Rachel Kurtz Kurtz

Biography	Trained in ballet as a child and a teacher of Gabrielle Roth's 5 Rhythms since 2001, I became interested in embodiment theory while facilitating creative movement play in schools. Increasingly aware of fundamental differences in perspective between creatives and teachers I enrolled at Durham University to study and undergraduate degree in Education with Psychology. This was followed by a Masters in Education, with a focus on the arts in education. My PhD explores children's embodied experiences of school through facilitated creative sessions, using video, drawings and interview data to ask how primary education might be different if the body were central to pedagogy. I was winner of the Critical Publishing Prize in 2016 with an essay entitled, 'Why have attempts to promote equality of opportunity in schools in the UK and/or other countries failed?' In 2021 I completed a policy review for County Durham Sport to help bring together policy around physical activity and climate change/the environment. In 2023 I evaluated the Active Schools Pilot for County Durham Sport, to help direct the remaining years of the project. Book Chapter co-authored (80%) with Laura Mazzoli Smith: A composite approach to movement analysis for embodied methodology. In H. Kara, D. Mannay & A. Roy (Eds.), Handbook of Creative Data Analysis (in publication) Edited by: Helen Kara, Dawn Mannay, Alastair Roy
Research Interests	Embodied learning, Movement and embodiment, Creative research methods, Physical literacy, UK primary education, Education policy, Dance and the arts for wellbeing and personal development, Conscious dance, The arts and non-religious spiritual experience

Biography

Trained in ballet as a child and a teacher of Gabrielle Roth's 5 Rhythms since 2001, I became interested in embodiment theory while facilitating creative movement play in schools. Increasingly aware of fundamental differences in perspective between creatives and teachers I enrolled at Durham University to study and undergraduate degree in Education with Psychology. This was followed by a Masters in Education, with a focus on the arts in education.

My PhD explores children's embodied experiences of school through facilitated creative sessions, using video, drawings and interview data to ask how primary education might be different if the body were central to pedagogy.

I was winner of the Critical Publishing Prize in 2016 with an essay entitled, 'Why have attempts to promote equality of opportunity in
schools in the UK and/or other countries failed?'

In 2021 I completed a policy review for County Durham Sport to help bring together policy around physical activity and climate change/the environment.

In 2023 I evaluated the Active Schools Pilot for County Durham Sport, to help direct the remaining years of the project.

Book Chapter co-authored (80%) with Laura Mazzoli Smith:
A composite approach to movement analysis for embodied methodology. In H. Kara, D. Mannay & A. Roy (Eds.), Handbook of Creative Data Analysis (in publication)

Edited by: Helen Kara, Dawn Mannay, Alastair Roy

Research Interests

Embodied learning, Movement and embodiment, Creative research methods, Physical literacy, UK primary education, Education policy, Dance and the arts for wellbeing and personal development, Conscious dance, The arts and non-religious spiritual experience