The project aimed to enhance the quality of learning for culturally diverse adult learners in transcultural dance pedagogy by creating inclusive, multilingual, and diversity-sensitive digital learning materials. These resources addressed the specific needs of learners of colour, migrants, and those with mixed cultural identities. A second objective was to make informal transcultural dance education accessible to individuals across Europe who had previously been excluded due to language barriers or lack of respective educational offers in rural locations. The project also focused on strengthening the digital capacities of both partner organisations to ensure they can continue offering resilient and inclusive adult education in times of crisis. Central to the project was a strong process of mutual exchange and knowledge transfer between the two organisations with a focus on digital transformation in cultural and body-based adult education, combining complementary strengths and pedagogical approaches. This collaboration also aimed at laying the foundation for a long-lasting partnership between project partners and future joint initiatives in European adult education with a growing, culturally diverse community of learners.
The project was initiated in response to the exclusion of culturally and linguistically diverse learners from many forms of adult dance education in Europe, especially in rural or less culturally diverse areas. Our goal was to make transcultural dance pedagogy accessible through high-quality, inclusive, multilingual digital learning materials. Both partner organisations experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic how essential digital readiness is to sustain educational offers in crisis. However, simply moving dance online proved ineffective for our embodied, community-based methods. This led to a joint vision: to develop digital tools that maintain the essence of transcultural embodied learning while expanding its reach and improving quality. We addressed two core needs: 1) the need for sustainable, inclusive educational access for learners of colour, mixed cultural identities, and migration backgrounds through digital and blended-learning formats; and 2) the need for digital capacity-building and organisational development for staff and organisations working with dance in transcultural adult education. Ultimately, the project supported digital transformation by the means of innovative dance education bridging intercultural divides.