Day 1 | 8th of December – Curated by 420PEOPLE (Czech Republic)

Theme:

• • Audience Development. The Positive Impact of Pandemic Situation on Relationship with our Audiences.

How has the COVID19 pandemic affected the relation with the audiences? Which are the strategies cultural organizations, and dance companies in particular, have enrolled to keep on dialoguing with / reaching new target groups? These are some of the questions that will be addressed during the first day of the Festival. 420PEOPLE will discuss with its guests about new online audience development activities, building communities, solidarity with cultural organizations in difficult times.

Schedule:

• • Presentation of the Festival day by Václav Kuneš (founder and artistic director of 420PEOPLE).

• • Round Table “Audience Development: New Strategies in Time of COVID19 Pandemic”. Led by Petra Kašparová (Czech Rep - 420PEOPLE AD expert), the round table will give a specific insight on the AD activities 420PEOPLE has realized within the CLASH! project (seminar, research strategy, workshops). A special topic will be the consequences of the COVID19 pandemic in the development of the AD foreseen, focusing on what changes all partners needed faced in terms of implementing plans in the current situation. Practical examples on 420PEOPLE AD’s activities and PR strategy will be displayed. 

• • Workshop “Audience Development: Strategies and Practices from the Cultural Sector in Czech Republic”.

Václav Kuneš will moderate the discussion with keynote speakers of the Czech cultural environment. Together with Rosťa Novák (actor, director, performer, choreographer, founder and principal of the new circus ensemble Cirk La Putyka and artistic director of the multifunctional space Jatka78) and Lukáš Jandač (director of the international start-up project GoOut), he will present effective examples of quick adaptation to the COVID19 pandemic consequences.

• • Screendance Performance by 420PEOPLE: ORĪGĪ. 

The theme of the screendance performance is based on the primordial essence of humanity and the body itself, specifically on what we know about where we come from - whether geographically, ideologically, or sociologically. After meeting something new, we look for a way to adapt (to learn how to adapt). The adaptation is the basic theme of the piece. The plot in the film brings together three dancers (three girls) who have their personal (basic) movement and dance style: a ballerina (classic ballet), a musical dancer (the broadway style) and a martial arts representative (contemporary dance). These three dancers and their diverse styles meet at one point, and the only possible way in which they can work together and communicate is to "adapt to each other". Thanks to the initial duel (clash!) between the dancers, the new (fourth) style will be created, which will be the only channel of communication. The storyline results in the main and best means of communication being our own body. Finally, the body shows to be the best technology, this is the only possible truth. 

Credits. Director: Václav Kuneš - Cinematography: Tomáš Vlček - Concept and choreography: Václav Kuneš - Dancers: Simona Machovičová, Francesca Amante, Fanny Barrouquére - Postproduction: Tomáš Vlček - Costumes: Olo Křížová - Production: Aneta Jochim.

Supporting institutions:

• • Co-funded by the Capital City of Prague, the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the City District of Prague 7 - Art District 7 

• • Other partners: the Czech Centers, the Creative Europe Office Prague, GoOut, Cirk La Putyka.

Day 2 | 9th of December – Curated by Polski Teatr Tańca (Poland) 

Theme: 

• • Optimal Training for the Contemporary Dancer & Involvement of the Public in Dancer’s Everyday Life.

Is ballet technique so necessary for the contemporary dancer’s training? How can a ballet dancer improve contemporary dance skills? These are some of the questions the Polish Dance Theatre will discuss with its guests, with a focus on the essential elements for the contemporary dancer’s training to make him/herself versatile. With a special focus on Audience Development, experts and keynote speakers will discuss the practices used by institutions to engage the audience in everyday life of a dancer. A crucial aspect tackled will be the education of the public: what is the best age to involve audience in dance? And which are the methods for it? Is there still a way to attract the adults?

Schedule:

• • Presentation of the Festival day by Agnieszka Jachym (dancer and coordinator of the CLASH! Project) and the portrait of the Polish Dance Theatre by Iwona Pasińska (Director of PDT)

• • Round table: “Choreographers’ Talks on Optimal Training for the Contemporary Dancer and Audience Development Practices”.

