In 2008, Nataša Novotná and Václav Kuneš, former dancers of Nederlands Dans Theater, get together, driven by a joint urge to found their own dance company in Prague. This is how the brand 420PEOPLE is born and the original idea develops into a dynamic structure with a professional technical and management team collaborating with over a dozen dancers. With two key objectives in our mind – continuity in creative aspiration and sustainable growth, we have built up a clear line of communication within the international scene where we foreground our own choreographic creation. Likewise, with relentless energy, we search for innovative ways of addressing new audiences in the Czech Republic, mostly through the presentation of the sheer variety of contemporary dance forms.
Besides our choreographic creation, to which we have devoted the past ten years, we regularly collaborate with world-renowned artists, among whom Jiří Kylián, Crystal Pite, Ohad Naharin, Ann Van den Broek, Jo Strømgren and, most recently, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui.
When we were asked to be part of the project the most important for us was the topic. We experience the contrast between classic and contemporary dance every day, we face the differences and the similarities with our dancers as well as with our audiences. To be able to contribute and learn from others was the key for us.
Our company was founded in 2008 in the Czech Republic where the history of contemporary dance companies is still missing. Everyone has to find its own way to survive as company and to grow. We are positive that this project will certainly help us to strengthen our position within the contemporary dance community.
CLASH! was planned to develop new innovative approach to artistic work as well as to management and PR activities. We hope the project will be practical in all phases and it will allow us to reach new audiences, research new ways of artistic work, start new collaborations or bring new ideas to our community.
In the busy time of running a small company where we all work on different tasks, it is sometimes hard to stop, think and plan new activities. We believe the project brings the opportunity to do it right now as well as learn from other partners.
420PEOPLE company is a small, but compact organization, where we all work together and push our efforts to be innovative, to present our work globally and create meaningful partnerships. The artistic creation is getting stronger thanks to important dialogues we are having with other companies, choreographers, dancers and other artists. That we believe is something worth investing our time in.
The CLASH! project offers brilliant mixture of different kind of dance companies/ theatres that allow us to share different experience and knowledge. We believe the project can help us to create strong partnerships that may lead to a longer and broader European collaborations.
We were asked to join the project and at that time it was a challenge we were just looking for. Our first Creative Europe project. We also believe that Baletto di Roma is a strong partner.
It was very nice to get to know each other. I sense strong partners. I am very positive that we are the most diverse group of organizations we could think of, which can bring wonderful, innovative and bright conversations.
And to start the project in Rome is just the best thing ever. Gelato makes all decisions easier!
Balletto di Roma
(leading project partner):
Clash Project:
Co-funded by the
Creative Europe Programme
of the European Union
Grant Agreement n° 2018 – 2032 /001 – 001
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