Maps to the Stars

Description

Digital technologies have become our daily lives. Children in particular are enthusiastic consumers of digital content. According to a study conducted by Eurostat in 2014, 81% of all European households have access to the Internet, and 50% of European children are equipped with tablets or computers at home.

In this scenario, the European dance industry has evolved significantly, opening up to the use of digital technologies on the stage, while loosing at the same time young audience engagement and active participation in cultural events.

MAP TO THE STARS is an education project co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Unionaimed to give young generations the opportunity to rediscover dance and movement, stimulating creativity of pupils aged 8-12 and providing tools to school teachers to integrate dance and movement in their curriculum.

The project is an initiative coordinated by Ballet National de Marseille directed by Emio Greco end Pieter C. Scholten and involves as partners: the dance platform ICK Amsterdam, the municipal theatre and performance spaceMercat de les Flors from Barcelona and Explora, the children’s museum of Rome. Manuvo Europe SAS, a group of multidisciplinary professionals dedicated to the design, production and distribution of digital content for cultural industries, supports the partners in the creation and development of an application that will stimulate creativity through dance.

Also, the project involves the dance company SILKFlueggebased in Linz/Austria as external consultant.
The dancers and teachers identified by each partner are guided by Eric Minh Cuong Castaing, associate artist at Ballet National de Marseille for the period 2016-2018 and artistic director of MAP TO THE STARS.

The project started in September 2017. In the initial months the partners will be working on the development of the digital application, selection of local schools and dancers. From September 2018 dance and creativity will enter in the selected schools of participating countries (France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands) with an application, digital and dance workshops for kids, educational materials for teachers and a final presentation in each venue – Marseille, Rome, Barcelona and Amsterdam.

On April 4th at Explora in program DANCE DAY an event for school managers, teachers and trainers to learn more about the potential of dance and movement in education. The MAP TO THE STARS application is a tool that helps introduce body movement in class, stimulate creativity in children aged from 8 to 12 years and promote experience sharing among schools.