Features
Clashing Cultures on a Scholarship
danceWEB, Vienna
danceWEB, Vienna
The kitchen. Basically every scholarship holders dedicates a sacred role of danceWEB's impact on his/her personal impressions to the nightly discussions and meetings by the stove of the hostel, where they all stayed. Despite of this social room's undoubted entertainment AND cultural exchange quality factor, the questions directed towards 4 scholarship holders from recent danceWEB years here aim to shine light on contexts, on timing, on choices.
For the application form for danceWEB 2004 and further information on danceWEB resp. reports of its alumnis, please go to www.danceWEBeurope.net.
KATE MCINTOSH (New Zealand), danceWEB 98+99
Living and working in Brussels, Belgium
(1) Did the intense contact with people from so many different cultural
backgrounds confront you with your own?
Coming to danceWEB was (as it turned out later) the first step for me in
moving my home from the southern to the northern hemisphere, and joining in
the culture of Europe and European dance. The contact with many cultures was
overwhelming. Mostly I felt a need to adapt myself so that I could
understand and be understood. I felt obviously different to others in my
history and perception and was endlessly interested to isolate and
understand those differences - but mostly in an attempt to neutralise them
and fit in at some level. I didn't understand how my culture could matter
here, so far away and with such different sensitivities...
Now that I've been living and working in Europe for three years, I am coming
around to a different point of view. Since integration is no longer the
immediate need, I'm wanting to remember my cultural history more strongly
again and what it might mean in this place. To see if I have something
different to contribute.
I am full of gladness for my expanded experience of humanity and what people
can be - but it has also become a source of sadness for me that I am no
longer deeply understanding one culture and place.
(2) When meeting fellow artists with such a full variety of ways of
dance education, did that make you want to go back into studying from
yet a completely different perspective than the one you originally
chose?
Most of the people that inspired me at danceWEB were people who were deep
into their 'own thing' rather than into a style or discipline. These people
were researching something particular to themselves, without worrying too
much what their outside references and sources were - trusting where the
thing would lead itself.
I had not seen this so clearly in dance before, and so I was struck by a
poverty in my own education - and I think a general failure in dance
training. That is that no-one had actually demanded of me that I find out
what I was interested in myself, and how I could make it bear fruit. Dance
training is usually too busy teaching a method rather than encouraging
artistic enquiry or personal understanding.
So, while I was inspired by people busy with their own line of research, and
I recognised a gap there in my own training, it wasn't by seeking more
education that I expected to fill that gap...
(3) You sure came to Vienna with certain questions and expectations -
what were your questions and expectations when leaving Vienna after the
danceWEB month? What happened with them lateron?
I left danceWEB very confused, it was not really an experience of
self-definition and clarification, it was more a process of creaking the
doors open and letting in a flood of new and often contradictory
information. My questions hovered around issues like 'what is dance useful
for?' 'do I want to spend my time on this?' which are good and necessary
questions, not easily handled. It took a long time to tease out the things
that had really inspired me into a useful form which I could apply to my own
work.
My expectations were greatly expanded by the experience. Seeing such a wide
landscape of work was liberating - it reminded me that it's not necessary
to position yourself in one limited area of the form.
(4) danceWEB is set upon the artistic infrastructure provided by
ImPulsTanz - how (if at all) did you perceive the huge number of
(mostly european) dance performances which compliment the workshops and
research projects at this festival?
Because I was totally new to European dance, seeing the performances in
ImPulsTanz was a fantastic way to get an overview of companies, directors
and work. It was invaluable to me later on when navigating my way through
all the names and connections that spread over Europe.
I think now however that, if I was to come and do workshops again at
danceWEB, I would choose to see very little. To be creating and
investigating well in a workshop, I feel it can be too distracting to go and
absorb a lot of completely different information at the same time.
(5) When looking at your experiences in the field of further education,
can you compare danceWEB to other programs, formats of such kind?
danceWEB treads an unusual line between being quite 'school-like' and quite
free at the same time. Therefore I think it's very up to the individual to
use the structure to their own needs, and tailor their own program
carefully. For this reason I think it's very healthy to have older or more
experienced people participating in the program too, who are perhaps more
focused in their desires than the younger people who want to be 'taught'
something. Anyway I remember those older participants being very important
to me when I was a (young) WEB workshopper...
danceWEB is quite wild and wooly in the quantity and variety of information
available, compared to similar programs I've done which were more
specifically focused. I think this is one of the strengths of danceWEB,
although it brings with it a mixture of inspiration and frustration!
(6) danceWEB is accompanied by an artistic coach, a reputed personality
in the dance field - what was your experience with your coach? How did
you perceive his/her presence during danceWEB?
I did not particularly seek out contact with the coaches during danceWEB.
There were people there that I wanted to speak with because of my curiosity
about their work or their ideas - but those people were not necessarily
the coaches that had been chosen for that year.
The role of the coach remained a grey area for me - but I do think it's
important to have an active artist involved, in addition to the organisers
and the WEBbers, for the same reason that I mentioned the good influence of
more experienced participants. I think the coach is at his/her best when
they're there to 'stir' a bit by asking difficult questions and making
trouble...
(7) Has some of the artistic input/process you had during danceWEB born
later fruits? Was there a process in your personal experience? If so,
what were crucial factors in this process?
Yes of course, the whole experience got absorbed into my later decisions and
moves. As I said, danceWEB came at a crucial change point when I arrived in
Europe and it sped my integration and perspective of the place ten-fold. I
still have friends from that time, who were my first contact in 'real life'
after danceWEB too. I most appreciate it for having given me a sense of
community in the dance world, which is invaluable to a newcomer.
