From 3 – 13 November 2011 the first encounter ‘Dance and visual arts’ of the network Fresh Tracks Europe took place in Utrecht. For 10 days 10 international choreographers studied the relationship between dance and visual art. On Friday November 11th the results of the workshops where shown for an audience of schoolchildren (from De Kameleon and Globe College Utrecht) and network partners. Currently the network is exploring the possibilities of continuing some of these presentations.
Saturday November 12th 65 professionals in the dance field joined the debate: “A WAY TO GO - Conceptual thinking in youth dance” in the Town Hall Council Chamber of Utrecht.
This first encounter was packed with dance performances like Rubber Room by Melissa Ellberger, Extended Teenage Era by Unusual Symptoms and a series of short choreographies by Tabea Martin, Erik Kaiel and Akos Hargitay. M2 by Compagnie EA EO who performed on Sunday afternoon has been picked up on by other network partners.
Het Lab Utrecht would like to thank everbody that participated during this first Fresh Tracks Europe encounter and welcome you to the second encounter in Ghent March 2012.
What are the prevailing standards in various European countries as to what dance can be; in what type of environment are we living; how do we regard space; and what is the impact of the environment on the body? What happens to the body when it is exposed to other media, or disciplines, such as visual art? And how do concepts such as ethics and aesthetics relate to each other?
In this encounter, 12 choreographers will be studying the relationship between dance and visual art. The choreographers in this workshop will be working alongside visual artists. They will go in search of new approaches to time, space, the public and the private, the body, and the relationship with their young audiences. They will be setting out from the theme of SKIN and the target group they will be aiming at are 10 to 14-year olds. The upper years of the Kameleon primary school and first-year pupils of one of the Utrecht colleges be involved in the study. They will be offering their input during the workshop, and will be working on the theme they will have chosen in a parallel programme, a specially designed educational programme, at their own schools.
The workshop will be led by: visual and performance artist Ibrahim Quraishi, choreographer Aitana Cordero and Moos van den Broek, dramaturg at Het Lab Utrecht. Julia Willms and James Beckett will be the two visual artists involved in the process. Floris van Bergeijk will be on standby as a composer/musician.
Participants: Erik Kaiel, Melissa Ellberger and Alida Dors from the Netherlands, Hendrik Lebon (Belgium), Kwint Manshoven (Belgium), Leandro Kees (Germany), Emma Ribbing (Sweden), Christin Lunts, Kaja Lindal (Estonia), Christine Devaney, Laura Forbes (Scotland) and Ákos Hargitay (Austria).
TIME & PLACE
3 - 11 November / Het Lab Utrecht (Berenkuil)
Friday 11 November participants will give presentations of the workshop.
Young choreographers from the Netherlands who are interested in participating in a workshop but are unable to make the international workshop/exchange can attend a short workshop by Thomas Eisenhardt, artistic director of Aabendans in Roskilde/Denmark and dramaturg and director Nederlandse Dansdagen Peggy Olislaegers. There will be room for eight choreographers and the work will also be based on the theme SKIN. The material created by the children of the Kameleon primary school in Utrecht will serve as a starting point.
For further information please contact: Moos van den Broek: moos@hetlabutrecht.nl / +31 30-2518146
TIME & PLACE
5 Saturday & 6 Sunday from 10.00 AM to 6.00 PM / Fort B Het Lab Utrecht
Four friends are having fun together. But are things really all that funny? Just as in real life, things do not always run so smoothly. The guys from EA EO effortlessly change between being the life of the party and playing the role of the outsider, between bullying and being bullied. Using cones, juggling balls and a choreography of hoodies they give a striking portrayal of life and friendship. And all of this in a space that becomes smaller and smaller. Watch the laminate flooring flying across the room as they reduce their performance area. Until ultimately they are left with 1 square meter. And even then they are still juggling. m2 is a movement performance in which four jugglers are abruptly and unavoidably confronted with their fear of and the consequences of a lack of space to live.
Advise and choreography by the Kabinet K (Joke Laureyns & Kwint Manshoven).
TIME & PLACE
Sunday 13 November 3.00 PM / Theater Kikker
The participating choreographers in the Fresh Tracks International Exchange Programme gave presentations of the workshops they followed in the previous week to invited schools, art educators from the Netherlands and the international network.