The international choreographers, Václav Kuneš (Czech Republic), Maciej Kuźmiński (Poland) and Yoshiko Waki (Germany), will reflect together on which techniques and methods can nurture contemporary dancer training. Furthermore, they will discuss practices how to reach a wider audience and involve its members in dance. 

• • Screendance Performance by Polski Teatr Tańca: Find the love in the dark. 

Within CLASH! project, a visit of the Italian choreographer Davide Valrosso in Poznan was a part of the creative exchange with Balletto di Roma. The dance piece by Davide Valrosso explores the theme of love and the “clash” between good and difficult. The central point of the architecture of the dancing is the red colour, which symbolizes both passion and danger.

Credits: Artists-Dancers of Polish Dance Theatre: Agnieszka Jachym, Jerzy Kaźmierczak, Zbigniew Kocięba; Choreography: Davide Valrosso; Music Composer: Zbigniew Kozub; Director of Cinematography: Marek Grabowski; Editing: Edyta Pietrowska.

• • Q&A Session with guests.

Supporting institutions:

• • E-teatr.pl, Taniec POLSKA, TVP Kultura, Marshal of the Wielkopolska Region, Mayor of Poznań, Association of the Polish Stage Artists, bodytalk
  • Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland

Day 3 | 10th of December – Curated by Balletto di Roma (Italy)

Theme: 

• • Hybrid Training for Today’s Dancers & New Training Path Strategies. Balletto di Roma will discuss with its guests about essential elements of contemporary dance classes reflecting on different technical structures and movement systems. Through building up of a hybrid dance class model, Balletto di Roma wants to suggest a new interpretation of the dance training. This is meant to be functional from the point of view of the physical-muscular conditioning but also from the somatic and/or body-mind approach. It follows a method able to integrate principles relating the breath and the emotional expressive flow, that can be applied by different groups and target participants. To focus on developing such a dance class model – which involves different technical structures and movement systems, not only those ones coming from the academic dance – means imagining dance as a holistic discipline where different techniques and approaches melt in order to give the dancers more options for training, movement development and personal creativity.

Schedule:

• • Presentation of the Festival day by Luciano Carratoni (general manager of Balletto di Roma) and Francesca Magnini (artistic director of Balletto di Roma).

• • Round Table: “Clashing Training Paths – BdR Choreographers’ Visions and Perspectives”. In a dialogue moderated by Francesca Magnini (artistic director of Balletto di Roma), Valerio Longo and Andrea Costanzo Martini (international choreographers already collaborating with Balletto di Roma) will share their perspectives and experiences on different training approaches experimented in the project.

• • Workshop: “New training Paths Acquired”.

Moderated by Francesca Magnini, the workshop on new training paths of the choreographer Valerio Longo will put in dialogue Balletto di Roma’s production and training experiences with experts from Italy - Adriana Borriello (Da.Re) - and other countries - Suzan Tunca (International Choreographic Arts Centre - ICK Amsterdam). Speakers will also share the experience of the UP2DANCE project, co-funded by Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.

• • Screendance Performance by Balletto di Roma: [dis]solution. 

A physical exchange amongst partners, this is the way Balletto di Roma and Polski Teatr Tanca have decided to interpret the CLASH! challenge. Three dancers/choreographers from Polski Teatr Tanca came in Rome to create a piece for three dancers of Balletto di Roma, testing a movement research based on improvisation and producing confrontation between individuality and a group. The double residency (IT-PL) produced a shared platform for everyone involved to learn from each other and inspire. The keyword of the whole action has been “exchange”: exchange of ideas, best practice, and solutions. 

Credits. Choreography: Agnieszka Jachym, Jerzy Kaźmierczak and Zbigniew Kocięba in cooperation with dancers of Balletto di Roma - Assistant: Roberta De Simone - Dancers: Giulia Strambini, Michele Ruggiero, Lorenzo Castelletta - Video: Matteo Carratoni - Lights: Emanuele de Maria.

