Open call: Writing about dance (Alternative Formats)
Apply to be one of the eight writers who will discuss Writing about Dance.
The project Dance and Performing Arts Criticism in Europe, a collaboration of Czech Dance News and Performing Arts Hub Norway, organises a three-day seminar for european emerging dance critics and writers, which will address the practice of dance criticism focused on reflection of alternative formats and site-specific performances. This seminar will happen during MOVE Fest in Ostrava in the Czech Republic and will reflect on performances presented during the festival as well as other contemporary performances.
Application deadline: 8th September 2021
Please send a short description of your work and a motivation essay why you would like to participate via email to daniela@tanecniaktuality.cz and state whether you would be able to come in person. You will be informed about the results by 13th September 2021.
What do you get:
Free coaching seminar from professional dance critics
(including lectures on writing methods, watching and analysing performances, one-to-one consultations and feedback on different writing tasks in response to performances)
Acknowledgement of participation
Published reviews (guarantee 50-150 EUR per published text)
It is possible to attend both in person or online. If you attend in person you will also get:
Access to selected Czech performances (tickets or digital version) presented on MOVE Fest 2021
Transport contribution (460 EUR per participant arriving outside from Czech republic who will join the seminar in person in Ostrava)
The workshop will contain lectures by experienced dance writers from Norway, coaching and discussions. The workshop will explore alternative formats of dance that have emerged during the pandemic, and use this as a starting point for alternative forms of writing in response, as well as the practice of dance criticism in general.
The seminar will happen in a hybrid format. All lectures and discussions will happen online, participants who arrive in Ostrava will see and reflect real performances during the Move Fest festival. Participants remaining in their home countries, will be able to see the same performances in digital version. Based on these viewings, the lectures and discussions, the participants will be invited to produce their own texts – reviews, reports or essays. These texts will be then discussed with the lecturers and within the group. Finally, their texts will be published at the website of Czech Dance News, and their authors will be rewarded accordingly (the fee for text could be between 50 and 150 Euros).
The seminar will explore alternative formats of writing, producing and watching or experiencing dance. Participants will be encouraged to experiment and play with language and different genres of writing in response to performances that themselves interpret dimensions of dance in unconventional ways. The aim is to develop each participants individual voice as a writer, and explore how different formats of performing might also be invitations to a variety of ways of writing. The workshop lasts for 2 days with one day of writing in between 29.9-1.10. All participants submit a final text that will get feedback from the workshop leaders and will be considered or publishing at Tanecni Aktuality. The texts may respond to a performance at the MOVE festival, or be an independent text.
Coaches and lecturers: Anette Therese Pettersen, Hild Borchgrevink, both experienced dance and theatre critics of Norwegian dance scene.
The seminar is for free and open to everybody, previous experience with writing about dance is not required. The language of the seminar is English.
Schedule:
Tuesday 28th September
14-15:30 Open panel discussion. Conversations between dance artists and dance writers on the theme of the workshop. Moderator: Hild Borchgrevink
Friday 1st October
12-14:00 led by Hild Borchgrevink and Anette Therese Pettersen (lecture and discussion on the texts about dance) + approx 90 mins of individual work on the different tasks.
Sunday 3rd October
12-14:00 led by Hild Borchgrevink and Anette Therese Pettersen (lecture and discussion on the texts about dance) + approx 90 mins of individual work on the different tasks.
During the workshop, the participants will be expected to watch some on-line performances that will be provided to them in advance, and produce different writing tasks to be sent to the coaches. After the workshop, the participants will be offered individual coaching sessions on their texts that will be published on Czech Dance News.
The project is supported by EEA Grants 2014-2021 and the Czech Ministry of Culture
