General News
Life and work have been very busy since my last report (November 2022). The 10 students in our Dalcroze UK Licence programme have completed the year with some mock exams and mini mocks. The Italian members of this group and Dario (Spain) had their December course with Ava Loiacono in Italy which they much appreciated. One project has proved particularly fruitful for this group: The ‘Dalcroze walk’ that is something Ruth Stewart liked to do and which I developed a little further. Some students presented their ‘walks’ at the Spring course this year and there will be readers of this newsletter who either did that exercise with Ruth or saw the presentations in April. The International Licence group joined Ava, Jacqueline Vann and me in Limerick and took several exams (December 2022) and Diane Daly took her rhythmics teaching exam in Croydon in February 2023, so they are all moving heroically towards completion. Training for our D-UK Licence students has continued despite the repairs to my house (still ongoing) and most fortunately we have now been allowed to extend our days at the Royal Russell Junior School where we work. The school will be rebuilt in the coming year so it will be interesting to see where our lessons will be held.
Doctoral Studies and other exams.
Our colleague, Ava Loiacono has embarked on an arts practice PhD at Limerick University while Rosalind Ridout (Professional Certificate candidate) continues as a doctoral candidate at RNCM (autoethnography). She has also published with one of her supervisors, Dr John Habron-James. Kaye’s first batch of Foundation students took their exams in May with Kaye playing for the rhythmics exam and me marking. It was a pleasure to hear her play and to see the students.
Raquel Costabile completed her Professional Certificate with excellent results and presented a session on how she did it at the Easter course.
Spring and Summer Courses, 2023
This year Eugénia Arús (Barcelona) joined the teaching team of Jacqueline Vann, Kaye Barker, Ruth Jones, and me for the Spring course. Eugénia is always much appreciated by teachers and students alike and it was lovely to welcome her here again.
We were due to partner with ESTA for the Summer course and Eugénia had accepted an invitation to return but most unfortunately, this was cancelled.
Institut Jaques-Dalcroze
Silvia del Bianco retires as Director of the IJD in July 2023 and will hand over to the new Director, Hélène Nicolet at the Congrés. Some of you know Hélène personally as she came here to teach in Croydon a couple of times as well as at the Easter course in 2022.
On 28th December Hélène gave birth to Jane, a sister for Dorien and I sent our congratulations.
We congratulate Andrew Davidson who has completed his Diplôme Supérieur and should receive it at the Congrés.
Congrés international, 17 – 21 July 2023: Connections to self, playing – listening – expression
The Congrés is preceded by the Journées d’études – the professional development days for Diplômé-es and Diploma candidates. The DEIEB Co-Directors will present our Professional Certificate exam for all the Diplômé-e-s present to try out. Ava Loiacono (Italy), Cheng Feng Lin (Canada) and Jacqueline Vann are unable to attend, and Kaye Barker will join the presenting team of Sandra Nash, Louise Mathieu, Françoise Lombard, and myself.
I have been asked to present a paper, a paper with workshop, and a lesson at the Congrés. The presentations will draw on material from my doctoral thesis.
The sixth International Conference of Dalcroze Studies (ICDS): ecologies of practice in music and movement
The conference takes place in Pittsburgh this Summer and several members, teachers, and students, will attend and present there in person. I will not be able to attend in person but have been invited to give my presentations on Zoom. The recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award is Dr Joan Pope.
Dr John Habron-James steps down as Chair of the Scientific Committee of the ICDS this year and his successor(s) will be announced at the conference as will the recipient of the lifetime achievement award.
John is the founding Chair of the conference; the one who had the vision to create it. Without him there would never have been an ICDS. The biennial conference has gone from strength to strength and provided opportunities for Dalcroze teachers and students as well as all those working in the field of Dalcroze studies to meet, discuss and present research, teaching, and performances.
Once again, we have come through a busy year thanks to the excellent support of our Board of Trustees headed by Kathryn Templeman. The Board has been enlarged to include new members including Nick Bottini – formerly a post-graduate student at RNCM on the Junior Strings Project where he spent two years studying Dalcroze. He now has a very successful business of his own.
