Holland Dance Festival supports DansopleidersAkkoord

On Wednesday, Oct. 4, all undergraduate dance teachers will sign the DansopleidersAkkoord (Dance Educators Agreement). The aim of the Agreement is to ensure that more future teachers are trained to teach dance, thus making dance more widely accessible to all students. In addition to the relevant undergraduate programs, the initiative is supported by partners from education, the dance world and the cultural field, including Holland Dance Festival.

Today, the DansopleidersAkkoord will be unveiled with a performance by ISH Dance Collective. To ensure that more future teachers are trained to teach dance, making dance more widely accessible to all students, all Bachelor of Dance in Education programs are signing the DansopleidersAkkoord. In it they make agreements to better align dance education in the programs with the experiential world of children and young people, enabling them to develop expressively, creatively, sensomotorly and cognitively through dance and movement. A wide range of parties from education, the dance world and the cultural sector are also uniting to support the agreement, such as Nederlandse Dansdagen, Jeugdeducatiefonds, Beweegalliante, Algemene Vereniging Schoolleiders and Holland Dance Festival.

Dance education stimulates the personal development, self-confidence and mental well-being of children, enabling them to stand more firmly in society. Despite this, children and young people do not get enough exposure to dance. That is why we need more and better dance education for children and young people in and around schools. For years Holland Dance Festival has been working hard for (more) in education. Every year we organize several educational projects, workshops and customized teaching programs. This agreement is therefore the icing on the cake; Holland Dance Festival is proud to unlock the passion and power of dance.

The DansopleidersAkkoord is a growing and open agreement; after the kick-off of the agreement, new signatories can also join at any time to contribute to strengthening dance and movement in and around schools.