This paper explores what dance experiences young people can have in upper-secondary school and what happens within. The main concern is the apparent prevalence of inequalities in access to dance in education for young Portuguese.

Dance can introduce strong body awareness, allow people to enjoy a 'totalizing' self-experience (Karkou & Oliver, 2017), linking the capacity for expression, movement, balance, and knowledge of the body with relationships with the social environment (Costa et al., 2004). Enabling dance in education can immeasurably expand students' abilities to master more complex tasks and support social and emotional learning across the curriculum, stimulating self-fulfillment, the sensitive construction of relationships, promoting responsibility and leadership, inspiring to understand and address the most critical challenges of their times as citizens of the world (Brown, 2017).

The European Action Strategy recognizes the transformative potential of cultural practices - such as dance - to strengthen democracy (Council of EU, 2022). Articulate art and education may stimulate cognitive development and make the learning processes more relevant to modern societies (UNESCO, 2006).

Nevertheless, a European political agenda governed by numbers and vehemently market-oriented (Council of EU, 2019; Macedo, 2018) still prevails, focused on providing young people with the skills to successfully enter the world of work. Although this is also important, it may lead schools to become instrumental to the market (Nada et al., 2022). Education can and must go further.

In Portugal, the “Profile of Pupils Leaving Compulsory Schooling”(2017) considers these concerns and European guidelines, establishing a set of principles, areas of competence, and values that should be included in education, while simultaneously recognizing the importance of a more humanist education, based on social justice. The “Curricular Matrices of Upper-secondary Education” in Portugal(2018) show that the human, expressive, and artistic dimensions are growingly neglected as we progress through the education system. The "Guiding Principles of Curricular Revision"(2001) blur the core of secondary education, turning it into a "passageway" between elementary and higher education, devaluing its central role.

The curricular pillars of the Portuguese education system aim to respond to the National and European Qualifications Framework as recommendations that have reaffirmed competitive, economic, and mercantilist principles, leaving small room for exercising citizenship of body, brain, and soul. Appears necessary to unleash new strategies to connect education to humanity to build an increasingly democratic and citizen society (International Commission on the Future of Education, 2022). Dance is a possible way forward.

In this paper we establish a dialogue between the field of education and the one of dance. Experience with the arts is recognized as a right, and access to dance is defended within the education framework for all, to build fairer, more equitable, and sustainable presents and futures (idem). We argue that education with the arts incorporates ethical, aesthetic, and solidarity principles (Macedo, 2021; Monteiro, 2021) and that the arts are a way of life and of building relationships rather than a technical practice.

It seems trivial to assume the importance of arts in education, at least in a theoretical way (Monteiro, 2014). However, we are still being confronted with a duel between science and arts, reason and emotion, as dissociated. Science is seen as the primary source of reliable, cognitive, and valuable knowledge rather than the artistic experience seen as less valid and credible. This segmented view tends to be reproduced in the educational system where the arts become secondary (Eisner, 2002), with dance coming lastly in the curriculum (EURYDICE, 2009). We argue that dance has a strong potential for young people’s personal and social development, intertwining in a more holistic perspective of education that needs further investment and research.

This paper is part of a larger research funded by FCT that questions whether and how young people's dance experiences relate to their well-being and their view of themselves as citizens. To debate the importance of greater social justice in access to dance in schools, this paper focuses on i) the apparent prevalence of inequalities in young people's access to dance in schools; ii) the observed implications of their participation in dance. After mapping upper-secondary educational institutions offering dance in Porto district, Portugal, to address the following objectives: i) Identify upper-secondary education institutions (public, private, artistic and professional) in Porto's district that have dance spaces; ii) Understand the formats of this offer (extracurricular activity, school sports, dance clubs, among others); iii) Understand who is responsible for the initiative of creating these spaces. Through access to the GesEdu digital portal – provided by the Directorate of Education Statistical Services – we could identify 183 upper-secondary educational institutions. The schools with dance spaces were identified through consultation with official institutional websites, public social network pages, email contacts, and telephone calls. It should be noted that only 22 educational institutions did not reply. Next, 6 public educational institutions were selected for participant observation over 10 weeks to address the question: what social dynamics take place in dance spaces? The choice schools implied a set of criteria: 1) schools that seemed to have a solid commitment to dance (based on mapping); 2) inland and on the coast - geographical diversity; 3) offer of different dance formats. Schools were invited to participate in the research by e-mail. Meetings were scheduled with the directors and responsible teachers, and we met with the young people to ensure that they wanted and agreed to make part of the research in the conditions defined. Then, we stayed in the field during the weeks observing and taking notes of how young people move, occupy, and socialize in dance spaces. After that, we conducted content analysis to analyse the field notes. The ethical principles of research are considered throughout the journey, from recognizing the copyright of the arguments mobilized through the informed consents and assents systematically reinforced to the return of the data to the research participants.

This paper presents the results of two stages of research: mapping and participant observation. Through a quantitative approach, the main results of the mapping allowed us to understand that only 39 upper-secondary educational institutions in Porto’s district offer dance (about 24.2%) from the universe of 161 respondents. We also realized that the offer of dance at the upper secondary level is restricted to a tiny universe of educational institutions, which is even less expressive when we look further inland or refer to public educational institutions. So, we conclude that access to dance in education is not sufficiently democratized, the right to its practice is unequal. Through a qualitative approach, using content analysis on the field notes from participant observation, we defined a set of categories and subcategories that sought to reflect on: What relationships are established in dance spaces? How do young people organize themselves? What space is there for young voices? What power relations are (de)constructed? Education is a privileged means of promoting social justice and equal opportunities, particularly during compulsory schooling (Despacho no.182/2022, 15 julho). As such, we argue that public educational institutions are fundamental to providing cultural experiences – such as dance – to young people who could not have them in other ways. Although what is referred to in the Work Plan for Culture 2023-2026 (Council of EU, 2022) (on a European level) and in the National Plan for the Arts 2019-2024 (Vale et al., 2019) (on a national level), defending the widening and democratization of access to arts for its importance to people’s life, we conclude that much work needs to be done. We intend to take the dance to a different level through educational research – like this one – providing solid data to introduce it in scientific, political, and social debates.

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