When it comes to professional dance, most people think of ballet, tap, modern and perhaps jazz. And in order to get into the industry, most of us assume you have to train at a professional dance school. While this is true, dancer Carrie Washington has been directing a project which aims to engage different groups of people with dance, whatever their style may be and now she is showcasing her latest project as a film at Watford Museum.

To find out the inspiration behind the project, we caught up with Carrie.

What was the inspiration behind the project?

The idea behind Museums in Motion is really driven by the health impact dance has on people. The project is about engaging more people into dance using creativity to try an create an actual output. That is one of the things about the installation – people can take pride in creating something that the public can view. It is about sharing that process and celebrating what the young people have done – what they have achieved personally in the workshop.

Is this something you have been wanting to do for a while?

It developed after a pilot project that I trialled at Watford Museum in July 2013. It was my ambition to try and get the money to continue to develop that project idea. I applied to the Arts Council for a grant, which I successfully got and Watford Borough Council have also supported the project and have provided funding through the Public Health Hertfordshire money.

What is great about working with the museum is that the heritage section gets people talking about the heritage and it gives it a narrative and ideas for the movement and creating the installation. For this particular project, because we knew we were working with young people we took a mobile phone as their starting point. They then explored the apps, functions and capabilities of the mobile phone and the historical items that were used for the same task in life in history and relation between the two. We then used those ideas to create movement.

What does this project do for young people?

The biggest change we saw over the three days was in their confidence. They came in quite shy and timid, not sure if dance was what they wanted to do and then by the end, they were all completely involved, all took on different roles within the work. We subsequently heard that actually one young person who was in the pilot and thought dance wasn’t her thing has now started taking part in regular dance classes. And another one of the other young people has gone on to make a short film at her school.

What are you doing at Watford Museum?

I have been working with organisations to create education themed/ based projects. I set up my own company called, Business Enterprise Education Employment limited, which we shorted to BEEE Creative and we have been working a company called makeAmplify and they are a combination of dance artist Jennifer Irons and visual audio artist Zach Walker.

We did a three-day workshop at the museum, and that was back in May half-term, where we worked with young carers from Carers in Hertfordshire. We taped everything the young people created in those three days and have produced a film, which will be based at the museum for the next six weeks.

Have you seen the film?

Yes, I have had a sneak preview. My instant reaction was a very emotional one – the pride in what they had done. What was also really interesting is seeing them using the space in different ways, because everything was filmed through the lens of the different spaces in the museum, the different textures, and things like that. It will be interesting to go back to the museum and look out for those items.

Do you have anything in the pipeline after this?

Museums in Motion is taking place in three museums – Watford, Stevenage and Royston. Then the longer term aim is to look at how to develop this project and get more people involved.

Watford Museum, Lower High Street, Watford, until September 2. Details: beee-skilled.co.uk