Moving Up: Conference for dance in early childhood cultural education
Friday, March 21 and Saturday, March 22, 2025
The conference is dedicated to the artistic dimension of dance for pre-school children. It offers a multifaceted platform for ideas and inspiration around the very special opportunities and challenges in this area. Under the motto “No cultural education without artistic practice”, we create space for creative reflection, new perspectives and the exchange of experiences.
With lectures, workshops, think tanks and interactive panels, we take a practical look at this field and invite dance professionals, cultural and dance mediators, pedagogical professionals, daycare centers and everyone who works with or supports dance in early childhood education to network and dance new ways together!
The conference will take place at the Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm, Waldschmidtstraße 4, the guest performance Harvest by Isabelle Schad at the Junge Theaterwerkstatt am Zoo, Bernhard-Grzimek-Allee 1 – both in Frankfurt am Main.
Moving Up is a project by Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm in preparation for the Zentrum Junger Tanz, funded by the Crespo Foundation, in cooperation with the Hessisches Staatsballett.
What is Moving Up?
“No cultural education without artistic practice”
We would like to place the artistic dimension of dance for pre-school children at the center of this conference. We understand the approach “No cultural education without artistic practice” as the basis, i.e. the root of our work. The conference is intended to provide a platform for discussing the specific challenges and opportunities of artistic work with children. In addition to theoretical impulses, the focus will also be on practical discussions.
As part of early childhood cultural education, dance is not only an artistic and educational issue, but also a political one. We would like to open up the space to discuss how political and social framework conditions can be shaped in such a way that they sustainably promote the quality of dance creators and dance productions for young audiences. Our vision is to recognize dance as an essential part of cultural education and to provide choreographers with targeted support in their work. In short: “Giving art wings!”
The focus of Moving Up is on the empowerment of artistic dance practice in early childhood education. The conference shows, reflects, thinks along and further, and creates opportunities for networking. Dance creators, cultural and dance mediators, educational professionals, daycare centers, producers, institutions and actors who work with or promote dance in early childhood education are invited.
Right from the start: The first meeting in 2023
The field of dance for young audiences has become significantly more important in recent years, especially in the context of early childhood education. A dedicated working group has been formed within the “Tanzpunkt 2.0” network, which consistently focuses on the artistic and educational relevance of dance for children.
The first meeting in Bremen in 2023 under the motto “Focus – New perspectives on dance for young audiences” impressively demonstrated how great the need for exchange, networking and theoretical debate is in this area.
Continuation and deepening: Moving Up in 2025
The second meeting, the Moving Up: Conference for Dance in Early Childhood Cultural Education, which will take place in Frankfurt am Main in March 2025, will continue the discussions that have already begun and aims to further strengthen the dynamism and relevance of the topic. The focus will be on the artistic potential of dance as well as its political and social dimension in early childhood education. In particular, the question is how dance can be integrated into educational and cultural processes as an independent art form and what role it plays in the cultural education of children.
Moving Up Team
Concept + artistic project management: Nira Priore Nouak + Jason Jacobs
Production management: Anja Schneidereit + Jason Jacobs
Coordination: Juliane Raschel
Contact
Jason: Movingup@tanzplattformrheinmain.de
Anja: Movingup-prod@tanzplattformrheinmain.de
Registration
You can register for the conference and buy tickets here.
Ticket options:
Conference (2 days): 50 Euro / 35 Euro reduced
One-way ticket day 1 (Friday, 21.03.): 30 Euro / 20 Euro reduced
One-way ticket day 2 (Saturday, 22.03.): 30 Euro / 20 Euro reduced
With the purchase of a ticket for the conference you can also attend the performance HARVEST by Isabelle Schad on Friday at 10:30 am or 3 pm.
Please enter a valid e-mail address when purchasing, as we will send you important information about the event.
Further information
Further information about the venue, catering, childcare and the biographies of all those involved can be found on the Dance Platform website.
