Justine Reeve: Structured play

Participate in ‘Structured play’ at Open Up To Dance on Sunday 14 April from 10:00 to 12:00.

This workshop will be taught in English.

Improvisation is actually structured play. Young dancers have the chance to absorb themselves completely in the creative process. As teachers, we facilitate that play. In this workshop, you will learn several key structures within which you can develop ideas, where exploring both obvious choices of movement and original responses are encouraged. How do you start? How can you transition smoothly from one idea to another? How do you stimulate interesting responses? Which key elements can you include in your own workshops and classes? Feel free to bring a theme or idea you’d like to explore along with you. Justine can use it during the workshop!

Who is Justine?

Justine Reeve is passionate about dance and dance education. She endeavours to find new ways to ensure that children and young people have access to dance, that creativity is at the heart of all education and that both dancers and dance teachers are given opportunities to realise their potential. She has a BA (Hons) in Dance and Related Arts, a PGCE (Post-16 teacher training) and a Post Graduate Diploma (PGDip) in Dance and Collaborative Arts. In addition, she has been teaching all age groups for more than 31 years as a dance teacher, head of department, director, choreographer and consultant.

A few highlights: she has been an animateur at Rambert Dance Company for more than ten years, where she designs, choreographs and leads workshops, residencies, productions and INSETs (in-service education and training for teachers) based on Rambert’s company repertoire. She was the artistic director of West Sussex Youth Dance Company for over ten years, creating ten original pieces of choreography for the company of 14 to 21-year-old dancers.

Justine is also an author. Her first books were ‘Dance Improvisations’ (2011) and ‘More Dance Improvisations’ (2023). She recently wrote the educational resource on Akram Khan’s full-length work Creature for the English National Ballet and advised them on their Khan Retrospective resource. For Russell Maliphant Dance Company, she has written education resources on Two, Silent Lines and VORTEX. All these resources include evaluation systems and creative tasks based on professional works, aimed at young dancers.

She is currently a Continued Professional Development (CPD) course leader for Keynote Educational, running courses for dance teachers, which is a role she has fulfilled for 20 years. She is the founder of the Facebook groups ‘Dance Teachers’ Agony Aunt’ and ‘The Dance Teachers’ Tool Kit’, providing support for dance teachers in the UK. Furthermore, she is an external expert for OFQUAL, a moderator for WJEC qualifications, and a guest lecturer at the Arts University Bournemouth, Brighton University and Chichester University.

Why does the programmer, Anne-Lore Baeckeland, think you should take this session?

The United Kingdom has one of the most highly developed dance education programmes for children and young people, both in ordinary schools and specific dance training. Higher education programmes there are fully attuned to this situation. The British are experts in analysing and developing methods and techniques, and they are obsessed with scientific research.

Justine Reeve is a treasure trove of experience, with an immense commitment to dance for everyone. Her experience ranges from collaborations with professional dance companies to amateur groups in schools. She is looking forward to hearing your experiences and questions. Her first book has been on my bookshelf for a long time, and if I happen to need inspiration, it is one of the books I flick through to find input for a workshop of my own.