Mag ik deze dans met jou? (Can I have this dance?)
Exploration of inclusive dance education for participants with MS and Parkinson’s disease
With the cooperation of Damar Lamers and Jelle van der Leest, an exploration of inclusive dance education for participants with MS and Parkinson’s disease was completed. Damar Lamers is artistic director of the Dance in Education study programme and founder of StichtingReDiscoverMe. This Amsterdam organisation led by Damar Lamers provides contemporary dance lessons for people with and without chronic illnesses, such as Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis. Researcher and teacher Damar Lamers is the driving force and has had multiple sclerosis for nine years, relapsing/remitting.
The inclusive dance (lesson) practices make dance accessible to everyone in society. By focusing on inclusiveness, these dance lessons contribute to the discussion about the role of (dance) art in a democratic society, as well as contributing to the personal and creative development of the participants. Inclusive dance brings society on a small scale, as it were, to the dance floor.
The social importance and the relevance of inclusiveness is broadly supported in dance education, but the fact that there is still a lack of knowledge and skills for providing inclusive dance education is also acknowledged. In addition, we have insufficient knowledge of what makes an inclusive dance lesson successful and which leaning outcomes participants and teachers experience. In this exploration, we examine whether a case study at Stichting ReDiscoverMe can provide reference points for describing inclusive dance didactics.
Read the full report Mag ik deze dans met jou? (Can I have this dance?) here.
Ik en de Ander (The Other and I)
RDM show 'Ik en de Ander' (The Other and I)
RDM online trailer
Everything is possible, as long as dare to open your eyes. The inclusive dance performance Ik en de Ander (The Other and I) invites you to look at your own body in a different way. Society still points out our apparent flaws and imperfections all too often. Ik en de Ander (The Other and I) presents you with a different approach. If your body is no longer working as society expects and demands, how do you find the strength in that case to embrace that body.
In Ik en de Ander (The Other and I), a diverse group of dancers, with and without a chronic illness and/or physical disability, shows the alternative. A setback is not the end of your aspirations. Change is the only constant in a human’s life, and can actually signify the beginning of something new. As long as you embrace it. In six duets, the dancers show how they have rediscovered the strength in their own bodies, and dare to trust in themselves and the other once again. That all merges together in a dynamic group choreography in which it doesn’t matter what kind of body you have. It’s about what you do with it.
The performance was made by Damar Lamers (artistic director and choreographer) ad Maxi Hill (choreographer). Maxi Hill is a dancer, choreographer and teacher from England, where she studied 1984/88 at the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance Limited from 1984-1988 and subsequently in the Netherlands at the School for New Dance Development (SNDO) of the Amsterdam University of the Arts. She is specialised in working with young people and people who cannot hear. Maxi danced with, among others, the School of Hard Knocks Company and was involved artistically with the Handtheater and youth theatre company Artisjok/Nultwintig. She has a passion for working with amateurs that she likes to see develop their movement. The emotions simplicity, honesty, rawness, passion and enjoyment are important qualities in her work.
Damar Lamers
Damar Lamers graduated from the study programme Dance in Education at the Amsterdam University of the Arts in 2007. She is a creator who also teaches and specialises in improvisation and partnering in particular. In 2004, she set up Stichting TjillSkillz, dance and theatre for and by young people, as a means of empowerment. In 2018, she established the foundation ReDiscoverMe, dance for everyone and with an emphasis on people with a chronic condition and physical disability.
Because dance is for everyone...
Because dance makes a difference...
The recurring theme in her working method each target group is to base her work on the person, and the possibilities and qualities that already exist. Rediscovering yourself and your body, whatever condition it may currently be in, and whatever stage of life you may find yourself in, is a wonderful and essential thing to explore.
www.rediscoverme.nl
@rdm_rediscoverme
E: damar.lamers@ahk.nl
Publications, presentations, and workshops
- Carapellotti, A. M., Meijerink, H., Gravemaker-Scott, C., Thielman, L., Kool, R., Lewin, N., & Abma, T. A. (2023). Escape, expand, embrace: the transformational lived experience of rediscovering the self and the other while dancing with Parkinson’s or Multiple Sclerosis. International Journal of Qualitative Studies on Health and Well-being, 18(1), 2143611.
- m.m.v. Lamers, D & van der Leest, J. (2022). Mag ik deze dans met jou? Amsterdam, NL: Lectoraat Kunsteducatie, Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de kunsten
- Symposium Transculturele Danspraktijken (Amsterdam, 2022). Presentatie Jelle van der Leest en Damar Lamers Mag ik deze dans met jou?
- DanceAble Symposium (online, 2022) Presentatie Mag ik deze dans met jou?
- OBA Theater (Amsterdam, 2021) Q&A Jelle van der Leest en Damar Lamers Ik en de Ander.
- Berkel, R., Heijnen, E. (2020) ‘Daag mij maar uit!’ Dans en ouderen in grootstedelijke context. Amsterdam, NL: Lectoraat Kunsteducatie, Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten. (m.m.v. Damar Lamers, Jimat Pelupessy, Nita Liem)