Working with dance in museum learning

From September-November 2014, I collaborated with the supplementary schools team at the British Museum as part of the Exploring Objects and Sharing Cultures Project, working with 20 dancers from the EC Lighthouse Lithuanian Supplementary School to create a piece responding to artefacts in the museum's Roman galleries.

Photo by Benedict Johnson, courtesy of the British Museum

On completion of the project, I was invited by the British Museum to write some thoughts in response to 4 questions. A shorter version of my answers will be used as part of a new Talking Objects Online Creative Resource to be published later in the year, but I also wanted to make my full responses available in the following 4 blog posts:

1. How do you think dance can help young people to make sense of objects/enjoy and engage with collections?
2. What have you learned from your experience of working with The British Museum/Talking Objects Collective project?  How might this learning change the way you work with young people?
3. Gallery Activity suggestions for encouraging dance, including specific objects and/or themes that were interesting for your group
4. Practical tips for engaging young people with dance within a museum context