After the training weeks around Europe, the dancemakers and dramaturgs of Performing Gender – Dance Makes Differences are ready to convey what they have learned to the dancers taking part in this new phase.
Ten young people from the five countries involved have been selected for each workshop. This part of the project has a very specific goal: the five dancemakers will meet with a new generation of dancers and will have to go back over the path followed during the first year of the project, opening up a dialogue with them and generating discussion and questions about what it means to represent gender through dance. The workshop participants will give their free interpretation at the end of each week in a performance open to the public.
Here at BAM! we’re continuing to look after the internet communication for Performing Gender and so we’ve made touch with the first dancers in order to get to know them better, tell you about them and what they hope to gain from the project!
Although they’re very young, they all have a considerable amount of experience behind them, with different backgrounds ranging from ballet to performance, academic training and learning directly through experience on the stage. We asked the first participants to identify the key words that describe what they expect to experience as they take part in the project: the concepts that emerged included knowledge, an open mind, prospects, sharing and change.
This journey in search of new forms of narrative and expression for the LGBTI community begins in Ljubljana at the end of September as part of the International Festival of Contemporary Arts – City of Women, before continuing in Leeds (United Kingdom), Tilburg (Netherlands), Madrid (Spain) and, lastly, in our home city of Bologna in December.
The Performing Gender website introduces you to all the dancers in the section dedicated to the participants. You can also follow the project’s development through the calendar of events.
All that remains for us to do now is wish all the artists a fantastic week, in the hope that dance will succeed in making a real difference!
To find out more about our part in this project, click here.[:]
