One of the big challenges of the Clash! project was to develop a Professional Empowerment Strategy using a common approach to face the issues coming from the three-macro area of the project: Dance Training; Audience Development; Marketing and Communication. The Team from Sapienza University of Rome worked hard in dialogue with the other partners – Balletto di Roma (IT); Polski Teatr Tanca – Balet Poznanski (PL); Companhia de Dança de Almada (PT); 420People (CZ); Derida Dance Company/Art Link Foundation (BG) – to find as solution a principle able to accomplish this goal.
Final updates on Clash! seminar, an adventure of growth, training, and comparison.

Seminar on Communication and Cultural Diplomacy @ Balletto di Roma

Marketing and communication strategies are always the results of a constant updating of practices and visions to be tested. From the results obtained so far from the Clash! project it is always useful to consider the following topics as focal points of the strategy: territorial marketing, cultural diplomacy, visibility on the available online channels. A moment of open and detailed sharing has been realized starting from the direct meeting of the professionals who are working on the Clash! project with the reference audience of the seminar. The following points have been touched:

– project description from birth to the current state;
– the motivation behind the meeting of the different countries involved;

– role of the research organization of Sapienza, University of Rome;

– the role of the dancer with respect to the choreographer in the re-creation of the performance;
– sense of confrontation of visions, present and futuristic, between classic and contemporary: still distinct categories or towards the abolition of the same?

FINAL FEEDBACK from POLISH DANCE THEATRE

Teachers of the seminar are experienced in teaching, especially K.Rzetelska nad L. Rembowski so they felt very comfortable in leading their class. They shared their knowledge with passion. In terms of dancers’ health and well – being, they stressed out the importance of emphasizing the benefits from incorporating prevention techniques like pilates in dance class – supposedly not only ballet class, but also contemporary techniques and others. It is a great way to dancers’ stage – longevity and protection from painful injuries. Participants who regularly practice folk and national dances appreciated improvisation class because they were well adjusting to the level of the group and that they enabled them to feel more ease in the body. However, Clash! seminars are quite rich in “practicians reflection” on new methods of merging different techniques and how they can reinforce each other. There was a suggestion to think about how to invite children to our theater, to create an offer for them. The other one: to have such a meeting more often/regularly. The company obtained new knowledge about good practices which we can implement in our marketing. We are going to engage more other cultural institutions, especially modern art galleries and museums, in order to reach more audiences. Moreover, focus our marketing on a new venue and its location (building relations with local entrepreneurs). We believe it is important to have a strategy so consequently, we can gather the audience who will follow us in a longer period and develop with us.

FINAL FEEDBACK from 420People

With this scheduled seminar we have planned to point out and share:

– The feeling of the importance of everyday dance (movement) training;
– The individuality of every dancer;
– Creativity and interdisciplinarity.

Students and dancers were guided through those basic points during classes by 3 different personalities – lecturers. We have put the importance on their deep strategical understanding and preparation. The seminar participants have also had the chance to visit 420PEOPLE`s newest show Panthera, which was finished with a discussion and evaluation. Final Seminar feedback concerns the effectivity of artistic work: It needs to be pointed out that it is important, in this artistic age category to learn and apply one short, uncomplicated movement combination so all participants can implement such learned elements into their current choreography. Their overall subjective evaluation was very satisfied and powerful. Both of them felt fully integrated into the participant’s group with no disturbing moments. Both of them evaluated the lecturer’s contributions as excellent and marked very good in the evaluation of all other seminar aspects. Theoretical and Practical Part, Performance as well as the Closing discussion were seen as very good. The deeper the knowledge of the body’s own abilities, the more flexible/versatile the dancer becomes. He is fully prepared for whichever style, dance techniques or methodology may appear during his professional career.
 

FINAL FEEDBACK from ART LINK FOUNDATION  

The workshop was open for professional dancers in the field of contemporary dance and classical ballet as well as for amateurs. Part of the participants had no experience whatsoever. The invited teachers were professionals in the following fields: classical ballet, pilates, Bulgarian traditional dance, improvisation. The process was focused on the research of participants` approach and the degree to which they acquire diverse motion practice. The pedagogical approach that was developed in working with this group was through stimulating the search for a personal sense of movement. The attention towards the experienced participants was limited to using known terminologies. All the experts found difficulty in finding a common strategy for working with the groups. A discussion was held after the end of the workshop. It was about sharing sensations formed by the work in the separate dance practices. The participants with professional experience discussed the complexity in acquiring the movement specifics through technology whereas the representatives with no experience talked about the process through their personal sensations with no focus on the extent of acquiring the working material in different movement practices. The research reflects on the future search for a strategy in learning, related not so much to form but to the feeling and overcoming of the anxiety of exploring the extraordinary. Stepping out of the comfort zone, self-observation and criticism alone is a prerequisite for seeking new directions, both in teaching and in the development of a multifaceted and diverse vocabulary of professional artists.