I didn't bring any particular process to the experience, the biggest
challenge was to stay open to the mass of information that flooded in and
gradually make some sense of it. However the second year that I came back as
a 'frog' (tutor) I understood the importance of trying to remain specific - limiting
the choice of workshops and performances I went to, in order to focus on my
own interests. In this way I was more able to take joy in other people's
perspectives because I was clearer in my own.
(8) What are you currently busy with?
I have been living in Brussels for three years now, participating in several
different projects and making my own video work. For the moment I am
performing with Davis Freeman/Random Scream in 'Too Shy To Stare', and working on the development of Lilia Mestre's new piece 'Missing Link'. I am also currently doing research in preparation for making solo material during the summer.
MALA KLINE (Slovenia), danceWEB 2001
Living and working in Ljubljana, Slovenia
(1) Did the intense contact with people from so many different cultural
backgrounds confront you with your own?
Being confronted with so many people, that come from so many countries and so different cultural environments is more than a shock. Of course a poor personality can only fall in defense, protecting its own territory and properties, or it can be driven mad by the desire to conquer the hearts of all. Joke!? Finally if one can really accept the Alien, something or somebody so completely different, and not just pretend to do so with a twisted face or by undressing those who look most alike him/her, it can be a gigantic step towards integration. I am still digesting.
(2) When meeting fellow artists with such a full variety of ways of
dance education, did that make you want to go back into studying from
yet a completely different perspective than the one you originally
chose?
I put on the glasses and suddenly I thought the world changed. But soon I did not know again who was dreaming who; who was the butterfly and who was I? Nietzsche said we're all perspectives and buddhists say it's all change and transformation. And so of course, I am being radically shifted all the time – in movement – by weather, by words, by people, by dance... And if only I am still able to see the still point I have left behind... I whish I could answer... everything is passing like a silver cloud.
(3) You sure came to Vienna with certain questions and expectations -
what were your questions and expectations when leaving Vienna after the
danceWEB month? What happened with them lateron?
The lesson of the summer was: The essence of art = to ask (the right question/s).
The lesson of my work at home was: Do not force an answer! Wait mindfully!
Imprisoned minds could be relieved through the act of giving.
It would mean full realization.
Key word: Being.
(4) danceWEB is set upon the artistic infrastructure provided by
ImPulsTanz - how (if at all) did you perceive the huge number of
(mostly european) dance performances which compliment the workshops and
research projects at this festival?
About my perception of all performances that I had seen in a month I can only say that I regretted that in fact there was no time or possibility to discuss them on a more analytical level, maybe with some professionals also, being artists themselves or theoreticians. So my perception stayed in my opinion too much involved in my personal likes and dislikes, without really going into the work and trying to understand/comprehend it more profoundly. I also think that it is an important part that an individual articulates in words his/her response to some work, to realize how the work itself works, what are the principles of movement or life that inhabits the work and that touches the recipients. I felt there was quite a number of people missing a regular disscusion.
(5) When looking at your experiences in the field of further education,
can you compare danceWEB to other programs, formats of such kind?
A year after Danceweb I participated at the Fordham university (NY) summer program in Italy for students of theater. First I should say that it is difficult to compare becouse each of these two programms are really one of a kind and one does not exclude the other in quality. The whole programm of Fordham is focused on the physicality of an actor from different aproaches of course, but very concentrated. The whole month a group of people are spending together in a small rural town in Tuscany, which gives the participant much time to reflect what he recieved and learned and also allows time that one can spend with people. Now if I compare I could say that I personally prefer strong focus on work, and even that be reduced to some specific topic. And when the work was done there was party and beautiful trips... In Vienna so much of everything was offered, from workshops to performances and parties that I was hardly following. I always felt I should not be missing anything. And there were many people and the groups changing all the time. I feel like I would only briefly touch the majority... only faces and names stayed in my memory. Today I am sorry that I feel I had no time or that I did not meet many of them. Besides mentioning the quantity of everything and the emotional turbulence of the whole month, I can only say that it was one of the most hectic but also most beautiful experiences in my live.
(6) danceWEB is accompanied by an artistic coach, a reputed personality
in the dance field - what was your experience with your coach? How did
you perceive his/her presence during danceWEB?
I cannot find words to express my gratitude to Mark Tompkins. He had shown me how life and art could be intertwined and how important is the effort that hey would be. He gave me a lesson on how important is to let go of myself, of my expectations, my volition, my projections - to be given/thrown back into time again and to be able to participate at what is here and now, and get surprised by the moment and play with it and then leave it behind with the same lightness of being. I got to feel with him that life is theatre and theatre is life. His tarts were delicious, his parties great and his riddles a lifetime homework. Thank you again.
(7) Has some of the artistic input/process you had during danceWEB born
later fruits? Was there a process in your personal experience? If so,
what were crucial factors in this process?
More than anything I have realized the importance of making a decision to start to work. And not stay within thinking and planing and playing with ideas. To lose fear and take a step towards reality, concretization and realization of my own ideas. Being confronted with so many different inputs and ideas that people have I have realized for the first time in my life that there is no right or wrong and there cannot be no universal judgement to decide about it. What is most important is that artists dare to be true to themselves and take their space and realize themselves and express what they have to. And that maby the only criteria that can be universally valid is how honest they are in what they do, for honesty and maybe devotion or impecability in fulfilling their intention is what gives the power and greatness to their art. Really nothing, especially not the expectations of other people that we try to fit in or those that we project on them are not important, not trends, not success, not reputation – nothing matters as much as being yourself. Much can be revealed through us. And much can be given to and shared with others. Who would want to trade that for his/her own ambitions?
