Across the Tides: U.S.A and Philippines Dance Exchange

Project partners:

• Nicole Flinn-Culver: Hope College Dance Department (USA)
• Ray Tadio: Hope College Dance Department (USA)
• Karen Fontillas: Magsaysay Memorial College Parent Class Parent Teacher Association President and General School Secretary, Philippines
• Casimero de la Cruz: St. Francis Learning Center: Indigenous Aeta Dance, Practitioner & Choreographer, Philippines

Description of Project:

This project provides an immersive intercultural and intergenerational dance exchange for college dance students from the U.S. and youth from the Philippines. Our intentions and purpose of the project are to connect with and celebrate Indigenous (Aeta) dance traditions, traditional Philippine folk dance, and share and experience other forms. Participants will experience how these dances embody living histories, values, and identities that connect people to culture, community. The Filipino youth will have the opportunity to experience aspects of their cultural traditions that may be unfamiliar or underrepresented, while U.S. participants will have an opportunity to expand worldviews, challenge assumptions, and learn responsibility toward diverse cultures and communities.

Matariki / Bintang Kerancong - Ko doe ko au, I be you, You be me

Project partners:

• Linda Parker-Wendt, Splash Flying Dance & Co, Auckland, New Zealand
• Julie van Renen, Touch Compass Dance Trust, Auckland, New Zealand
• Alisha McLennan Marler, Touch Compass Dance Trust, Auckland, New Zealand

Description of Project:

The Twinning Project promotes accessible, disability-led, cross-cultural collaboration between New Zealand and Malaysian students with disabilities, drawing on Touch Compass’s Matariki Educational Resource Ko Koe Ko au, Ko au Ko Koe as a creative foundation. Participants will respond creatively to the nine stars of Matariki - the Māori New Year constellation - known in Malay folklore as Bintang Kerancong, evoking themes of reflection, renewal and connection to people and nature. Teams will engage synchronously with the Matariki Resource and connect at the beginning, middle and end of terms to share and witness what they are creating via photos, video or zoom if possible. Choreography will be photographed and compiled together to share during the process and show at the daCi conference in 2027. In addition, Touch Compass tutors will lead a dedicated workshop for Malaysian students with disabilities and conference participants at daCI 2027, incorporating adaptive techniques and culminating in an open, relaxed performance. The project operates within an access-led framework, driven by the leadership and participation of disabled artists and experienced access-led educators.

Tales Through Mudras: A Ugandan-Indian Dance Exchange

Project partners:

• Jill Margaret Pribyl, University of Kisubi, Kampala, Uganda
• Saranya Devan, Bharatanatyam artist, South Africa

Description of Project:

This project aims to unite the classical Indian dance form of Bharatanatyam with the rich tradition of Ugandan storytelling in a cross-cultural dance initiative. It will provide students with the opportunity to embody a new dance form but also engage in conflict resolution through dance education. As Didre Skalar writes, “movement knowledge is a kind of cultural knowledge”. By trying on new movements, our aim is to have Ugandan students gain a deeper understanding of the Indian population in Uganda. Utilizing a traditional Ugandan folktale, Nsangi, as the narrative foundation, the students will co-create a performance that incorporates Bharatanatyam’s expressive gestures (mudras), rhythmic patterns, and movement vocabulary to embody and reimagine the story. This project aims to create spaces where cultural difference is acknowledged, celebrated, and thoughtfully transmitted across communities, and will be hosted at the University of Kisubi involving post-graduate dance education students.

You’ve Got Mail: Dance Exchanges From Down Under to the Big Apple — How Place, Culture and Identity Shape Children’s Dance Making

Project partners:

• Pam Vlach, Spense School, New Jersey, USA
• Kei Ikeda, Founder of Montessori Dance; works with the Australian and international Montessori community, New South Wales, Australia
• Jacqueline Cooper, Sydney Dance Company, Australia

Description of Project:

