World Cafe #1 - A list of participants questions & comments…
N-Rich Dance
A huge thank you for coming to our first World Cafe style discussion format hosted by Richmond and Hillcroft Adult Community College on March 31st 2022. The session was chaired by the wonderful Professor Sara Houston and facilitated by the equally wonderful Simon Bayly of Roehampton University.
The aim of the World Cafe format is to make discussion forums open, fun, creative and engaging. I hope you all found the session as stimulating as I did. N-Rich’s partner organisations have decided to record all the developments in the form of a newsletter/blog. I have duly created this on Substack, which allows you to comment on posts and become guest contributors. Please refer back to this source over the coming weeks and months as quite a lot of material was generated from World Cafe #1.
In this post I am going to list all the discussion questions and comments proposed by the participants based around the central question “How can we create a thriving, deeply connected dance ecosystem across Richmond, London and the UK?” The participants questions were posted on a wall and everyone used sticky stars to indicate which they would like to discuss. The questions with most stars were discussed on a rotation basis during this event. Below is a list of all the questions proposed in order of popularity:
N-RICH, we are stronger together. Can we become a national dance agency? ******
How can we make sure that any ecosystem/ provision/activities are accessible to everyone regardless of ability or disability, age, ability to pay etc? ******
What stops people from dancing? ******
How can we get boys involved in dance? ******
How can dance break down the intergenerational barriers? ******
How can dance help people with mental health issues? *****
How can we make dance open to all when there is less on the curriculum at school? E.g. participation and watching performances. *****
How do we engage those who, as of yet, don’t have access to dance in Richmond? ****
Make classes and opportunities accessible, diverse and inclusive. ****
How can the heritage sector and dance world work together more? ****
Are there audiences/communities/people in Richmond that none of us are reaching? ****
How do we identify talent? How can we network? How do we reach out and advertise? **
How can we fund a dance and drama project to help SEN children learn phonics and creative expression? **
Can dance be on prescription? **
Can dance change the world? How can dance change the world? **
How can we create more open collaborative work, festivals etc in the SEN community involving dance and yoga? What would that look like? *
What do some dance and wider arts organisations have that other dance organisations need? *
How do we envision “thriving”? *
What’s the benefit of dance? *
The most vulnerable continue to struggle to access dance (and yoga). How can we support them going forward, creating a community and friendships?
How can we extend the contemporary dance offer across Richmond?
Would having a dance professional in residence be possible in Richmond?
Has the role of dance in the community changed since the pandemic?
How can specialists help?
Would an outdoor dance festival be possible in Richmond?
Create a dance network in Richmond.
Can we make artist networking a regular thing across the borough?
Preservation of styles versus evolution of styles. Discuss.