TIME & PLACE
Friday 11 November from 9.00 AM and from 2.00 PM / Het Lab Utrecht (De Berenkuil)
Rubber Room by the young choreographer Melissa Ellberger mixes urban dance and contemporary circus. The Swiss-born Ellberger used to be a trapeze artist and has danced with the dance company ISH, where she created her first full-length production Gravetish during the past season. This autumn she will be presenting her latest performance Rubber Room, a Het Lab Utrecht production. In this equally funny and mystical performance with dance and acrobatics she plays with theatrical imagination. In an elastic set made of rubber the dancers confront the springy walls. Bouncing, bumping, and balancing they become stuck to or entangled in a duel with gravity. Illusion or truth, Rubber Room is a trip moving back and forth between dream and reality.
Rubber Room is a production from Het Lab Utrecht.
TIME & PLACE
Saturday 12 November 8.00 PM / Theater Kikker
There's a meet & greet with Melissa Ellberger after the performance
In addition to the Dance Smash programme, STRAAT will give a presentation of their master classes: Three crews from Utrecht, Poparazzi Crew, ADHD Crew and the duo Jort Reijners ( Illusionary Rockaz) en Andre Grekhov (Drosha) will present their new work. They are guided by the international master Bruce Ykanji, born in Cameroon, living in France. He is the founder of Juste Debout.
TIME & PLACE
Sunday 13 November / (Directly after the Dance Smash programme that is at 4 PM)
In this debate we will be taking an in-depth look at the artistic developments in youth dance, especially at conceptual thinking. Conceptual artists like to explore the boundaries of what may still be considered art, without being led by concepts such as beauty. Although contemporary art is always to some extent conceptual, there are different levels. It is safe to say, for instance, that Magritte’s paintings are more conceptual than Dali’s. But what about the level of conceptualism in youth dance,and how does a young audience see and perceive conceptual art? Setting out from two statements, we will be opening up the debate with the field. Media expert Anne Nigten, director of Patching Zone, and conceptual visual artist Annette Krauss, creator of the project Hidden Curriculum will open the debate with their best practice. The forum will include: Arthur Rosenfeld (De Meekers), Stephan Rabl (Dschung, Vienna) and Joke Laureyns (Kabinet K, Flanders). Their practical experience will feed their responses to the opening statements. The debat is led by Peggy Olislaegers (Nederlandse Dansdagen) and is open for public.
TIME & PLACE
Saturday 12 November 3.00 PM / City Hall Council chamber
EXTENDED TEENAGE ERA I SAMIR AKIKA I UNUSUAL SYMPTOMS RUBBER ROOM I MELISSA ELLBERGER I HET LAB UTRECHT INTERNATIONAL DANCE SMASH MARATHON M2 COMPAGNIE EA EO
How to write about dance, and especially about dance for young audiences? Theatre critic Brechtje Zwaneveld (NRC Handelsblad, Theatermaker) will be teaching a group of dramaturgy students from Utrecht University to write reviews and articles about youth dance. Read about the results of the workshop online soon.
Extended Teenage Era explores the pros and cons of adult life with its ambivalent set of demands, frightening ideas on codes of conduct, responsibility and fixed identities. Each individual performer has a personal form of expressing himself; the dancers’ respective biographies, memories, beliefs and ideas for the future form part of a greater entity. Theatre and contemporary dance meet breakdance, popping and locking in a dazzling trip along, in and around the Extended Teenage Era.
The performance is a coprdocution with tanzhaus nrw/ Düsseldorf, Pumpenhaus/Münster and Mousanturm in Frankfurt.
TIME & PLACE
Friday 11 November 8.00 PM / Theater Kikker
After the performance there's a meet & greet with Samir Akika
The Dance Smash presents short work from different international choreographers such as Tabea Martin (CH, NL) - Duet, Erik Kaiel (VS, NL)- No man is an island, Alida Dors (NL) - Thisruption, Akos Hargitay (Hu, Au) - Body parcour.
TIME & PLACE
Saturday 12 November 7 PM
Sunday 13 November 4 PM (directly followed by a presentation of STRAAT)
