Anne-Lore Baeckeland: What if Freinet, Montessori and Malaguzzi had been dancers? Dancing with 4 to 8-year-olds (introduction)

This workshop will be taught in Dutch and/or French (depending on the languages the participants speak).

This workshop is aimed at discovering and developing concrete tools to give creative, artistic dance workshops to children between 4 and 8 years old. How can you preserve and develop a child’s natural enthusiasm for learning? How can you give 4 to 8-year-olds dance lessons that preserve and develop their artistic and technical dance potential? In this session, you will discover a creative, caring and natural approach to dance education in which the child takes the leading role in their own development. The teacher creates the conditions in which children can develop for themselves. This methodology is inspired by active pedagogical systems developed by Freinet, Montessori and Malaguzzi (Reggio Emilia pedagogy).

Who is Anne-Lore Baeckeland?

Anne-Lore Baeckeland is the artistic and educational worker at Danspunt. After studying as a socio-cultural worker, she moved to Africa and then to the Fontys Dance Academy in Tilburg to continue on her path in the world of dance.

After her studies, she went to work in the arts education sector and worked as a freelancer on many projects by De Kopergietery, HETPALEIS, De Veerman, etc. She taught dance in part-time arts education for ten years. She has created productions, short films and installations with Cacao Bleu vzw. She also has her own dance workspace for children aged 4 to 8 in Liège, with dance workshops that prioritise the development of creativity in dance and where she creates productions with children and young people. Anne-Lore has had a varied career, studying a range of styles at different points in her career, from Afro to contemporary to more somatic work. She is currently studying to be a Feldenkrais teacher in Brussels.

Why has Anne-Lore put herself on the programme?

When I was a child, I had the opportunity to come home from school every day, do my homework, put on my playtime clothes and go and play outside with the neighbours on an empty lot behind the gardens. Every single day. That was our place, our freedom, with no parents or teachers keeping an eye on us. It was a place where we could lose ourselves completely in the fantasy and creativity of our games, where we could feel alive in every little cell of our bodies. That’s my point of reference for every dance workshop I design and teach. For me, a workshop with imagination, creation, investigation and play is the best foundation that exists for learning, and I am happy to pass on my experience to anyone who is interested in that.