The Dance Project (im)Perfections as a Deep Educational Experience of Plurality

The focus of this article on the experiences of learning of the participants in the Norwegian-Australian dance project Perfect (im)Perfections–stories untold (shortened to P(im)P). The context for the research project is the Australian choreographer Philip Channells’ four week long residency in Trondheim, Norway, where he produced a dance performance together with 20 very different dancers for MultiPlié dance festival 2014. The dancers varied in age from 23 to 80, they were differently bodied, some worked professionally with dance, others were dancing for almost the first time. The dancers seemed to have strong experiences, including a sense of deep learning, as they took part in the project. That led the author to an investigation of theory about deep learning (Tochon 2010) and about doing and acting plurality as an educational experience (Biesta 2006, 2014). In addition to following the production period as an observer, the author interviewed six of the dancers and the choreographer about their experiences in the project. As the author interprets the interviews through the theoretical lenses created by combining the perspectives of Tochon and Biesta she characterises the pedagogical opportunities and value in P(im)P as a deep educational experience of plurality.