Choreographer Call-Out
Choreographer for a Dance Workshop Celebrating Spanish Culture and Dance
West End in Schools are looking for a movement or dance practitioner to collaborate with us and our Creative Director in the creation of a movement-based workshop celebrating Spanish culture through Flamenco and other Spanish dance forms for primary school children aged 3 to 11.
We’re looking for someone with deep understanding of Spanish culture and dance forms and experience and knowledge of life as a child in Spain - perhaps through growing up in Spain, or living and working there for a significant period. You will be excited to create work that will teach others about Spanish cultures and traditions.
You will have sufficient knowledge and skills to help create the materials that our workshop facilitators will require to deliver the workshop in schools. This includes the choreography for the workshop and the supporting video/online resources (more details below).
About the workshop
You will have scope to draw from your own experience and knowledge to steer the content and focus of the workshop - this might include some storytelling, focusing on a specific celebration or piece of music. During the sessions each class will be led by a freelance dancer as they work together to explore the dance forms and embody the movement style. There will no props or costume.
The workshop itself will be delivered in primary schools across the UK. In keeping with our existing workshops, it will be delivered in class-by-class sessions for up to 30 children at a time. Ideally it will run for between 35 and 50 minutes, depending on a school’s timetable. It will need to be suitable, or have multiple age appropriate versions that make it suitable, for nursery (age 3-4) all the way up to Year 6 (age 10-11).
This commission is for the creation of the workshop plan and associated material, and does not require you to also deliver the workshop in schools (though that may be possible if you wish), and you will be able to lean on our existing workshop plans and collaborate with our Creative Director in that process. The workshop will be delivered by our team of freelance dancers, who come from a range of cultural backgrounds.
This workshop is intended to stand alone and also to be part of a cannon of workshops celebrating the dance styles and associated cultures of different countries around the world.
Aims of the workshop
To celebrate Spanish culture.
To inform, teach and inspire children to engage with Flamenco, other spanish dance forms and their associated traditions.
To encourage creativity and the imagination as children work alongside a professional facilitator.
What the project might involve
A structured piece of creative movement that can be delivered and completed by children aged 3-11 within the workshop time. This may include choreographed sections, creative tasks and improvised sections, to allow the children to explore and express their own ideas.
The creation of training resources, for example a high quality video of the dance and clear written instructions to train our freelance dancers.
West End in Schools are happy to support the right applicant in the creation of aspects of the workshop that are outside your personal skill set. Regular check-ins and support from our Creative Director is also available where required.
Timeline
Monday 2 June - Deadline for expressing interest. See below for how to get in touch. Interviews will take place later in the week.
We would like the workshop to be ready to deliver by the end of July.
Fee and How to Apply
The fee for creating the choreography and accompanying training resources and giving us the right to use them in schools is £1000, and we estimate that it may take 4 or 5 days of work.
The work created will be the property of West End in Schools.
To express your interest please get in touch by emailing Abi Rosser at office@westendinschools.org.uk by 5pm on Monday 2 June with your CV and links to past work/samples or a website and Spotlight if appropriate. Please also confirm your availability for the timeline illustrated.
About West End in Schools
Every child’s imagination should be inspired by the arts. West End in Schools' mission is to use the skills of the professional theatre to provide highly creative cultural experiences for children which they will remember forever.
Each year we deliver dance, drama and Shakespeare workshops and perform musicals and pantomimes in over 1,000 primary schools all over England, Wales and Scotland.