Over the past two years, life switched to
\nthe online mode. So it comes as no surprise that even dance had to learn to
\nexist online, although it seems counter-intuitive. Today we look at a
\none-of-a-kind project, a strategic partnership in the area of professional
\ntraining and vocational education, co-financed under the EU’s Erasmus+ programme:
\nTeachers for SwanZ. A project initiated by the Floria Capsali Choreography
\nHigh School in Bucharest, jointly with the Prof. Vesselin Stoyanov National
\nArt School in Ruse, Bulgaria, the Attitude Company in Vienna, Austria and the
\nGreek Union in Romania.<\/p>\n
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The project was launched on December 1, 2020, and
\nit targeted the so-called Generation Z. Alina Munteanu, a psychologist with the
\nChoreography High School and the Dinu Lipatti Music High School, gave us more
\ndetails:<\/p>\n
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Alina Munteanu: Generation Z comprises
\nchildren born between 1996 and 2010. They are a little special, in that they
\nwere born across a millennium and as such they share some of the features of
\nGen X, they adjust easily to working on devices, and are very good at
\nmulti-tasking. For instance, our students do their homework and at the same
\ntime they listen to music, send messages on tiktok, like and share online
\nstories. It is fascinating to see these kids speak English so well, express the
\nRomanian culture through dancing, their willingness to get to know the Greek,
\nBulgarian and Austrian cultures and to promote the Romanian culture around the
\nworld. It has been a fascinating experience, and I believe it is a new
\nbeginning for a choreography high school. <\/p>\n
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Denitsa Krastanova, deputy head of the Prof.
\nVesselin Stoyanov National Art School in Ruse, also spoke about her school’s
\nparticipation in the project:<\/p>\n
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Denitsa Krastanova: To start with a brief presentation of our school-we provide
\ngeneral primary and secondary education as well as vocational art education in areas
\nlike musical instruments, classical singing, traditional folk singing, pop and
\njazz singing, classical dance, Bulgarian folk dance, fine arts, advertising
\ndesign and drama. As a vocational school, we were delighted to accept the Floria
\nCapsali Choreography High School’s invitation to join the project Teachers for
\nSwanZ under Erasmus+, for a number of reasons. After we looked at the goals and
\nthe essence of the project, we assessed its long-term benefits and its positive
\nimpact. Teachers for SwanZ was an alternative way to improve professional
\nskills, a know-how exchange and a means to encourage creativity in teaching
\ndancing and social skills.<\/p>\n
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Laura Cristinoiu, a ballet teacher and the head
\nof the Attitude Ballet Studios in Vienna, looked back on the project after its
\ncompletion: <\/p>\n
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Laura Cristinoiu: I am very glad to look back
\nat these two years of work, one of them online, which is rather odd for a dance
\nproject. We are talking about dance, about ballet teachers, about teaching
\nclassical, folk and modern dance. I am very happy with the 3 outputs of the
\nproject, namely a ballet guideline for teachers of other subjects in public
\nhigh schools, a dance handbook for teachers of classical dance in private and
\npublic dance schools, and, our greatest achievement, the online platform teachersforswanz.eu,
\nwhere one can access all our workshops and everything we did during these two
\nyears. More importantly, this platform is a means of certification from this
\nproject for future dance teachers.<\/p>\n
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Diana Z\u0103v\u0103la\u0219, a piano teacher with the Floria
\nCapsali Choreography High School and the project coordinator, told us why this
\nproject was necessary: <\/p>\n
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Diana Z\u0103v\u0103la\u0219: Teachers only have access to
\nobsolete methods, there are no life-long education programmes for dance
\nteachers, and we set out to help them in this respect and also to provide some
\ncommunication, networking, intercultural dialogue and coaching workshops, so
\nthat they may improve their relations with their students, their co-workers,
\nand the parents. We applied for funding under Erasmus Plus and we found 3 other
\npartners who wanted the same things, namely to improve teaching methodologies
\nand help develop teachers’ skills. Becoming familiar with other cultures and
\nother types of methods is important, and such an international experience is
\nquite enriching.<\/p>\n
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Apart from the specialised beneficiaries, Teachers
\nfor SwanZ and the Virtual learning lab also address dance lovers in general,
\nand those who would like to learn and specialise in various types of dance,
\nfrom classical ballet to folk dance and to contemporary dance. (AMP)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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