(8) What are you currently busy with?
This year (Dec-May) I am leading work in Laboratory for the research of dance. The work is combination of educational and creative procesess. It aims towards developement of young perspective danceres/actors/other artists into skilled and mature performers. Personal growth is connected with creation of individual, authentic and well articulated artistic language, that serves to express delicate and subtle matters of a particular individual. This is being done on the level of an individual. On the other hand it is giving me an oportunity to be involved into a thorough research on two major points of my interest:
- to develop a method of work with artists
- to create a precise and structured composition that will be presented as an open event, that will continue into a debate on the processes of work in Laboratory, meaning the proces of personal developement of an individual and the creative process, resulting in this specific event
This work will be presented in the middle of May as a study for my future creation, autumn/winter 2003.
TESSA WILLS (UK), danceWEB 2001
Livng and working in Brussels. Belgium
(1) Did the intense contact with people from so many different cultural
backgrounds confront you with your own?
Well, since my dance training is not in my "home" culture, and my peers were multinational, I'm used to learning dance in that kind of context. When my identity is that of a dancer, I am used to being in that environment. I think dancers are naturally quite able to move countries easily. All around Central Europe, and a bit in the UK, I've found that the dance community is multinational. I agree, in this multicultural situation, I am confronted with my own cultural identity a bit, but I am simultaneously given a sense of my stronger identity as "a dancer", because I am at home in this place where everyone is foreign, there seems to be a set of rules that are adapted. A kind of language that is used. Perhaps the dance community is more multinational then other contemporary arts "societies", and I find that to my simultaneous pleasure and distain, I'm a member of that society. That sense is stronger then my sense of being relatively british.
(2) When meeting fellow artists with such a full variety of ways of
dance education, did that make you want to go back into studying from
yet a completely different perspective than the one you originally
chose?
Yes it did. I spent a lot of time looking, listening and feeling my peers' present, past and future actions, wether in terms of minute physical movements, or huge life choices and commitments. I was thinking, "what led you to do that? have you considered that choice? is it valuable if you havnt considered it?" I think I was quite static at the time, although I wanted to be moving, and I wondered how they could all move so easily, without thinking. I was wondering if I wanted a training habit like some of theirs, since it kept them moving so well. So seeing the effect on my peers of their variety of dance education let me think about what sort of practice I want in my life, in order to keep me aligned, or in contact with dancing.
(3) You sure came to Vienna with certain questions and expectations -
what were your questions and expectations when leaving Vienna after the
danceWEB month? What happened with them lateron?
No, acctually, I think I was quite numb in the mind and body when I arrived, so I had little conscious questions or expectations. With hindesight, my question if anything was "why do you want to be here so much?" danceWEB engaged me on every level the entire time I was there, and in doing so, allowed me to unwind. to begin to listen to the answer. I'm still listening, two years on, my memories and learnings are still filtering through from there.
(4) danceWEB is set upon the artistic infrastructure provided by
ImPulsTanz - how (if at all) did you perceive the huge number of
(mostly european) dance performances which compliment the workshops and
research projects at this festival?
Great to see teachers making work. Like seeing them from both sides of the coin; the motivators and the motivated; the objective and the subjective. Further, the most interesting performances for me were the ImPulsTanz commissions. Some of the performance experiences were states, some of them were lessons. I think it's really valuable to see the different ways that successful/professional/inspiring people do what they think about. Realise what they teach into performance. Learning about that jump is something that's very valuable. Seeing it with lots of different performers intensivly, makes you obective about each one.
(5) When looking at your experiences in the field of further education,
can you compare danceWEB to other programs, formats of such kind?
Yes in the sense of incredibly high quality and dedication or staff (teachers/facilitators) and students. No in the sense that we were given it like a present. There was no expectation of us at the end, like there could be if such a programme was attached to an educational institution, for example. That freedom was the one that allowed me to learn the most.
(6) danceWEB is accompanied by an artistic coach, a reputed personality
in the dance field - what was your experience with your coach? How did
you perceive his/her presence during danceWEB?
The coach was one of the most important things for me at danceWEB. It allowed me to question everything, without everything falling apart, since he would be a temporary anchor. A reference point. He wasn't necessarily trying to teach anything, just was alive and wanting to facilitate. It was important to me that he wanted to be there, that being a coach was an important thing for him. That enabled me to take courage with him, to allow my experience in conversation and practice to be important, supportive, to root my learnings. The salon periods (weekly discussion evenings) where we worked as a group were facilitated by our coach.
(7) Has some of the artistic input/process you had during danceWEB born
later fruits? Was there a process in your personal experience? If so,
what were crucial factors in this process?
Crucial factors: a certain amount of respect for the fact that we were dance webbers, if I'm brutally honest, made me value my experience, and analyse it a lot.
The salons which could give me a kind of meta position/global perspective on what I was doing with dance at that time, and in my life generally.
The professional workshops, or pro-series. Watching other people go through these, and going through an intense one myself.
Networking, inspiration, teaching and creative resources, development of own relationship to career.
(8) What are you currently busy with?
Training in a kind of therapy, starting a project with Lilia Mestre for production in Brussels (Kaaitheater) in September, writing a lot of philosophy down and learning to put the essays in websites (www.superduper.net/tessawills), writing music for dance performances. Loving moving, but still not wanting to do it, and wondering why.
PALLE DYRVALL (Sweden), danceWEB 99
Living and working in Brussels, Belgium
(1) Did the intense contact with people from so many different cultural
backgrounds confront you with your own?
