Corali Dance with Jack Tizard School

Corali invites you to learn BSL & have a go at creating your own dance


Having trouble viewing this video? Click here to watch on YouTube.

Corali Dance has been exploring the festival theme of 'unity' through movement and art. Workshops at Jack Tizard School brought the Pixies and Dragons classes together with a series of activities including drawing, living sculpture and choreography using coloured circles on different levels. Elements were also tested and refined by our team of Cultural Ambassadors at one of their masterclasses with Corali.

This collaboration culminates in a film which you can now watch above. Corali invites you to learn four BSL sign words and have a go at creating your own dance piece!

"Some students can be anxious around new people, but many of them overcame their initial shyness and began to follow and join in the dance moves and activities. DJ & Nik’s enthusiasm made things look fun and I think that really helped students want to get involved."
– Jonathan Cassels, Teacher at Jack Tizard School

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    Tell us about your workshops: what did you do?

    We decided to go along with the theme of 'unity' and brought together two classes from our primary department for the workshops with Corali. We met Dj and Nic in the school hall and sat in a big circle and all introduced ourselves. We knew we were going to dance but didn’t know what else to expect, so there was a sense of excitement and nervous anticipation in a good way!

    How did your students respond?

    Many of the students were very curious about what DJ & Nic said and did, as they were very animated from the very beginning of the session, so they were interesting new people to watch! Some students can be anxious around new people, but many of them overcame their initial shyness and began to follow and join in the dance moves and activities. DJ & Nik’s enthusiasm made things look fun and I think that really helped students want to get involved.

    How did staff respond?

    Staff feedback was all very positive, everyone really enjoyed the sessions. Many of the staff team commented that they would love to have Corali back in school for more sessions and that the student and staff engagement was high and lots of fun was being had!

    Why were you keen to collaborate with Corali?

    I have been aware of Corali’s work for a number of years through my involvement with A New Direction's SEND Network. I’ve had opportunities to take part in teacher CPD workshops and talks with members of the Corali team in the past and liked how their methods use an interesting mix of dance, often inspired by other media such as drawing or using simple props. Seeing how their methods worked in action was too good a chance to miss and it was great to get the chance to experience this with our students and staff in school.

    What role do arts play in your school?

    It has always been recognised that our students’ engagement in learning is optimised when they are doing things that they enjoy, and teachers rely heavily on the arts as accessible and fun ways to make lessons enjoyable for our unconventional learners. Songs are embedded throughout the curriculum and music and dancing feature regularly as successful motivating factors in engaging our students’ attention and participation in lessons. We have lots of experience working with other inclusive dance practitioners such as Blink Dance Theatre and we knew that our students would be very responsive to Corali’s sessions. We only wish that we could have more!

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