Dancing in the gallery: Opening children’s eyes and mobilizing their responses to art, reflections on a DART project

Well into the twenty-first-century performing and visual arts education and practice are at a critical juncture. While the demands on arts practitioners (including teachers, performers and artists) have become increasingly interdisciplinary and collaborative, training and education in arts within mainstream education in Aotearoa, New Zealand, remain tied to discrete disciplinary categories. Students study music, dance, visual arts and drama and specialize in one or more of these as they progress, but where do we see them learning about these arts forms in combination and dialogue? The Dance and Art (DART) project aims to create an interdisciplinary and intergenerational model of peer-to-peer learning that is collaborative, situated and culturally relevant.