It most probably would have, in a more proper sense, if I would not already have been living for many years in Belgium, a country where the young artist community is multicultural a bit like the danceWEB. I was confronted with my cultural background, but less as Swedish, than as someone living in Belgium, which I did not experience as confronting. People where more asking me about Belgium and the dance scene there than about my experience in Sweden. Rather than confronting I found it interesting to meet people from totally different backgrounds like people from East Europe and other continents like Australia.
(2) When meeting fellow artists with such a full variety of ways of
dance education, did that make you want to go back into studying from
yet a completely different perspective than the one you originally
chose?
I did not want to do everything, because that is obviously impossible. After I had followed the technique class with Randy Warshaw, in the second or third week, I did change my mind about my schedule, but that was because I wanted to study with him for the last ten days of the danceweb, and not because I was influenced by someone else. I was booked in a course with to many people, and given, that in Warshaw’s pro-series there was still a lot of place, I was able to change.
My memory is, that as much as I felt happy with my choice of classes and workshops I had the feeling that everybody else did, too. I used to ask people just that question, and was often surprised to hear that they had found a very good schedule, because it does not have to be obvious with all those possibilities. Someone would take every Jazz class they could, and in all the free time be busy writing down and remembering all the combinations, someone else would follow their desire to meet a choreographer within a pro-series one week and a teacher of a particular technique another week. My impression was that people seemed to be doing what they wanted.
(3) You sure came to Vienna with certain questions and expectations -
what were your questions and expectations when leaving Vienna after the
danceWEB month? What happened with them lateron?
I came to Vienna quite stressed, and the question I carried inside was related to my own state of body and mind. If I had any expectation it would have been to find a class that could help me in my poor body state. Randy Warshaw’s class helped me very well and gave me a good stepping-stone to go on after the summer.
Another question was related to the working process of Jan Fabre. I was fascinated with him as a director and wondered how I would feel and fit in his way of working. I was very excited about that workshop and at the same time a bit worried, since I was strained and at my limit. I had a hard time physically but could enjoy it, I found a way, but I just made the ten days and could not have gone on too much longer.
After Vienna I was occupied with my own stuff and that was a time when I had to warm up by myself every day. Randy’s class worked very good for me as base, on which I constructed my training, I still do many exercises from him, as well as from David Zambrano.
My question about working with Jan Fabre still stayed with me. And it so happened that last summer I had the opportunity to do a ten day workshop/audition for his project Parrots and Guinea Pigs. My question was very much the same as three years earlier after the danceWEB, I did not know if it was for me, yes or no. Finally I felt good and I ended up doing the creation.
(4) danceWEB is set upon the artistic infrastructure provided by
ImPulsTanz - how (if at all) did you perceive the huge number of
(mostly european) dance performances which compliment the workshops and
research projects at this festival?
I think we could have seen a performance almost every evening, or at least something like twenty in total. I remember counting having seen only ten. If I see too much I am not a good spectator anymore and I’m not working good myself after a while. It’s tiring after all. So I chose what I wanted to see. I saw some very good things, performances that have stayed with me since, like Emio Greco’s trilogy “Fra Cervello e Movimento”, two evenings of Marie Chouinard, “Le temps du repli” of Josef Nadj and an improvised evening with the “Movement Research” teachers in the tanzwochen festival.
(5) When looking at your experiences in the field of further education,
can you compare danceWEB to other programs, formats of such kind?
A year previous to the danceWEB I was following classes and workshops at Movement Research in New York for five mnths. I followed class there with Andrew Harwood for instance. We must have been at the most fourteen people in a middle-sized studio and the training was very deep, close and because of this exhausting. His class was very different in Vienna where 35 people attended and the space was enormous. It was exhausting but for other reasons. I did not like to follow his class so much in Vienna, probably because I had other expectations. I like the intimate contact more.
At Movement Research you often just have three classes a week with one teacher, two classes with someone else and you often keep this program for two to three weeks. It’s interesting, I liked to work like that, it worked for New York but would not work for danceWEB program.
What I really appreciate in Vienna are the intense workshops, the pro-series, where you work seven/eight hours a day together. This I did not often see in other places, and especially not in New York.
(6) danceWEB is accompanied by an artistic coach, a reputed personality
in the dance field - what was your experience with your coach? How did
you perceive his/her presence during danceWEB?
Peter Scholten and Emio Greco had the roles as coach the year I was part of the web. The professional experience the coach, or as in my case the coaches have, inspires a certain respect and order in the big group. Because of their “direction” the get-togethers work and we can function as a group or a kind of tribe. I perceived them like that; like tribe leaders. You would sense their presence and they would be at the center of the meetings, say things that made sense when it is needed and so on. The webers meet as a big group in the beginning and in the end of the danceWEB, in the middle we had, if I remember right maybe a meeting per week. You can approach them if you have something to talk to them about, I remember asking Emio about his experience of working with Fabre, that was helpful I remember. Emio also had us working physically all together and I liked that a lot.
(7) Has some of the artistic input/process you had during danceWEB born
later fruits? Was there a process in your personal experience? If so,
what were crucial factors in this process?
I don’t believe in doing masses of workshops, like shopping in a mall and every summer going to get what’s new. What I did was important to me, or at least, I made it important. The workshop with Jan Fabre was of principal importance. I had followed his work for years already and he knew me from “being around and about” but we had certainly not worked together before. It was an important experience for me to do the workshop, the crucial factor was to meet and work together. I digested the input from that working process and functioned better the second time I tried it.
I only knew Randy Warshaw by name before arriving in Vienna. His class as well as his workshop, “sourcing and developing movement material”, both had deep influence on me and still have today. I found his class, with its very basic purpose of placing and releasing the body, very well done and fitting me in very a good way. Since we did every day the same thing it stuck with me and I now do it every day I perform and when I work by myself in the studio.
