At the conference Dance on Various Sides of Time experts, connoisseurs and artists from the world of contemporary dance will discuss the aspects of aging, the political implications of the aging dance population, the experiences linked to changing bodies and the forms of intergenerational ties in the contemporary dance field.
DANCE ON, PASS ON, DREAM ON is an extensive cultural and art project, which was developed by nine organisations from eight European countries. Its primary aim is to address the problem of ageing in the dance field and society in general. It is led by the Berlin based non-profit organisation Diehl+Ritter together with the partners Dance Festival from Belgrade, the Dutch Art University Codarts, the GRIP collective headed by the Belgian choreographer Jan Martens, the Austrian cultural centre Festspielhaus from St. Pölten, the Dutch dance festival, the Swedish dance group Jus de la Vie, Nomad Dance Academy Slovenia and Sadler’s Wells theatre from London.
With its knowledge of production, network of venues, festivals and educational institutions and programmes, the union of partners is dedicated to introducing changes: in order to stop the ignoring and neglect of older dancers and human bodies, the union has decided to affirm the richness of the ageing process within the frame of performative arts as well as in society in general.
The project rests on three supporting pillars:
DANCE ON is oriented towards ensuring long dance careers. A group of excellent dancers, all aged 40 and over, is developing and performing a relatively vast repertoire of works which is being created specifically for them by excellent internationally established choreographers. Through these works they present the challenges they face at a time their careers would have usually come to an end. The group performs throughout Europe.
PASS ON researches the ways of passing on ephemeral knowledge, experience and dance works. Academic and research projects from the field of sport sciences, dance studies and humanities are merged with experience and performative forms of passing on knowledge, in which the dancers and choreographers experiment with new digital ways and forms of documenting.
DREAM ON is aimed at the elderly who are interested in dance and creativity through movement. They participate in various programmes and pose questions as to how we wish to live once we get older. The local dance projects, participatory performances and intergenerational projects give the elderly a voice and encourage new meetings and the exchange of various experiences through dance.
As a partner in the DANCE ON, PASS ON, DREAM ON European project the Nomad Dance Academy Slovenia deals with the phenomenon of time in accordance to the domestic needs, expectations and interests. We are interested in the various forms of artistic and activist intergenerational cooperation as well as in the regeneration of potential social ties. We are interested in time from the aspect of historical and social ties in which actual institutional networks substituted imagined institutions in the form of regional connections and historical aspects of Yugoslav and post-Yugoslav (dance) art. At the same time these social ties ensure documentation, archiving and historization of our shared stories and create new connections within the deleted community. This issue is of great importance for us, for we face the challenges of the undeniable fact that the older generation of the domestic contemporary dance community is getting ever closer to retiring, which will open social and community problems that we did not need to face until now.
More info: www.cofestival.si.
