What good is it anyway? Professional dance artists legitimising their work for the Cultural Schoolbag in Norwegian schools

Abstract

This article examines how dance artists with extensive experience with The Cultural Schoolbag (TCS), a national programme for bringing the arts into schools, convey their rationale for working in TCS. Previous research has found that the artists’ rationale for doing TCS-art is far from established and agreeing on what TCS-art should be or become is inherently difficult. The goal that TCS-art should contribute to the school’s curriculum, potentially challenging the artists’ freedom, continues to pose a challenge to TCS that has so far remained unresolved. Interviews with nine professional dancers show, that they to a little degree have been challenged to contribute to the school’s curriculum and have had few problems establishing a rationale for doing TCS-art in line with being or becoming a professional dancer. Even if this rationale has been adapted to the socio-material conditions of performing TCS-art, it is seemingly within what can be accepted in the art world of dance in Norway.