(8) What are you currently busy with?
I just finished the tour with Jan Fabre a month ago and I am currently busy studying, planning and giving some workshops and I mainly do Yoga and Tai Chi for my training.
For the application form for danceWEB 2004 and further information on danceWEB resp. reports of its alumnis, please go to www.danceWEBeurope.net.
KATE MCINTOSH (New Zealand), danceWEB 98+99
Living and working in Brussels, Belgium
(1) Did the intense contact with people from so many different cultural
backgrounds confront you with your own?
Coming to danceWEB was (as it turned out later) the first step for me in
moving my home from the southern to the northern hemisphere, and joining in
the culture of Europe and European dance. The contact with many cultures was
overwhelming. Mostly I felt a need to adapt myself so that I could
understand and be understood. I felt obviously different to others in my
history and perception and was endlessly interested to isolate and
understand those differences - but mostly in an attempt to neutralise them
and fit in at some level. I didn't understand how my culture could matter
here, so far away and with such different sensitivities...
Now that I've been living and working in Europe for three years, I am coming
around to a different point of view. Since integration is no longer the
immediate need, I'm wanting to remember my cultural history more strongly
again and what it might mean in this place. To see if I have something
different to contribute.
I am full of gladness for my expanded experience of humanity and what people
can be - but it has also become a source of sadness for me that I am no
longer deeply understanding one culture and place.
(2) When meeting fellow artists with such a full variety of ways of
dance education, did that make you want to go back into studying from
yet a completely different perspective than the one you originally
chose?
Most of the people that inspired me at danceWEB were people who were deep
into their 'own thing' rather than into a style or discipline. These people
were researching something particular to themselves, without worrying too
much what their outside references and sources were - trusting where the
thing would lead itself.
I had not seen this so clearly in dance before, and so I was struck by a
poverty in my own education - and I think a general failure in dance
training. That is that no-one had actually demanded of me that I find out
what I was interested in myself, and how I could make it bear fruit. Dance
training is usually too busy teaching a method rather than encouraging
artistic enquiry or personal understanding.
So, while I was inspired by people busy with their own line of research, and
I recognised a gap there in my own training, it wasn't by seeking more
education that I expected to fill that gap...
(3) You sure came to Vienna with certain questions and expectations -
what were your questions and expectations when leaving Vienna after the
danceWEB month? What happened with them lateron?
I left danceWEB very confused, it was not really an experience of
self-definition and clarification, it was more a process of creaking the
doors open and letting in a flood of new and often contradictory
information. My questions hovered around issues like 'what is dance useful
for?' 'do I want to spend my time on this?' which are good and necessary
questions, not easily handled. It took a long time to tease out the things
that had really inspired me into a useful form which I could apply to my own
work.
My expectations were greatly expanded by the experience. Seeing such a wide
landscape of work was liberating - it reminded me that it's not necessary
to position yourself in one limited area of the form.
(4) danceWEB is set upon the artistic infrastructure provided by
ImPulsTanz - how (if at all) did you perceive the huge number of
(mostly european) dance performances which compliment the workshops and
research projects at this festival?
Because I was totally new to European dance, seeing the performances in
ImPulsTanz was a fantastic way to get an overview of companies, directors
and work. It was invaluable to me later on when navigating my way through
all the names and connections that spread over Europe.
I think now however that, if I was to come and do workshops again at
danceWEB, I would choose to see very little. To be creating and
investigating well in a workshop, I feel it can be too distracting to go and
absorb a lot of completely different information at the same time.
(5) When looking at your experiences in the field of further education,
can you compare danceWEB to other programs, formats of such kind?
danceWEB treads an unusual line between being quite 'school-like' and quite
free at the same time. Therefore I think it's very up to the individual to
use the structure to their own needs, and tailor their own program
carefully. For this reason I think it's very healthy to have older or more
experienced people participating in the program too, who are perhaps more
focused in their desires than the younger people who want to be 'taught'
something. Anyway I remember those older participants being very important
to me when I was a (young) WEB workshopper...
danceWEB is quite wild and wooly in the quantity and variety of information
available, compared to similar programs I've done which were more
specifically focused. I think this is one of the strengths of danceWEB,
although it brings with it a mixture of inspiration and frustration!
(6) danceWEB is accompanied by an artistic coach, a reputed personality
in the dance field - what was your experience with your coach? How did
you perceive his/her presence during danceWEB?
I did not particularly seek out contact with the coaches during danceWEB.
There were people there that I wanted to speak with because of my curiosity
about their work or their ideas - but those people were not necessarily
the coaches that had been chosen for that year.
The role of the coach remained a grey area for me - but I do think it's
important to have an active artist involved, in addition to the organisers
and the WEBbers, for the same reason that I mentioned the good influence of
more experienced participants. I think the coach is at his/her best when
they're there to 'stir' a bit by asking difficult questions and making
trouble...
(7) Has some of the artistic input/process you had during danceWEB born
later fruits? Was there a process in your personal experience? If so,
what were crucial factors in this process?
Yes of course, the whole experience got absorbed into my later decisions and
moves. As I said, danceWEB came at a crucial change point when I arrived in
Europe and it sped my integration and perspective of the place ten-fold. I
still have friends from that time, who were my first contact in 'real life'
after danceWEB too. I most appreciate it for having given me a sense of
community in the dance world, which is invaluable to a newcomer.
I didn't bring any particular process to the experience, the biggest
challenge was to stay open to the mass of information that flooded in and
gradually make some sense of it. However the second year that I came back as
a 'frog' (tutor) I understood the importance of trying to remain specific - limiting
the choice of workshops and performances I went to, in order to focus on my
own interests. In this way I was more able to take joy in other people's
perspectives because I was clearer in my own.