This project connects students from the Spence School in New York with students from a Montessori environment in Australia to explore cultural identity through dance, movement and creative exchange. Students will create short movement and gesture videos filmed in the environments of their homelands, which will be shared with their peers to invite discussion and build understanding across cultures and diversity. Australian and American Social Studies/Social Sciences curricula based on place and identity will integrate with dance curriculum to inform this interdisciplinary approach to deepen student learning. To extend this task, inspired by Remy Charlip’s Airmail Dance, students will design and exchange postcards using Labanotation as a literacy integration tool, applying choreographic concepts such as levels and formations. These postcards will serve as creative prompts, inspiring each other’s choreography through drawings, images, soundscapes and spoken reflections. An outreach and advocacy component will further extend the impact of the project. The educators leading the initiative will explore how this body of work can be developed into a learning module for generalist teachers. Focus groups in schools will provide training opportunities for both pre-service and in-service teachers, equipping them with strategies to facilitate dance and movement activities in the classroom. This approach not only enriches students’ creative learning but also builds teacher confidence in delivering dance as part of the curriculum. It creates space for collaboration among educators, fostering networks within their local communities and across international and cultural borders.

Queen Cities Young Choreographers Collective (QCYCC)

Project partners:

• Teresa VanDenend Sorge, Ohio, USA: Faculty Miami Valley Ballet Theatre. Faculty Northern Kentucky University. Co-Artistic Director Synergy Dance Series
• Megan Flynn, Ohio, USA: Artistic Director, Megan Flynn Dance Company. Resident Faculty, Cincinnati Ballet- Otto M.Budig Academy Christy Stoeten, Toronto, Canada: Faculty Canada’s National Ballet School- community dance dept. Faculty- Swansea School of Dance. Member of the Board - Healthy Dancer Canada.
• Fara Ling, Selangor, Malaysia: Dancer, Kenny Shim Dance Collective. Instructor The Great Dance Academy

Description of Project:

As dance educators, we are inspired by young choreographers in our respective dance studios. We desire to celebrate their creative voices and mentor their artistry. One of our students, a 10 year old emerging choreographer, approached us about performing in her work because she discovered her peers were not always successful in embodying her choreographic ideas. She invited several adult dancing friends (professionals and dance educators) to perform in her upcoming, self-produced, living room show. This became the inspiration for our Twinning Project. As a result, we are forming the Queen Cities Young Choreographers Collective, connecting five youth choreographers (ages 10-14) and professional artists from three international “Queen Cities”: Cincinnati, Ohio (US), Toronto, Ontario (Canada) and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). Young choreographers will create dances on local professionals while being mentored monthly by a professional dance educator from a different Queen City. Each of the choreographic teams will meet monthly for virtual mentorship and in-person rehearsal. The young choreographers will also meet virtually to share ideas. We will host one residency in Canada for the young choreographers to create together. This cross-cultural, intergenerational model will culminate in a dance and presentation of our process to be presented in DaCi 2027.

Dance Over Cs: creative, cultural, collaborative, community

Project partners:

• Dr. Linda Merewyn Lorenza, Senior Lecturer, CQ University, Queensland, Australia
• Eilidh Slattery, Lecturer and Researcher in Arts Education, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

Description of Project:

The aim of the Dance over C’s Twinning Project is to increase children's engagement with dance in primary education by empowering primary teachers through an international professional learning community. It builds on the shared Scottish heritage connecting the Mackay region of Central Queensland, Australia, with Scotland. Fostering cultural exchange and mutual respect, the project actively honours and foregrounds First Nations Australian perspectives, guided by a First Nations cultural advisor alongside a Scottish traditional dance cultural advisor. We will support the professional learning of the teachers through a series of online primary dance workshops. With international peer-partnerships established, teachers will work collaboratively online to develop a series of dance lessons for their pupils, with particular emphasis on respectfully incorporating traditional storytelling through dance and First Nations ways of knowing, being, and doing. The teachers will manage the pupils’ development of collaborative choreographies via asynchronous online connection across continents. As the choreographies develop, exploration of diverse and relevant cultural influences will be facilitated by the teachers, developing meaningful choreographies that reflect diverse cultural narratives and shared values. The project will culminate in the performance and recording of the final dances on St Andrew’s Day 30th November 2026. A short, edited film (5 mins approx.) will be made to share the work achieved throughout the project.