. For instance, our students do their homework and at the same
time they listen to music, send messages on tiktok, like and share online
stories. It is fascinating to see these kids speak English so well, express the
Romanian culture through dancing, their willingness to get to know the Greek,
Bulgarian and Austrian cultures and to promote the Romanian culture around the
world. It has been a fascinating experience, and I believe it is a new
beginning for a choreography high school.

Denitsa Krastanova, deputy head of the Prof.
Vesselin Stoyanov National Art School in Ruse, also spoke about her school’s
participation in the project:

Denitsa Krastanova: To start with a brief presentation of our school-we provide
general primary and secondary education as well as vocational art education in areas
like musical instruments, classical singing, traditional folk singing, pop and
jazz singing, classical dance, Bulgarian folk dance, fine arts, advertising
design and drama. As a vocational school, we were delighted to accept the Floria
Capsali Choreography High School’s invitation to join the project Teachers for
SwanZ under Erasmus+, for a number of reasons. After we looked at the goals and
the essence of the project, we assessed its long-term benefits and its positive
impact. Teachers for SwanZ was an alternative way to improve professional
skills, a know-how exchange and a means to encourage creativity in teaching
dancing and social skills.

Laura Cristinoiu, a ballet teacher and the head
of the Attitude Ballet Studios in Vienna, looked back on the project after its
completion:

Laura Cristinoiu: I am very glad to look back
at these two years of work, one of them online, which is rather odd for a dance
project. We are talking about dance, about ballet teachers, about teaching
classical, folk and modern dance. I am very happy with the 3 outputs of the
project, namely a ballet guideline for teachers of other subjects in public
high schools, a dance handbook for teachers of classical dance in private and
public dance schools, and, our greatest achievement, the online platform teachersforswanz.eu,
where one can access all our workshops and everything we did during these two
years. More importantly, this platform is a means of certification from this
project for future dance teachers.

Diana Zăvălaș, a piano teacher with the Floria
Capsali Choreography High School and the project coordinator, told us why this
project was necessary:

Diana Zăvălaș: Teachers only have access to
obsolete methods, there are no life-long education programmes for dance
teachers, and we set out to help them in this respect and also to provide some
communication, networking, intercultural dialogue and coaching workshops, so
that they may improve their relations with their students, their co-workers,
and the parents. We applied for funding under Erasmus Plus and we found 3 other
partners who wanted the same things, namely to improve teaching methodologies
and help develop teachers’ skills. Becoming familiar with other cultures and
other types of methods is important, and such an international experience is
quite enriching.

Apart from the specialised beneficiaries, Teachers
for SwanZ and the Virtual learning lab also address dance lovers in general,
and those who would like to learn and specialise in various types of dance,
from classical ballet to folk dance and to contemporary dance. (AMP)