Proceedings of events organised by the AMEU Dance Academy in 2018 and 2019: peer-reviewed proceedings
A message from the Dean of the Dance Academy, organiser and moderator of the dance section
Alma Mater Europaea Dance Academy is the only institution in Slovenia offering a recognised first-cycle Bologna degree in contemporary dance and, for the first time in history, in ballet as well. This very year the first generation of students is completing the Dance Academy, while the fourth generation of new students is enrolled in Ljubljana. In ballet, Slovenia has a rich century-long tradition with two outstanding ballet institutions at the Ljubljana and Maribor Operas and with conservatoires and ballet schools in Maribor and Ljubljana, the latter also home to a higher ballet school. There are also numerous private and other ballet schools, courses and the like. Until now the art of ballet has not been taught at university level. In the developed world all kinds of human activity are taught today, and certain arts in particular are also taught at academic level, so that alongside music, fine art and literature and drama, dance is today an equal art. In Slovenia, too, the need to complete the educational vertical in the art of ballet was recognised, yet these intentions were only successfully fulfilled three years ago. Given my experience in founding a related programme of ballet pedagogy and contemporary dance at the University of Zagreb, together with my extensive artistic experience and academic education, I was invited by Prof. Dr Toplak, president of Alma Mater Europaea in Slovenia, to help draw up the plan and the programme of the Slovenian Dance Academy. Once the programmes had been verified and accredited at all levels, I was invited to become one of the lecturers and the dean of the dance academy.
In the coming academic year the Dance Academy is also opening postgraduate studies: a master’s programme with three fields — theories of dance arts, contemporary choreographic practices and dance pedagogy. Dance today is taught from various analytical perspectives, including semiotics and anthropological, philosophical, psychoanalytical, gender, socio-political and cultural-studies viewpoints. There is also kinesiology, the study of anatomy and physiology in the context of safe practice modelled on sports medicine, various teaching methodologies and so on. University education for dance and ballet teachers working with children ought to be compulsory, above all for the sake of safe practice. For a dancer who wants more, theoretical and contextual knowledge is as necessary as training. It is important to strengthen the educational vertical of dance teaching from kindergarten to university.
This volume publishes contributions from the dance section of the 6th scientific conference with international participation All About People: challenges for science and education (2018) on the theme The art of dance in national culture, science and education, from the dance section of the 7th scientific conference with international participation All About People: the future now! (2019) on the theme Tradition and contemporaneity in dance art and education, and from the round table held within the Maribor Theatre Festival 2019 on the theme Ballet: the educational vertical from pre-school education to the second Bologna cycle in the Republic of Slovenia, organised by the Alma Mater Europaea Dance Academy. The published contributions will serve as material for the coming generations of students, who are growing in number and who implement the knowledge they gain in the educational and artistic structures of the Republic of Slovenia — so that we expect the academic picture of dance in Slovenia to change radically for the better.