(8) What are you currently busy with?
I have been living in Brussels for three years now, participating in several
different projects and making my own video work. For the moment I am
performing with Davis Freeman/Random Scream in 'Too Shy To Stare', and working on the development of Lilia Mestre's new piece 'Missing Link'. I am also currently doing research in preparation for making solo material during the summer.
MALA KLINE (Slovenia), danceWEB 2001
Living and working in Ljubljana, Slovenia
(1) Did the intense contact with people from so many different cultural
backgrounds confront you with your own?
Being confronted with so many people, that come from so many countries and so different cultural environments is more than a shock. Of course a poor personality can only fall in defense, protecting its own territory and properties, or it can be driven mad by the desire to conquer the hearts of all. Joke!? Finally if one can really accept the Alien, something or somebody so completely different, and not just pretend to do so with a twisted face or by undressing those who look most alike him/her, it can be a gigantic step towards integration. I am still digesting.
(2) When meeting fellow artists with such a full variety of ways of
dance education, did that make you want to go back into studying from
yet a completely different perspective than the one you originally
chose?
I put on the glasses and suddenly I thought the world changed. But soon I did not know again who was dreaming who; who was the butterfly and who was I? Nietzsche said we're all perspectives and buddhists say it's all change and transformation. And so of course, I am being radically shifted all the time – in movement – by weather, by words, by people, by dance... And if only I am still able to see the still point I have left behind... I whish I could answer... everything is passing like a silver cloud.
(3) You sure came to Vienna with certain questions and expectations -
what were your questions and expectations when leaving Vienna after the
danceWEB month? What happened with them lateron?
The lesson of the summer was: The essence of art = to ask (the right question/s).
The lesson of my work at home was: Do not force an answer! Wait mindfully!
Imprisoned minds could be relieved through the act of giving.
It would mean full realization.
Key word: Being.
(4) danceWEB is set upon the artistic infrastructure provided by
ImPulsTanz - how (if at all) did you perceive the huge number of
(mostly european) dance performances which compliment the workshops and
research projects at this festival?
About my perception of all performances that I had seen in a month I can only say that I regretted that in fact there was no time or possibility to discuss them on a more analytical level, maybe with some professionals also, being artists themselves or theoreticians. So my perception stayed in my opinion too much involved in my personal likes and dislikes, without really going into the work and trying to understand/comprehend it more profoundly. I also think that it is an important part that an individual articulates in words his/her response to some work, to realize how the work itself works, what are the principles of movement or life that inhabits the work and that touches the recipients. I felt there was quite a number of people missing a regular disscusion.
(5) When looking at your experiences in the field of further education,
can you compare danceWEB to other programs, formats of such kind?
A year after Danceweb I participated at the Fordham university (NY) summer program in Italy for students of theater. First I should say that it is difficult to compare becouse each of these two programms are really one of a kind and one does not exclude the other in quality. The whole programm of Fordham is focused on the physicality of an actor from different aproaches of course, but very concentrated. The whole month a group of people are spending together in a small rural town in Tuscany, which gives the participant much time to reflect what he recieved and learned and also allows time that one can spend with people. Now if I compare I could say that I personally prefer strong focus on work, and even that be reduced to some specific topic. And when the work was done there was party and beautiful trips... In Vienna so much of everything was offered, from workshops to performances and parties that I was hardly following. I always felt I should not be missing anything. And there were many people and the groups changing all the time. I feel like I would only briefly touch the majority... only faces and names stayed in my memory. Today I am sorry that I feel I had no time or that I did not meet many of them. Besides mentioning the quantity of everything and the emotional turbulence of the whole month, I can only say that it was one of the most hectic but also most beautiful experiences in my live.
(6) danceWEB is accompanied by an artistic coach, a reputed personality
in the dance field - what was your experience with your coach? How did
you perceive his/her presence during danceWEB?
I cannot find words to express my gratitude to Mark Tompkins. He had shown me how life and art could be intertwined and how important is the effort that hey would be. He gave me a lesson on how important is to let go of myself, of my expectations, my volition, my projections - to be given/thrown back into time again and to be able to participate at what is here and now, and get surprised by the moment and play with it and then leave it behind with the same lightness of being. I got to feel with him that life is theatre and theatre is life. His tarts were delicious, his parties great and his riddles a lifetime homework. Thank you again.
(7) Has some of the artistic input/process you had during danceWEB born
later fruits? Was there a process in your personal experience? If so,
what were crucial factors in this process?
More than anything I have realized the importance of making a decision to start to work. And not stay within thinking and planing and playing with ideas. To lose fear and take a step towards reality, concretization and realization of my own ideas. Being confronted with so many different inputs and ideas that people have I have realized for the first time in my life that there is no right or wrong and there cannot be no universal judgement to decide about it. What is most important is that artists dare to be true to themselves and take their space and realize themselves and express what they have to. And that maby the only criteria that can be universally valid is how honest they are in what they do, for honesty and maybe devotion or impecability in fulfilling their intention is what gives the power and greatness to their art. Really nothing, especially not the expectations of other people that we try to fit in or those that we project on them are not important, not trends, not success, not reputation – nothing matters as much as being yourself. Much can be revealed through us. And much can be given to and shared with others. Who would want to trade that for his/her own ambitions?
(8) What are you currently busy with?
