ResDance Series 10: Episode 1: From HEAD to TOE: The creative moving body in primary education with Sarah Hall

ResDance Series 10: Episode 1: From HEAD to TOE: The creative moving body in primary education with Sarah Hall In this episode, Sarah shares insights from her work as an artist-researcher and facilitator in community and educational settings. Centered on her expertise in creative practice through embodied knowledge, our conversation explores the aims of From HEAD to TOE, a project funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s Teacher Development Fund. We discuss how Sarah’s work emphasises empowerment, inclusion, and finding voice, highlighting approaches used within the project, methods of engagement and ways of movingtogether to enjoy learning, embody knowledge, and support individual wellbeing. Sarah reflects on her experiences so far, emphasising the importance of placing care at the heart of practice and the value of a co-creative approach in drivingmeaningful change. Biography Sarah is an experienced facilitator working in community and education settings, specialising in creative practice through embodied and improvisational methodologies. Sarah is a Senior Lecturer and Practitioner Researcher at the University of Lancashire and also leads BlueMoose Dance, a community dance organisation based in the North of England, with a specialist focus on practice with, for and by young people and Artist and Teacher CPD. Through a person-centred approach, Sarah’s work surrounds notions of empowerment, inclusion and finding voice, working co-creatively with participants through play and improvisational approaches, with care and quality at the heart of the practice.  From HEAD to TOE project biography We use the creative moving body and embodied pedagogies to support teachers in modelling and teaching metacognition and executive functioning skills. Working from care-filled practices, our CPD model and research inquiry supports Teachers and Pupils to connect to self, to better recognise their needs, to articulate their preferences and use creativity and movement to play, discover, connect and empower. This phase, funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s Teacher Development Fund, builds on our initial focus of the creative moving body in the retention and recall of key English and Maths knowledge, which ran from 2021 - 2023, funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation’s Arts Based Learning Fund. Website sarah@bluemoosedance.org.uk Social media channels @unilancashire @danceuclan @bluemoosedance Please share this episode with students, educators, practitioners, performers, and interdisciplinary researchers curious to learn more about dance research in action.