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The European project Dance On, Pass On, Dream On (so called DOPODO) financed through the Culture Europe program, offered Nomad Dance Academy (Ljubljana, Slovenia) and Codarts (Rotterdam, The Netherlands) the opportunity to work together with 10 other dance institutions based in different European countries. It was during the first trajectory (running from 2015-2019) that representatives of Codarts and NDA (Nomad Dance Academy) got to know each other personally as well as through their dance practices and working modes. This mainly happened during partner meetings and festivals. Despite the fact that the contexts and circumstances in which we were working were so very different from each other there was a feeling of connection, curiosity and trust right from the beginning. Coming from different regions made it even more interesting to explore what we could learn from sharing our practices and research.We applied for a second round of DOPODO support which was granted for the period 2020-2024. This gave us the chance to collaborate, exchange expertise, and conduct research on co-teaching theories, methods and techniques.
For NDA CoTeaching was already a familiar and inherent part of their working methods and strongly connected to their DNA. Nomadism is firmly rooted in their name and is connected to a deeply felt intrinsic conviction to live and learn by doing, exploring, sharing, and connecting across borders.They could build on experiences gathered from 2011 onwards in and outside the Balkan region in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Italy and more recently Germany. At Codarts it was already a practice in development where a dedicated team had been working on collaborative teaching, then called team-teaching, and there were plans to further develop and incorporate the findings from the first try-outs into the curriculum of the BA Dance Education during the study-year 2020. The differences between the two organizations were and remain quite marked. The NDA approach to co-teaching is open, genuine, and playful, cooperating (mostly) without preliminary set goals and is adaptable in all kinds of arts & disciplinesthe Codartsdepartment and team are much more bound to rules and regulations in providing well-structured higher education to future dance teachers.There are set learning goals,and the educational structure offers less room for self-directed learning. The team of teachers at Codarts is therefore especially interested in the added value co-teaching has to offer when combining theory and practice, and when integrating didactics belonging to different dance styles and techniques.
Despite the mentioned differences, we also identified shared aspirations. For instance, we all strongly believe that dance teachers can only become responsible and appealing endorsers when they are not only didactically and technically skilled but also curious, flexible, vulnerable and most of all able to shift perspectives and equally cooperate within all kinds of communities and circumstances. We therefore would like students to leave our courses with the understanding that a class/studio situation: is a matter of a relational rather than hierarchical structure; is a collective rather than individual learning experience; is a situation that requires an active rather than passive involvement of all who participate; requiresa creative rather than productive process of accumulation; is an environmental thing rather than an executional fabrication of knowledge transmission; is a common rather than a private good.In these principles we found our common ground and eagerness to share, improve and enhance our co-teaching knowledge and skills and to spread it further to students, teachers, and everyone else interested in this concept and way of working.
The information here in the Research Catalogue describes the paths we followed during the last years. It presents some insights that we gained on our way as well as quotes and outcomes of our research, collaborative work, and meetings. We have left some of the paths and pages open and under construction so that we can add on while we move on. Hopefully many others will find inspiration in what we explored and will follow in their own ways.
Marion Schiffers (senior policy advisor at Codarts and coordinator of the Codarts DOPODO
CoTeaching is a space in which an educational ecosystem emerges. It creates an environment in which the sharing of knowledge and various physical as well mental practices can occur in an open-minded way and through constant exchange. Led by two or more teachers, co-teaching aims to create a space where the channels of communication are always kept open. By allowing spontaneity, adaptation, and improvisation into the space of knowledge transmission, co-teaching challenges more traditional educational approaches that are often built on a one-way flow of rehearsed knowledge. These sessions are half-structured and half-improvised choreographic situations in which teachers invite students to understand and share the teaching/learning process as a common cause. This format was developed by the members of the NDA network and other invited guests.
