On Saturday, 12 December 2015, the Arts and Cultural Education Research Group, the Music Research Group, the Master of Arts Education programme, and the Music Education programme (ODM) of the Amsterdam University of the Arts will host the symposium 'Embodiment in Arts Education'. This symposium will focus on embodied thinking in and around arts education, particularly in relation to mapping teaching practices in dance and music.

The body is not only an instrument but also a primary source of meaning in the transmission of musical and dance qualities, from both the student and teacher perspectives. Key concepts in this symposium include: multimodal learning, co-agency, sensory attuning, the embodied pedagogical knowledge of music and dance educators, and the role of intersensory experiences in learning. Through lectures and workshops, contemporary perspectives on embodied thinking in music and dance will be examined: how cultural meanings are transmitted and created within the processes of learning and creating music and dance.

The symposium is spearheaded by Melissa Bremmer and Carolien Hermans, both of whom are lecturers at the respective programmes and researchers within the Arts and Cultural Education Research Group at the Amsterdam University of the Arts. Their dissertations focus on 'embodied learning and teaching'.

In conjunction with the conference, the publication Embodiment in Arts Education - Teaching and learning with the body in the Arts has been released.

The programme featured the following lectures and workshops. Some sessions have been recorded; click on the title to view the video.
Keynote by Shaun Gallagher: 'Situating embodied cognition in learning environments'
Melissa Bremmer: 'What the body knows about teaching music'
Eeva Anttila:  'Dance as embodied learning'
Muzikale improvisatie  by Debby Korfmacher
Dansimprovisatie  by Wieneke van Breukelen
The Music Paint‐Machine by Luc Nijs
Jaco van den Dool: 'Sensual learning: investigating the role of the senses in musical learning processes'
Carolien Hermans: ‘Within and without: what about a sense of agency in dance education?’