Schools Events in North London by Moving East

movingeast is an interdisciplinary Centre for Dance Martial Arts and Complementary Practices. We promote life-long learning processes and encourage people to delve into other areas of knowledge, which might inform support and enhance their main interest.

Betty Layward School Japan Day

Paul Smith, movingeast Director, initiated the Japan Day in order to share his interest and enjoyment of Japanese culture. 7 members of the dojo including Paul gave two demonstrations which also included children from both Betty Layward and St. Matthias Primary School. We also gave two classes to children in year 3.

Japan 21 supplied 9 volunteers to lead workshops in origami, calligraphy and Japanese traditional costume. The music teacher taught Japanese playground songs to the children too. The Japanese Tourist Board supplied posters and DVDs - one depicting sites and scenes from around Japan was played on a loop throughout the day.

This was a whole day event and every pupil in the school participated in some aspect of the days activities.

The event was very well supported by the Head Teacher, Alison Kriel, and staff of the school and we received very positive feedback from pupils teachers and parents.

Also see the school's web site www.bettylayward.hackney.sch.uk

St Matthias School Classes and Inset Day

Having watched children's classes at movingeast and talked with us about the ethos of our organisation, Chris Cole, Head Teacher of St Matthias, approached us asking if we could deliver 15 classes per week into the regular curriculum. We settled for 12 classes as a number of classes we felt we could staff and manage.

The project has been running for almost two full school years and the children gave demonstrations of Judo & Aikido and performances of dance at the school on July 18th 2006.

• 3 Judo classes - taught by Roger Marks
• 4 Dance classes - taught by Imogen Knight
• 2 Aikido classes - taught by Alan Saunders

William Patten School

Building on the success of our work with St Matthias we have also started the following two classes at William Patten:

• 1 Drama class - taught by Campbell Edinborough
• 1 Creative Dance class - taught by Imogen Knight.

Working with Others

Dance and Martial Arts require inter-personal skills:

• Learning how to communicate – verbally and physically
• Learning how to negotiate – we have to work together to achieve this
• Empathy – taking care of others and understanding their needs

Learning through physical experience:

• Identifying the body – acknowledging physicality/understanding detail (parts of the body)
• Physiology – so a body does this & this
• Physical feedback – when I do “A”, B, C, & D also happen – What does it feel like?
• Learning to translate visual and verbal information into an action/actions
• Learning to modify and adjust actions in response to instruction/direction

Imaginative Input and Play:

• Dance and Martial Arts require imaginative input not simply replication
• Imagine the circumstances – setting/surroundings
• Imagine how this might feel then express it
• You are……something different, be it – transforming self-image through projection

Owning the process:

• Each body has particularities of structure – no two bodies are alike
• Only you know how you feel – sensation is subjective
• Each body has a history
• Learning requires the nurturing of enquiring mind, to pursue research in order to discover so - learning through experimentation
• Responsibility for one’s personal growth & development – personal goals not just external pressure

Embodying a philosophy:

• I behave/move like this because I understand the world in a particular way.

Back to the top