Kirsty Purnell joins Moving Stories as Dance Artist
Fri 19 January 20242020 Community Dance alum Kirsty Purnell will be one of four Dance Artists working with us for Moving Stories: embedding dance and drama in SEND teacher practice.
Recent alum Kirsty Purnell has joined Moving Stories, a two-year Paul Hamlyn Teacher Development Fund project, as a Dance Artist. Trinity Laban and its partners were successful in a bid of support from the PHF Teacher Development Fund – Moving Stories was one of eight UK-wide projects chosen for support.
Kirsty will be working with two of the six Lewisham-based schools involved in the project: Watergate and the Resource Base at Athelney Primary. In her role as a Dance Artist, she will collaborate with Drama Practitioners from Peoplescape Theatre, and School Teachers to develop and embed drama and dance in their setting, with the goal to improve the communication skills of young people facing high levels of disadvantage. Communication skills are the key to unlocking young peoples’ ability to thrive as active, engaged and connected members of their communities. Teachers and Artists will learn from each other, developing new pedagogical approaches, and spread good practice to colleagues, ensuring disabled young people have access to a rich and exciting arts curriculum which supports their life skills.
On being appointed the role of Dance Artist, Kirsty Purnell comments: “I am really excited to be one of the Dance Artists on the Moving Stories project in collaboration with Trinity Laban and Peoplescape Theatre. It feels particularly special to be on a project that is two years long and will allow time and space to build relationships and see the longer term impact of creative practices in SEND settings. I’m really looking forward to working on a project that’s so collaborative in nature and excited to see how working closely with drama practitioners and SEND teachers impacts and expands my own community dance practice. The learning and connections I made during my time at Trinity Laban on the Community Dance Postgrad have been invaluable in shaping my work in different dancing communities and Moving Stories is a wonderful example of this!”
More about Kirsty
An experienced facilitator, Kirsty works in a variety of settings including primary, secondary, SEN schools and community centres. She is particularly interested in how movement can be used to create, communicate and collaborate in the spirit of collective joy.
She regularly leads projects for Rambert, The Royal Academy of Dance, Trinity Laban and Sadler’s Wells Learning and Engagement Programme with sharings at Sadler’s Wells Theatre and The Yard Theatre, Hackney Wick. She has also worked for SLiDE, Hackney Children’s Theatre, Trinity Laban and run workshops for F.A.T Studio and London College of Communication.
Initially studying English Literature and Philosophy at Glasgow University and then completing her PGCE, she went on to receive a scholarship to study Community Dance at Trinity Laban. Kirsty is a professional member of People Dancing and an accredited teacher of Rambert Grades Creative Dance for Early Years and Grade 1-4 contemporary technique.