This year (Dec-May) I am leading work in Laboratory for the research of dance. The work is combination of educational and creative procesess. It aims towards developement of young perspective danceres/actors/other artists into skilled and mature performers. Personal growth is connected with creation of individual, authentic and well articulated artistic language, that serves to express delicate and subtle matters of a particular individual. This is being done on the level of an individual. On the other hand it is giving me an oportunity to be involved into a thorough research on two major points of my interest:
- to develop a method of work with artists
- to create a precise and structured composition that will be presented as an open event, that will continue into a debate on the processes of work in Laboratory, meaning the proces of personal developement of an individual and the creative process, resulting in this specific event
This work will be presented in the middle of May as a study for my future creation, autumn/winter 2003.
TESSA WILLS (UK), danceWEB 2001
Livng and working in Brussels. Belgium
(1) Did the intense contact with people from so many different cultural
backgrounds confront you with your own?
Well, since my dance training is not in my "home" culture, and my peers were multinational, I'm used to learning dance in that kind of context. When my identity is that of a dancer, I am used to being in that environment. I think dancers are naturally quite able to move countries easily. All around Central Europe, and a bit in the UK, I've found that the dance community is multinational. I agree, in this multicultural situation, I am confronted with my own cultural identity a bit, but I am simultaneously given a sense of my stronger identity as "a dancer", because I am at home in this place where everyone is foreign, there seems to be a set of rules that are adapted. A kind of language that is used. Perhaps the dance community is more multinational then other contemporary arts "societies", and I find that to my simultaneous pleasure and distain, I'm a member of that society. That sense is stronger then my sense of being relatively british.
(2) When meeting fellow artists with such a full variety of ways of
dance education, did that make you want to go back into studying from
yet a completely different perspective than the one you originally
chose?
Yes it did. I spent a lot of time looking, listening and feeling my peers' present, past and future actions, wether in terms of minute physical movements, or huge life choices and commitments. I was thinking, "what led you to do that? have you considered that choice? is it valuable if you havnt considered it?" I think I was quite static at the time, although I wanted to be moving, and I wondered how they could all move so easily, without thinking. I was wondering if I wanted a training habit like some of theirs, since it kept them moving so well. So seeing the effect on my peers of their variety of dance education let me think about what sort of practice I want in my life, in order to keep me aligned, or in contact with dancing.
(3) You sure came to Vienna with certain questions and expectations -
what were your questions and expectations when leaving Vienna after the
danceWEB month? What happened with them lateron?
No, acctually, I think I was quite numb in the mind and body when I arrived, so I had little conscious questions or expectations. With hindesight, my question if anything was "why do you want to be here so much?" danceWEB engaged me on every level the entire time I was there, and in doing so, allowed me to unwind. to begin to listen to the answer. I'm still listening, two years on, my memories and learnings are still filtering through from there.
(4) danceWEB is set upon the artistic infrastructure provided by
ImPulsTanz - how (if at all) did you perceive the huge number of
(mostly european) dance performances which compliment the workshops and
research projects at this festival?
Great to see teachers making work. Like seeing them from both sides of the coin; the motivators and the motivated; the objective and the subjective. Further, the most interesting performances for me were the ImPulsTanz commissions. Some of the performance experiences were states, some of them were lessons. I think it's really valuable to see the different ways that successful/professional/inspiring people do what they think about. Realise what they teach into performance. Learning about that jump is something that's very valuable. Seeing it with lots of different performers intensivly, makes you obective about each one.
(5) When looking at your experiences in the field of further education,
can you compare danceWEB to other programs, formats of such kind?
Yes in the sense of incredibly high quality and dedication or staff (teachers/facilitators) and students. No in the sense that we were given it like a present. There was no expectation of us at the end, like there could be if such a programme was attached to an educational institution, for example. That freedom was the one that allowed me to learn the most.
(6) danceWEB is accompanied by an artistic coach, a reputed personality
in the dance field - what was your experience with your coach? How did
you perceive his/her presence during danceWEB?
The coach was one of the most important things for me at danceWEB. It allowed me to question everything, without everything falling apart, since he would be a temporary anchor. A reference point. He wasn't necessarily trying to teach anything, just was alive and wanting to facilitate. It was important to me that he wanted to be there, that being a coach was an important thing for him. That enabled me to take courage with him, to allow my experience in conversation and practice to be important, supportive, to root my learnings. The salon periods (weekly discussion evenings) where we worked as a group were facilitated by our coach.
(7) Has some of the artistic input/process you had during danceWEB born
later fruits? Was there a process in your personal experience? If so,
what were crucial factors in this process?
Crucial factors: a certain amount of respect for the fact that we were dance webbers, if I'm brutally honest, made me value my experience, and analyse it a lot.
The salons which could give me a kind of meta position/global perspective on what I was doing with dance at that time, and in my life generally.
The professional workshops, or pro-series. Watching other people go through these, and going through an intense one myself.
Networking, inspiration, teaching and creative resources, development of own relationship to career.
(8) What are you currently busy with?
Training in a kind of therapy, starting a project with Lilia Mestre for production in Brussels (Kaaitheater) in September, writing a lot of philosophy down and learning to put the essays in websites (www.superduper.net/tessawills), writing music for dance performances. Loving moving, but still not wanting to do it, and wondering why.
PALLE DYRVALL (Sweden), danceWEB 99
Living and working in Brussels, Belgium
(1) Did the intense contact with people from so many different cultural
backgrounds confront you with your own?
It most probably would have, in a more proper sense, if I would not already have been living for many years in Belgium, a country where the young artist community is multicultural a bit like the danceWEB. I was confronted with my cultural background, but less as Swedish, than as someone living in Belgium, which I did not experience as confronting. People where more asking me about Belgium and the dance scene there than about my experience in Sweden. Rather than confronting I found it interesting to meet people from totally different backgrounds like people from East Europe and other continents like Australia.
