Dance
Primary School Resources
Since 1992, I have been providing schools with music for dance education. This began as a purely music-based resource. It was then expanded to incorporate teaching plans, with the introduction of the book ‘First Steps in Dance’ – co-written with Katrina Whale – in 1997.
Dance Notes is now a fully-integrated online resource, incorporating music, lesson plans and teaching frameworks for dance at Key Stages 1 and 2. Schools and individuals can choose between individual lesson downloads or gain blanket access to all the materials via a monthly or annual subscription.
Brian Blogs
As part of the mix for educators, I produce a series of posts titled ‘Dance Notes Creativity Blog for Teachers’. This comprises a selection of musings on the creative process and its implications within an educational setting. Whilst aimed initially at primary staff, they may be useful to anyone with an interest in creativity.
Early Years
Featherstone Education approached me, in the late 1990s, to provide some tracks for a book they were producing for early years dance. The author had – in fact – already selected some tracks from my Dance Notes series. This were then put together on a CD to accompany The Little Book of Dance (now published by Bloomsbury but apparently no longer available in the UK)
Dance Accompaniment
Towards the end of my time studying at Middlesex Polytechnic, I earned a modest income through accompanying Graham-technique classes. This gave me a useful insight into how music and movement intersect in the moment. And led to further work, after graduating, at Westminster College. Here I improvised on percussion, flute and piano to accompany contemporary and ballet classes.