The profound changes occurred both in the training and professional systems of contemporary dance in the last 20 years can be considered a “revolution” that still affects the entire sector. If by “modern dance” we can define the developments that, starting from the late XIX Century, led to a new way of conceiving the movement as opposed to the classical academic ballet, the role of several professional figures working in the field has even more changed in the contemporary era.On this basis, most professions involved in the sector must cope with new languages and methodologies that are often not fitting with their traditional training systems. This (r)evolution demands a re-definition of curricula and general update of training programs in accordance with the most recent trends. In fact, contemporary languages have become more and more important within the European dance scenario, thus modifying not only the culture connected to the dance in general, but even the systematic approaches to vocational training of professionals and technicians, who demand for an harmonized recognition of knowledge, competences and skills both at national and EU level in order to increase their employability and allow transferability within the EU training systems and labour market.According to these premises, the specific objectives of UP2DANCE are:• To outline the key professional profiles involved in the contemporary dance industry and boost a process for the recognition and validation of their knowledge, competences and skills according to EQF principles, including those acquired through non formal and informal learning;• To boost coordinated initiatives at EU level for the development of joint updated curricula and the harmonisation of vocational training courses in partners’ countries;• To strengthen cooperation and the exchange of good practices among partner organizations concerning vocational training in the field of contemporary dance.UP2DANCE aims support the modernisation of education and training systems, in particular through a better use of EU transparency and recognition tools and the exchange of good practices concerning the dance industry at European level, in order to boost the process of harmonisation and update of curricula of the professional profiles according to the requirements of the contemporary scenario. Some key professional figures to be addressed throughout the project have already been identified by the Coordinator and surely include the following:• ballet maitre• choreographer• dramaturg• dance teacher• dancer• digital set designer• techniciansThrough cooperation among partners, the implementation of the project envisages the following results:A cycle of national round tables, each of them dedicated to a specific professional figure in the dance industry will lead to the production of a comparative analysis of professional profiles and corresponding educational paths in partners’ countries and recommendations to address the mismatches between qualification frameworks and contemporary professional figures.Four Peer Learning Workshops for the exchange of good practices in training among the staff of partner organisations will result in a manual of innovative methods and practices identified at national level.A Memorandum of understanding among partner organisations aimed at fostering long-term cooperation for the promotion of joint initiatives and the exchange of experiences, resources and opportunities.UP2DANCE is expected to generate a positive impact on the following target groups:• partner organisations and their staff (around 35 people involved in project management and implementation);• Dance teachers, trainers and other professionals in the dance industry;• Representatives of the dance sector;• Policy-makers;• External Stakeholders: artists and professionals from private companies, public bodies, organizations working in the dance sector, small and medium VET providers and professional schools, universities.The project end will be celebrated in Rome with an original final event titled “One day every day”, hosted by the University Theatre La Sapienza, representing a typical day of work of a dance company. The final event will include several dance performances and a conference targeted to stakeholders to present the main project outputs.

The project “S.T.A.DY DANCE: Skills and Tools to Address Diversity in Dance Training” is focused on the creation of a common framework model based on creative and active training techniques for dance trainers and choreographers in order to address diversity in formal and non-formal dance education. This partnership is made up of 6 entities who provide dance training to different target groups: a College for further education (U.K.), a dance company (Portugal), a company organizing salsa festivals (Germany), a dance school (Sweden), an institute for vocational training (Greece) and a cultural organization (Cyprus) who share a strong interest in promoting better awareness of the educational opportunities and identifying gaps in dance training in the respective partner countries. Rapid changes in the labor market and the increasing diversity in society require improved skills and an enhanced capacity of adaptation therefore all partners acknowledge the need of creating an inter-cultural dialogue on dance training that will lead to the improvement of the competences of professional trainers in managing educational paths and activities at a European level. Based on the principle that Dance is an Art form that is in constant interaction with other Art disciplines we intend to develop an interdisciplinary approach by the use of acting, movement analysis and music interpretation. Through the exchange of practices, teachers’ training in all dances (classical, contemporary, improvisation, multicultural etc.) and pilot implementation of training students we will distill the best practices applicable to a variety of diverse trainees (professionals, newcomers, beginners, amateurs, dance students, seniors, children, immigrants, disabled etc.). The teachers' training will run on two parallel levels. Firstly all partner institutions will do pilot implementation of their training techniques to the maximum of various groups of learners from different backgrounds within their organization for a specific period. Secondly all partners will organize joint staff training events in each country in order to transfer knowledge and experience in particular training modules to the dance trainers involved in the project. Both initiatives will produce a number of multicultural approaches which will undergo assessment and evaluation from all stakeholders in the partnership. In the end of the development of the suggested techniques we will share and disseminate the best practices that can be applicable both in VET and CVET. Through the exchange of practices we aim to utilize individual and collective experience in order to provide dance trainers with training tools applicable both on formal and non-formal education and training. Furthermore the project-based transnational collaboration will respectively facilitate the access of diverse groups of learners to high quality education and training. The partnership will increase synergies and links among dance training providers (dance companies, institutions of vocational training, cultural centers, dance schools, Colleges, companies) and promote the concept of lifelong learning. The knowledge provided by the project will enhance the effectiveness of dance trainers and choreographers, will create conditions for employability and stimulate their (re)-integration into the labor market. The richness of methods to be applied in the project will highlight the ethnographic values and cultural identity not only of the participating countries since a pool of ethnic dances will be used as a module for promoting innovative training techniques.