• • Q&A Session 

Supporting institutions:

• • Centro Ceco di Roma

In cooperation with: 

• • UP2DANCE project, co-funded by Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union

Day 4 | 11th of December – Curated by Derida Dance Centre / Art Link Foundation (Bulgaria)

Theme: 

• • Culture Diplomacy as Tool for Better Achievements Before and After the New Normal.

Schedule:

• • Presentation of the Festival day by Atanas Maev (general manager of Derida Dance Center) and Milena Videnova (production assistant of Derida Dance Center).

• • Round Table: “Diplomacy as a Strategic Tool for the Cultural Sector: National and International Perspectives”. Derida Dance Center will moderate a round table with guests who represent national and international institutions or public bodies on the topic of culture diplomacy. The participants will share their experience working in the field of art management on several prospective. The following topics will be faced: providing funds vs fund raising; target groups before the lockdown vs target groups after the lockdown; the significance of promoting and supporting art as part of state sustainability; tools for negotiations for NGOs. During the talk, the speakers will share their experiences and good practices.
    

    - Axenia Boneva /Ministry of Culture of Bulgaria/

    - Biliana Genova /Head of the Culture department of Sofia/

    - Desislava Pancheva /Culture contact point of Creative Europe desk,/

    - Stefka Tzaneva /Goethe institut, senior expert/

    - Milena Videnova /Project coordinator from Derida Dance Center/

    - Atanas Maev /CEO of Derida Dance Center/

• • Screendance Performance by Derida Dance Centre / Art Link Foundation: Fractus.

Jivko Jeliazkov, Choreographer of Derida Dance Centre, together with Vladislav Iliev (visual artist) and Ivan Shopov (composer) will create a digital environment where the main concepts of CLASH! Project will be displayed. Dancers in the project are Ivona Mashova, Simona Todorova, Philip Milanov and Vyara Bolgradova.

FRACTUS is a visual dance performance in which bodies interact with each other in a certain geometric structure. In the performance, this internal relationship develops in many layers, building a universal pattern in the relationship, which associatively leads the viewer to a personal experience.

This visual expression follows the natural regularity of fractals, which are geometric shapes made up of smaller, similar parts. They move in the so-called organized chaos, in which each component develops its own trajectory, limited to a common geometric figure. The concept of the performance provides an opportunity to observe from different perspectives, which allows the viewer to build their own three-dimensional space

Supporting institutions:

• • Sofia Municipality, Program “Culture” and National Culture Fund

Day 5 | 12th of December – Curated by Companhia de Dança de Almada (Portugal)

Theme: 

• • Creative Processes. The session will focus on the creation of the five screendances presented in the CLASH! Festival. Companhia de Dança de Almada has invited the creators of the different pieces to talk about their creative processes. Projection, design and development of their pieces will be the themes touched during the event, not forgetting the encounter/collaboration between creators and performers. A meaningful insight on the process will be given by the presentation on stage and live streaming of the creation by Companhia de Dança de Almada of dance piece Noir by Bruno Duarte, and its adaptation for screen, by director Marta Romero.

Schedule:

• • Presentation of the Festival day by Ana Macara.

• • Stage Performance of the dance piece Noir by Bruno Duarte

• • Panel: “On screendance creative process”. Choreographers involved in the CLASH! creative processes: Bruno Duarte (Portugal); Vaclav Kunes (Czech Republic); Jivko Jeliazkov (Bulgaria); Davide Valrosso (Italy); Agnieszka Jachym, Jerzy Kazmierczak and Zbigniew Kocieba (Poland) will share experiences and reflection about the creation/production of their pieces for the CLASH! Festival.

• • Guest Speaker Marta Romero will speak about the creation of the screendance in collaboration with choreographer Bruno Duarte.

• • Screendance Performance by Companhia de Dança de Almada: Noir. 

Marta Romero Coll (video director) and Bruno Duarte (choreographer) will present their creative process in the making of Noir Screendance Piece. Then, the screendance adaptation of Noir will be performed. 

