The Stage

Dance - Learning a lesson - Council for Dance Education and Training

Published Friday 19 March 2004 at 11:00 by Peter Hepple

The Council for Dance Education and Training has plans to raise standards in the field, as Peter Hepple finds out

Britain is perhaps unique in having a large number of dance teaching organisations. Some of these are very well established, like the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing, which is celebrating its centenary this year, and the International Dance Teachers Association, now more than 100 years old. To help in avoiding a fragmented industry, the Council for Dance Education and Training was formed in 1979 to bring together those engaged in the private dance sector. Its membership now includes most of the vocational training institutions, the major dance teaching organisations and individuals with a range of experience in dance education and related areas.

CDET acts as a standards body, coordinating and regulating the requirements of dance teaching qualifications and the standards of full-time schools, as well as attempting to ensure that the experience of dance education, whether in a local dancing school or a full-time college, is of high quality and that the qualifications awarded have meaning.

One of the functions of CDET is the accreditation of dance courses. Most full-time vocational colleges choose to use CDET for this, as the standards required help to give parents and grant-giving authorities confidence in the institutions concerned.

With the appointment last year of Sean Williams as director of CDET, things now seem to be moving forward in the dance education sector. Williams comes from the world of higher education and sees the need to establish greater recognition of the experience and qualifications of teachers registered with CDET through their awarding bodies throughout the education world. Now that many of the awarding bodies’ qualifications are to be found on the National Qualifications Framework, Williams sees registered dance teachers using their teaching awards to access areas of further and higher education hitherto unavailable to them via this route. He also sees the council being more inclusive and hopes to make a category of CDET membership available to some of the smaller dance teaching societies.

Williams has set up a series of seven vocational seminars to tackle some of the issues in dance education. The first was given by Vincent Mantsoe at The Place, and the second, at the Linbury Studio of the Royal Opera House, by Sue Hoyle, which unveiled the Clore leadership programme. This is an initiative of the Clore Duffield Foundation, with the aim of helping the training and development of a new generations of leaders for the cultural sector.

Each year they will be assisting a number of Clore fellows to undertake an individual programme of work, research, training and secondment, designed to develop their leadership skills and experience, dance being a sector they are keen to help. These events are proving to be valuable, in which dancers, choreographers and teacher meet to discuss issues, followed by a performance and supper at the venue. The next one, today (March 25) is being given at The Place by Shobana Jeyasingh on South Asian dance, followed by another on April 22 - for which the programme is not yet confirmed - and a third on May at the Linbury Studio chaired by Darryl Jaffray and featuring Deborah Bull and her research partner Dr Patrick Haggard.

Dance education, be it for those embarking on a vocational career, for the recreational experience of its physical enjoyment, for social reasons, or to become informed members of the audience, is now seen to be important. There is a growing number of students who are interested in studying dance for GCSE and A levels and perhaps going on to a degree course.

CDET currently runs a telephone information line, Answers for Dancers, (0901 88 000 14, cost 25p a minute) and is developing free information sheets covering a range of issues, including careers in dance and funding information.

In the future, Williams hopes to bring together all areas of the dance industry, and has plans to enhance the current directory of registered dance teachers to embrace a larger part of the UK dance world. The registration requirements for teachers, and the publication in the directory of those qualified in the directory, is now beginning to be seen as an important tool both for employers and parents selecting a teacher or looking for a dance school or college. The 2005 directory will be distributed to more local education authorities and public libraries than at present.

There will also be a greater effort to recommend that the public ensures that a dancing teacher is registered with an awarding body which is a member of CDET and uses the council’s code of best practice, accepted by most dance teaching organisations. All of which goes to make finding a dance teacher less of a hit or miss affair and also helps to raise standards in the UK.