Working groups
As a professional association for contemporary dance education, Aktion Tanz – Bundesverband Tanz in Bildung und Gesellschaft e.V. works continuously to improve the quality of contemporary dance education in various contexts in Germany. The focus is on addressing current issues and challenges to professional practice. With the Aktion Tanz working groups, a structure has been developed that promotes professional exchange among members and bundles expertise on specific topics and makes it accessible. All members are cordially invited to work within the framework of the working groups, which are each moderated by spokespersons, on topics that they would like to further think about, expand and develop. Impulses for new working groups are also welcome and can be discussed.
The previous working group “Dance and Inclusion” has changed its name to “Mixed abled dance”. We have been in agreement for some time that although the term “inclusion” is widely used, it does not reflect the attitude and position we stand for as a working group and which is described in our position paper (only availabe in German). In our opinion, the term “mixed abled” better expresses that different physicalities are natural and enriching and that access to dance should be open to everyone.
In our working group we focus on diversities in the motor, sensory, cognitive and psychological areas.
If you are interested in participating or have any questions, please contact the working group spokesperson Stefanie Katzer: JuergenStefanie.Katzer@t-online.de
The initiative dance and age exists independently since 2016, and since 2019 it is part of a working group within Bundesverband Aktion Tanz e.V. We are a pool of dance makers, producers and networkers who have devoted themselves to dance at an older age. Our aim is to make age(ing) visible in the dance artistic and also the (cultural) educational context and further explore this field. Age has a lot of potential for dance and dance a great potential for creative aging.
Since March 2020 and the effects of the corona pandemic, the challenges of working in dance with elderly people brought up new questions. If you are interested in participating or have questions, please get in touch with the working group speaker Gordana Ancic: gordana@tanzundtheaterwerkstatt.de
The working group advocates for the establishment of contemporary dance as educational program in kindergarten and in preschool contexts. By means of the quality frameworks of Aktion Tanz, we have worked out the specific elements of early childhood education dancing. We are going to examine topics in-depth like digital space, quality assurance, experiences of working in groups or educational dimensions. Furthermore, we have created a catalogue of interests where you can find e.g. the transition from kindergarten to school, a collection of presentation formats and much more.
During the first lockdown the working group reinvented itself. We are a small group that met every two weeks at the beginning and now on a monthly basis (we work alternatively Fridays and Saturdays via Zoom from 9:00-10:00 to a maximum of 10:30). Preparation, presentation and the protocol go in turns and everyone can introduce their favorite topic. Afterwards we use a Padlet that can be complemented by all members of the working group. We aim at a continuous exchange, yet it is clear that not everyone is always available.
For newcomers we thought they could get the necessary information about the current situation during a premeeting. Thus we expect to enable the inclusion of “new“ members while further developing already discussed topics.
In case you are interested in participating or have questions, please get in touch with the working group speaker Babette Bornemann: schmetterlingswerkstatt@yahoo.de.
The focus of the “Dance and School Development” working group is on networking and promoting cultural education in the regular education system at general education schools.
The working group offers a platform for actors who realise dance projects in schools. Both in-class and out-of-class formats are used in every type of school and for every grade. The working group is currently working on the development of a long-term pilot project “TandemTanz”. This is intended to test and analyse various formats of dance integration in schools. The aim is to collect well-founded results of the different ways of implementing dance in schools and to make a resulting political recommendation for a uniform form of implementation and financing for dance in schools across the board. In the long term, work will also be done on content guidelines, training and further education concepts, as well as a certification idea.
If you are interested in participating or have any questions, please contact the working group spokesperson Anna-Lu Masch: amasch@aktiontanz.de.
The working group “Dance and School Development” invites you regularly on the 13th of every month at 6 pm to the “Open Forum: A consultation and exchange format – dance in schools”!
Newcomers and interested people are welcome with their questions and ideas. We also use the meetings to present our work and discuss next steps. We set the agenda and chair the discussion at the beginning of each meeting. We record the results on an open padlet as minutes. The meetings last 90 minutes.
Pre-registration is not necessary.
The link is and will remain the following:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87204076369?pwd=QWZLTXBlSGc0aHZmRlRrWVJZcDE3UT09
Meeting ID: 381 224 8659
ID code: 5zhpny
Separate core group meetings will remain for deeper substantive work on the projects.