ABSTRACT
The belief that primary schools should focus very concertedly on ‘the basics’ in the form of maths and English has always had an impact on the time available for the arts. The prioritising of literacy and numeracy in recent years has, arguably, served to further marginalise the arts curriculum. ‘Artsmark’ is an award scheme which is managed by Arts Council England. The scheme encourages schools to increase the range, quantity and type of arts subjects that are provided to children. Successful schools are awarded formal recognition if they can show they are offering children enhanced opportunities in such areas as art, dance, drama and music. A strong element of Artsmark is artistic partnership and in this chapter by Sue Cottam, a freelance dance teacher, one such partnership is described. It involved collaboration between Sue, students from Royal Manor Arts College, Dorset, and teachers from Chickerell Primary School, Weymouth. The project aimed to stimulate the dance experiences of 110 Key Stage 2 children through their understanding of the behaviour of birds, especially their flight. Although not a research project per se, this initiative could be seen to have aspects of both developmental research and action research given that successive performances were documented and video-recorded in order to help gain insight and build upon and improve what had taken place.