Supporting institutions:

• • Ministério da Cultura / DG Artes and Câmara Municipal de Almada
  • Other partners: Antena 1, Canal 180, Antena 3

Day 6 | 13th of December – Curated by Sapienza University of Rome and Balletto di Roma

Theme: 

• • CLASH! Experience: Lessons Learnt, New Paths and Perspectives. What has the CLASH! project brought to light in terms of shared knowledge and new perspectives between partners and their stakeholders? How has CLASH! project, the dance sector and the overall performing art sector reacted to the COVID19 emergency in terms of digitalization of contents, and which are the good practices we can learn from and capitalize for the future? How is the access to funding changing in response to the new challenges of the cultural sector (sustainability, digitization…)? These are the key questions the last day of the CLASH! International Festival will address. It proposes two international round tables with relevant keynote speakers from the European Commission and important European cultural and dance networks. Finally, it will be performed the videodance piece The Hybrid in Dance Models. Visual Storytelling of Choreographic Creative Processes produced by Sapienza University of Rome.

Schedule:

• • Presentation of the Festival day by Vito Di Bernardi (full professor of History of Dance - CLASH! project manager for Sapienza University of Rome).

• • Round Table: “EU Funding for the Cultural Sector: What's Next?”. What are the policies, programs and funds available for the cultural sector in the forthcoming EU programming period (2021/2027)? Francesca Billi (CLASH! international relations) will moderate a dialogue between three key representatives of the European Institutions:

    - Pedro VELÁZQUEZ /Deputy Head of the Creative Europe Unit, European Commission, Directorate-General Education, Youth, Sport and Culture/

    - Marta Gutierrez Benet /Programme Manager, Erasmus+ programme coordination, Directorate General Education, Youth, Sport and Culture/

    - Willibrord Sluijters / Head of unit REGIO/G.4 - Italy/Malta, Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy/

    The round table aims at providing useful and up-to-date information on the funds available for the culture and dance practitioners.

• • Talk: “How Digital Technologies Can Support the Transmission of Choreographic Creative Processes on Distance”. Letizia Gioia Monda (adjunct professor of Digital Technologies for Dance and Theatre Performance at Sapienza University of Rome) in a dialogue with Andrea Costanzo Martini (Guest Choreographer of Balletto di Roma) will talk about the strategies of transmissions the choreographer adopted during the pandemic to support the production of the piece “Prèmiere”, created with the contribution of Lazio Region, MIBACT and SIAE in the program Per Chi Crea.

• • Videodance Performance by Sapienza University of Rome: The Hybrid in Dance Models. Visual Storytelling of Choreographic Creative Processes.

The videodance work aims at presenting a visual storytelling of the choreographic creative processes developed by the five dance companies, partners of the CLASH! project. It shows the strategies played by the choreographers/directors to hybrid the dance models and adapt their analog practice into choreographic digital artifacts. 

Credits: The Hybrid in Dance Models. Visual Storytelling of Choreographic Creative Processes is a videodance work by Chiara Crupi and Letizia Gioia Monda - Directing and Editing by Chiara Crupi - Dramaturgy by Letizia Gioia Monda. With audiovisual contributions by: Balletto di Roma, 420PEOPLE, Polski Teatr Tańca, Companhia de Dança de Almada, Derida Dance Center.

• • Round Table: “Performing Arts and Digital Languages. New Perspectives During and Post COVID-19 Crisis”. Letizia Gioia Monda (adjunct professor of Digital Technologies for Dance and Theatre Performance at Sapienza University of Rome) will moderate a dialogue among Cristina Da Milano (vice president of CAE - Culture Action Europe), Andreas Hannes (Artistic Programmer & Producer of Cinedans Fest) and Ariella Vidach (choreographer, dance pedagogue, artistic director of AiEP/ Avventure in Elicottero Prodotti). The round table will provide visions, insights and experiences on the role digital technologies are having during COVID-19 pandemic, with a special focus on the process of digitization of dance and choreographic language as part of our culture.
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  Supporting institutions:

  • • CAE – Culture Action Europe - Cinedans of Amsterdam
    • Creative Europe Desk Italia