Dance in Schools in South Africa: More Than Just an Extra-Mural

For a long time, dance in South African schools has largely been treated as an extra-mural. Something nice to have. Something that happens after the "real" school day is finished.

I think we need to start questioning that. In my opinion, it should be considered part of the mural ;-)

Our education system has traditionally placed academics at the top of the hierarchy.

Then, realistically, sport tends to come next, while what we loosely call arts and culture often sits further down the list. I understand why that structure exists. Our schooling system has been heavily influenced by the British educational model, and there is a long history behind the way we have organised education.

But if we are talking about a holistic education, I think we have to ask a slightly uncomfortable question: what are we actually teaching young people about themselves?

If academic achievement tells a child what they know, and sport teaches them what their body can do, where are we teaching them about identity, expression, culture and who they are?

I don't think those things should be regarded as secondary.

But, having said that, we also have to be realistic about South Africa.

We aren't going to fix the entire education system overnight. We aren't going to suddenly change the socio-economic realities that families are dealing with, or redesign the way schools operate. So rather than complaining about the system, we have to look at the reality in front of us and ask, "How do we make this work better?"

And one of the biggest realities facing families today is time.

Parents are working. They are working hard. The expectations placed on them by employers and businesses are significant, and in many cases the demands on working parents are considerably different from those experienced by previous generations.

Then there is transport.

South Africa doesn't have a public transport system that makes it particularly easy for a suburban parent to move a child from school to a dance studio, then perhaps to another activity, and then get home afterwards. The informal taxi industry provides an important service to millions of South Africans, but for many families in suburban areas it isn't necessarily the solution they are looking for.

So think about what happens when a parent wants to give their child a balanced education.

They finish work, leave the office, fight the traffic, fetch the child from school, drive to the dance studio, wait for the class to finish or find somewhere to work for an hour and a half, and then drive home again.

It is not particularly productive, and frankly, it isn't ideal.

This is where Dance Culture Studios saw an opportunity.

Bringing the opportunity into the school

Instead of expecting families to constantly travel to find quality dance training, why not bring the training to where the children already are?

That is one of the reasons we have developed our school programme.

We have the opportunity to bring high-quality dance training directly into schools, with a team of passionate, skilled and knowledgeable coaches working within a structured system.

The benefit is fairly simple.

The school gets a quality programme without having to build an entire dance department from scratch. The dancers get access to proper training, development pathways and opportunities to explore what they are capable of. And parents don't have to spend their afternoons driving backwards and forwards across Johannesburg trying to make everything work.

They can finish work, arrive at the school and fetch their child.

That's not a fancy marketing statement.

That's simply the reality of making dance more accessible to busy families.

And, ultimately, everybody benefits.

But hasn't dance always been offered at schools?

Yes.

Dance has been offered in schools for many years, and there are some fantastic individual teachers and coaches who have dedicated themselves to developing young dancers. This isn't about dismissing that work.

The difference is what happens when you move from an individual offering to a system.

When a dance programme depends entirely on one person, that person becomes the programme. If they are sick, unavailable, move away, have a personal issue or the relationship with the school breaks down, the programme can suddenly disappear.

That isn't necessarily anybody's fault. It's simply what happens when the structure depends on one person.

A studio with a broader team can provide something different.

If one coach is unavailable, another can step in. There is administrative support. There are systems for communication, development and progression. There is accountability. There is continuity.

Most importantly, there is a pathway.

We aren't simply putting a teacher into a school and saying, "Here is your class. Teach whatever you can."

We are plugging the school into a system that has been developed through years of experience and is designed to help dancers progress.

That doesn't mean every class becomes identical or that we remove the personality of the individual coach. Quite the opposite. Great teachers have their own style, personality and way of connecting with dancers, and that individuality is important.

The system provides the structure around that individual talent.

Different dancers. Different journeys. One standard of excellence.

Not every dancer is going to become a world champion.

That's important to say.

Some children will dance because they love it. Some will dance socially. Some will perform in a school showcase and never compete. Others will discover that they have a real talent and want to pursue dance seriously.

And some will surprise everybody, including themselves.

The responsibility of a good programme is to create enough opportunity for each of those dancers to discover what is possible for them.

That means providing a pathway from the beginner who is simply learning to move with the music, through to the dancer who wants to compete regionally, provincially, nationally or internationally.

It means creating an environment where excellence becomes normal rather than something that occasionally happens when one exceptionally talented person comes along.

And I think that is the bigger opportunity for dance in South African schools.

We don't need to pretend that dance is going to replace academics or sport.

It doesn't need to.

Dance can sit alongside them and contribute something different.

It develops the body, the mind, creativity, confidence, discipline, cultural awareness and social skills. It gives children a way to express themselves while also teaching them how to work with others. It can be recreational, educational and competitive, sometimes all at the same time.

That is why I believe we need to stop thinking of dance as simply something that happens after school. If we are serious about educating the whole person, then perhaps dance doesn't belong at the bottom of the hierarchy at all.

Perhaps it belongs somewhere in the middle of the conversation.

Because when we give young people access to quality dance education, we aren't simply teaching them how to dance.

We are giving them another way to discover who they can become.