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Explorations at the edge: memories of art and dance at Dartington in the Thatcher years

In this article Dartington’s contribution to arts education is seen as part of a larger pattern of resistance to the dominant social and political climate of the Thatcher years. The article draws upon the writer’s experience as head of Art and Design and upon his own research interests in the creation of performance work combining art and dance. The text begins with a specific memory of the Dartington Dance Festival and touches upon the approach to dance at the college during those years. It goes on to describe the focus of the course in Art and Social Context with its student residencies, which reflected a tradition in Dartington as a whole of promoting the arts in the wider community. Some features of the college as a centre for training in the arts are drawn out, especially its focus on creating new work and a general ethos of experiment that prevailed. A combination of this creative focus, together with a changing cultural climate, a departure from traditional forms in the arts and an emphasis on working in unpredictable settings in local communities, presented challenges for training that are discussed.