CLASH! International Festival
CLASH! International Festival. The Hybrid in Dance Models, between Classic and Contemporary will be held from the 8th to the 13th of December 2020. Starting at 6 pm CET (Bruxelles time), six events entirely dedicated to dance are going to be broadcasted on the official website clashproject.eu every day. Screendance performances and talks will animate a unique online program created and produced by the six European partners involved in the project Clash! When Classic and Contemporary Dance Collide and New Forms Emerge – promoted by Balletto di Roma (Italy) and co-funded by Creative Europe Programme of the European Union. The Festival will present a shared calendar of events to show the results of practical investigations led during the European exchange by the project-partners from 2018.
Coordinated by Sapienza University of Rome (Italy), every day of CLASH! International Festival is curated by each partner-dance company ‒ Balletto di Roma (Italy), 420PEOPLE (Czech Republic), Companhia de Dança de Almada (Portugal), Derida Dance Center / Art Link Foundation (Bulgaria), Polski Teatr Tanca/ Polish Dance Theater (Poland) – and focus on a particular issue explored along the initiative. Topics such as Audience Development, Dancer’s Training, Cultural Diplomacy in the Dance Field, and Choreographic-Making Processes are going to be displayed during the event programmed to allow the users to interact in creative dialogues with choreographers, dance pedagogues, and keynote speakers. Each day of the festival will end with a screendance performance created for the occasion by each partner.
Born before the pandemic, CLASH! International Festival had to face, during its realization, the new complexity of the present: from the original idea of an itinerant event in the countries of the European exchange, the Festival has been transformed – in form but not in substance and spirit – with the inauguration of new digital spaces for discussion, exchange, study. An unexpected evolution that has discovered in the problem a new opportunity for a further step into new research areas. The “hybrid” nature of CLASH! International Festival, crossing live and digital instruments, as well as the dialogue among body and screen, is a way of looking at our time through dance using new virtual lenses to expand visions and perspectives.
In order to reflect together on the impact, the pandemic had on the performance field, the last day of the festival will be dedicated to open a ground to exchange visions on the role digitalization can play to preserve the actualization of dance activities, and on the funding opportunities European programs will provide to sustain dance practitioners in the near future. Finally, the videodance work created by Sapienza University of Rome team will be streamed, on the hybrid creative processes the partners performed to adapt their analogical practice into digital artefacts.
THE PROGRAM
Each day of the Festival starts at 6 pm CET (Bruxelles time) and is introduced by a brief presentation of the theme of the day by the representatives of the CLASH! project partners.
Day 1 | 8th of December – Curated by 420PEOPLE (Czech Republic)
Theme:
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:
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.
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:
Day 2 | 9th of December – Curated by Polski Teatr Tańca (Poland)
Theme:
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:
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.
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.
Supporting institutions:
Day 3 | 10th of December – Curated by Balletto di Roma (Italy)
Theme:
Schedule:
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.
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.
Supporting institutions:
In cooperation with:
Day 4 | 11th of December – Curated by Derida Dance Centre / Art Link Foundation (Bulgaria)
Theme:
Schedule:
- 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/
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:
Day 5 | 12th of December – Curated by Companhia de Dança de Almada (Portugal)
Theme:
Schedule:
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:
Day 6 | 13th of December – Curated by Sapienza University of Rome and Balletto di Roma
Theme:
Schedule:
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.
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.
Supporting institutions:
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
The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.