Dalcroze UK International Spring Course

Dalcroze UK International Spring Course 2025 – an unmissable opportunity to find out all you need to know about Dalcroze Eurhythmics!

The annual Dalcroze UK Spring Course welcomes all those interested in discovering Dalcroze Eurhythmics, as well as those keen to develop their practice, meet old friends and colleagues, and make new ones.

This course is for you, especially if…

• you are curious about the method and looking for a way to develop a deeper understanding of music, performance, teaching and learning
• have taken part in a Taster Day or joined an online Zoom Cafe
• have been involved in Dalcroze in the past and want to reconnect
• are an experienced Dalcroze practitioner looking to refresh or deepen your knowledge, re-connect, and be inspired by others…this is the next step

There are classes for complete beginners, students, and experienced practitioners. For three days you will work with some of the best national and international Dalcroze teachers while enjoying the beautiful spaces and pianos at the Royal Northern College of Music.

Dalcroze Eurhythmics is the only music education method grounded in the relationship between sound and movement. Group lessons offer a unique, deep, and personal way of experiencing and expressing music through the whole body. Through sensory integration, it develops both musical and social abilities in listening, responsiveness, coordination, imagination, interpretation, creativity, and effective communication.

In the UK and ROI the contemporary use of Dalcroze in education, performance, related arts, therapy, and well-being is witness to its far-reaching and inclusive nature and the range of its applications.

The course begins on Monday 14th April with registration from 4.00 pm followed by a welcome session and drinks reception.

Meet The Teachers!

Confirmed teachers for the course include Eugènia Arús, Kaye Barker, Karin Greenhead, Jacqueline Vann & Ruth Jones. More to be confirmed later.

Click here to find out more about them.

What Happens at the Spring Course?

Sessions run daily from 8:45 and include Movement Warm-up, Rhythmics, Aural (Solfa/Solfège), Improvisation, and creative movement. Plus, a range of workshops and special sessions.

In addition, we have a variety of workshops, demonstrations and interviews. Details of these will be coming soon!

Watch this video to see what happens!

We’ll share the timetable here as soon as it’s finalised. In the meantime, you can look at the timetable from last year by clicking here.

Workshops

Movement Techniques For Dalcroze Practitioners, with Ruth Jones – Ruth will lead a movement technique session, drawing from Somatics, Release technique, Cunningham technique, Humphrey /Limon and more . The session will explore flow and weight, breath and swing , use of the floor, getting in and out of the floor, articulation of the feet, rotation, economy of movement, changes of dynamics, shape and use of space and more. This workshop is suitable for all levels.

Plastique Animée for Beginners, with Kaye Barker – Plastique Animée is the title Emile Jaques-Dalcroze gave to a movement piece which explores and embodies elements of a piece of music. This can be its form. melodic line, rhythms, dynamics, character and so on. A plastique ‘shows’ an audience what is happening in a piece of repertoire. The result is dance-like yet different and is a deeply rewarding and exciting way to experience a piece of music. These workshops are ideal for newcomers to Dalcroze but also for experienced students of the method.

Dynamic Rehearsal, with Karin Greenhead – Dynamic Rehearsal (DR) is a highly effective application of Dalcroze principles to the rehearsal and performance of musical repertoire developed experimentally by Karin while teaching string-players at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) beginning in 1992. Its aim is to enable participants to enter a process of clarifying and refining interpretation and performance and to improve communication skills. DR has been demonstrated many times in workshops nationally and internationally and has featured in a number of conferences, research articles, master’s dissertations and Doctoral theses. Participants include both performers and listeners and performers can be soloists or ensembles. The workshop will be in two parts: 1. An introduction to DR with preparatory exercises and techniques that will be used in 2. Session 2. Performers (soloists or ensembles) are taken through the DR process. Listeners participate by giving feedback and sometimes more actively. Listeners are invited to give feedback on what they notice. Those wishing to perform must bring the score of their pieces and should know the section they want to work on from memory (sufficient to get away from the score). Dress as for rhythmics. Those wishing to perform in session 2 must attend session 1.

Pedagogy: Peer Teaching Practice, with Eugénia Arùs and Hélène Nicolet – All levels of Spring Course participants are welcome to join this workshop as active participants and/or observers. This workshop offers an opportunity to practise teaching adults and receive feedback from peers and experienced Diplômées. Students preparing Licence and Professional Certificate examinations and holders of a Dalcroze Licence or Professional Certificate may apply to teach an exercise or short exercise sequence suitable for adults. The exercise sequence may be designed for a rhythmics class, rhythmics-solfège, aural training or improvisation. The workshop is particularly beneficial for those teaching improvisation for their exercise/s. These peer-teaching sessions are always interesting and informative. If you would like to attend and wish to teach please inform the administrator as soon as possible. If the group is large a small number may be asked to be “the class” for some exercises. If the group is very large we will split it and run two simultaneous classes.

Skip Tease! The Dalcroze skips, with Jacqueline Vann – Skipping is joyful and fun, and in Dalcroze Today Marie-Laure Bachman writes about “….youngsters who beg for ‘more skipping!’” Perhaps even more importantly, Dalcroze said about the exercises in skips…”These exercises provide special technical preparation for all the following lessons which involve lively body movements and require lightness, elasticity and suppleness of leg movements in lively tempos.” Skips are good for coordination, independence of limbs, and strength, and they can lead to rhythmic accuracy in performance.  This will be a very active workshop exploring the place of ‘the Six Skips’ in teaching and learning today.

 What is Dalcroze, with Jacqueline Vann – This is a short, introductory workshop for beginners on Dalcroze the man and the method. If you are new to Dalcroze, this workshop is for you. You will learn about Emile Jaques-Dalcroze, why he developed the work, the fundamental principles behind the work, and simple games that illustrate some of the different kinds of exercises used in teaching.

Piano Strategies for Dalcroze Exercises, with Andrew Davidson – This workshop explores approaches to piano improvisation that effectively support learning and teaching in Dalcroze Eurhythmics. Topics include using the left hand to incite everyday movement, shaping metric exercises through melodic material, and applying harmonic vocabularies to free movement in real time. Participants will develop strategies for essential exercises in a Dalcroze context. We will examine the technical and expressive processes involved in creating spontaneous dialogue between sound and motion. This workshop is ideal for pianists new to Dalcroze, as well as experienced Dalcrozians looking to deepen their approach at the keyboard.

Research & Publication: Toward a PhD in Performer Training, with Andrew Davidson – This presentation explores the process of developing a PhD through published papers, reflecting on the intersections of research, teaching, and artistic practice in performer training. Drawing on my own journey, I will discuss my prior publications, the method of thematic analysis, the role of reflexivity, and the challenge of navigating expectations in a university conservatoire. The session will offer insights into structuring research within a practice-based framework and the evolving relationship between publication and doctoral inquiry. A Q&A will follow, welcoming conversation with anyone who identifies as “research curious” but can’t yet imagine themselves pursuing a PhD.

Exam Test Practice, with Jacqueline Vann, Kaye Barker and Karin Greenhead – These sessions will run for students on the Dalcroze UK courses Foundation, Intermediate and Professional Certificate levels. Qualified teachers who would like the opportunity to enhance their practise and skills are welcome to join in. Licence students who wish to participate in these exam test practice sessions should contact the Director of Studies beforehand and discuss what they would like to practice.

Applications for bursaries close on 23rd February 2025. Click here to apply for a bursary

note: this course is non-residential

Cancellation policy:

Amount payable if you cancel after registration:

2 months before – 10%
1 month before – 50%
Less than one month before – 80%