(2) When meeting fellow artists with such a full variety of ways of
dance education, did that make you want to go back into studying from
yet a completely different perspective than the one you originally
chose?
I did not want to do everything, because that is obviously impossible. After I had followed the technique class with Randy Warshaw, in the second or third week, I did change my mind about my schedule, but that was because I wanted to study with him for the last ten days of the danceweb, and not because I was influenced by someone else. I was booked in a course with to many people, and given, that in Warshaw’s pro-series there was still a lot of place, I was able to change.
My memory is, that as much as I felt happy with my choice of classes and workshops I had the feeling that everybody else did, too. I used to ask people just that question, and was often surprised to hear that they had found a very good schedule, because it does not have to be obvious with all those possibilities. Someone would take every Jazz class they could, and in all the free time be busy writing down and remembering all the combinations, someone else would follow their desire to meet a choreographer within a pro-series one week and a teacher of a particular technique another week. My impression was that people seemed to be doing what they wanted.
(3) You sure came to Vienna with certain questions and expectations -
what were your questions and expectations when leaving Vienna after the
danceWEB month? What happened with them lateron?
I came to Vienna quite stressed, and the question I carried inside was related to my own state of body and mind. If I had any expectation it would have been to find a class that could help me in my poor body state. Randy Warshaw’s class helped me very well and gave me a good stepping-stone to go on after the summer.
Another question was related to the working process of Jan Fabre. I was fascinated with him as a director and wondered how I would feel and fit in his way of working. I was very excited about that workshop and at the same time a bit worried, since I was strained and at my limit. I had a hard time physically but could enjoy it, I found a way, but I just made the ten days and could not have gone on too much longer.
After Vienna I was occupied with my own stuff and that was a time when I had to warm up by myself every day. Randy’s class worked very good for me as base, on which I constructed my training, I still do many exercises from him, as well as from David Zambrano.
My question about working with Jan Fabre still stayed with me. And it so happened that last summer I had the opportunity to do a ten day workshop/audition for his project Parrots and Guinea Pigs. My question was very much the same as three years earlier after the danceWEB, I did not know if it was for me, yes or no. Finally I felt good and I ended up doing the creation.
(4) danceWEB is set upon the artistic infrastructure provided by
ImPulsTanz - how (if at all) did you perceive the huge number of
(mostly european) dance performances which compliment the workshops and
research projects at this festival?
I think we could have seen a performance almost every evening, or at least something like twenty in total. I remember counting having seen only ten. If I see too much I am not a good spectator anymore and I’m not working good myself after a while. It’s tiring after all. So I chose what I wanted to see. I saw some very good things, performances that have stayed with me since, like Emio Greco’s trilogy “Fra Cervello e Movimento”, two evenings of Marie Chouinard, “Le temps du repli” of Josef Nadj and an improvised evening with the “Movement Research” teachers in the tanzwochen festival.
(5) When looking at your experiences in the field of further education,
can you compare danceWEB to other programs, formats of such kind?
A year previous to the danceWEB I was following classes and workshops at Movement Research in New York for five mnths. I followed class there with Andrew Harwood for instance. We must have been at the most fourteen people in a middle-sized studio and the training was very deep, close and because of this exhausting. His class was very different in Vienna where 35 people attended and the space was enormous. It was exhausting but for other reasons. I did not like to follow his class so much in Vienna, probably because I had other expectations. I like the intimate contact more.
At Movement Research you often just have three classes a week with one teacher, two classes with someone else and you often keep this program for two to three weeks. It’s interesting, I liked to work like that, it worked for New York but would not work for danceWEB program.
What I really appreciate in Vienna are the intense workshops, the pro-series, where you work seven/eight hours a day together. This I did not often see in other places, and especially not in New York.
(6) danceWEB is accompanied by an artistic coach, a reputed personality
in the dance field - what was your experience with your coach? How did
you perceive his/her presence during danceWEB?
Peter Scholten and Emio Greco had the roles as coach the year I was part of the web. The professional experience the coach, or as in my case the coaches have, inspires a certain respect and order in the big group. Because of their “direction” the get-togethers work and we can function as a group or a kind of tribe. I perceived them like that; like tribe leaders. You would sense their presence and they would be at the center of the meetings, say things that made sense when it is needed and so on. The webers meet as a big group in the beginning and in the end of the danceWEB, in the middle we had, if I remember right maybe a meeting per week. You can approach them if you have something to talk to them about, I remember asking Emio about his experience of working with Fabre, that was helpful I remember. Emio also had us working physically all together and I liked that a lot.
(7) Has some of the artistic input/process you had during danceWEB born
later fruits? Was there a process in your personal experience? If so,
what were crucial factors in this process?
I don’t believe in doing masses of workshops, like shopping in a mall and every summer going to get what’s new. What I did was important to me, or at least, I made it important. The workshop with Jan Fabre was of principal importance. I had followed his work for years already and he knew me from “being around and about” but we had certainly not worked together before. It was an important experience for me to do the workshop, the crucial factor was to meet and work together. I digested the input from that working process and functioned better the second time I tried it.
I only knew Randy Warshaw by name before arriving in Vienna. His class as well as his workshop, “sourcing and developing movement material”, both had deep influence on me and still have today. I found his class, with its very basic purpose of placing and releasing the body, very well done and fitting me in very a good way. Since we did every day the same thing it stuck with me and I now do it every day I perform and when I work by myself in the studio.
(8) What are you currently busy with?
I just finished the tour with Jan Fabre a month ago and I am currently busy studying, planning and giving some workshops and I mainly do Yoga and Tai Chi for my training.