Coming Together - 8. Tanzausbildung Biennale 2022

For further information and full episode notes, check out the artistic documentation of the 8th Tanzausbildung Biennale.

[1:37 – 3:43] – Asja shares that she is struck by the openness and the awareness of the students. During the performance by ZZT Koln, the very first school to perform, she realized by the intimacy of the piece how powerful this must be for students to perform for peers after emerging from the COVID19 pandemic. She also shares about the Communication workshop she led along with Zuzana Žabková for all participants on the first day of the Biennale.

[3:45 – 7:47] Arkadi comments about the challenge in such introductions where one is asked to situate oneself which becomes all the more complex as a migrant. As a choreographer, he is “specifically interested in how choreography can be any tool to interrogate social and political contexts specifically… where choreography is actually interrogating existing documents and trying to intervene or give a new light to what these documents portray somehow or give testify”. He is also trying to articulate this through his doctoral studies. Commenting on a moment that struck him he tells Asja, that he found her communication workshop very useful, suggesting simple and effective steps to work with conflict. In his past work addressing Israel-Palestine, Arkadi has proposed projects that gave the opportunities to needle and embrace conflict.

[7:52-32:15] The group talks about what is considered to a valid source of truth in relation to conflict - oral history and experience, printed and recorded accounts in this age of information, what is allowed to be circulated and what or who is strategically marginalized.

[32:40-57:05] When we collectively think about what does this have to do with dance movement and a moment like the Tanzausbildung Biennale, Arkadi shares that in his recent projects, there is no dance.  But the concept of choreography is more kind of observed as a tool to acknowledge movement to acknowledge prevention of movement, control of movement. Watching many dance performances, he finds himself asking the opposite question, “what does this have to do with what is happening around us?”  The conversation then turns to themes around privilege and the roles of various persons in a society of hierarchies to act and move the status quo. Asja agrees that she understand the fatigue of marginalized positions coming from trying to constantly engage, explain and resist.On the other hand, privileged positions may also feel that they are not allowed to talk because they are not marginalized since it may be assumed to be the woke thing to do. So there could be a tendency to back out of the discomfort of conversation. Asja says that rather than self-restriction, it could be framed as supporting someone to be part of the space. The question comes up: if we need conflict to move forward? Asja feels that conflict can teach us to observe our position, re-articulate and learn to accept different positions.

For further details and full episode notes, visit the artistic documentation site of the 8th Tanzausbildung Biennale Stuttgart 2022.

[01:03 - 10:15] Brit Rodemund starts by introducing herself, saying that she was born in East Berlin and comments she observed the topic of East and West Germany has not been mentioned in the context of the theme “Coming Together” at the Biennale. She then goes on to outline her dance career, finishing her education in classical ballet the year that the Berlin Wall came down and then going on to work for ballet companies and then moving into working as freelancer. Brit reflects on the first workshop of feedback and critique, how they got through the pandemic and the importance of having a voice as a dancer, and how her work  today looks at encouraging and cultivating the voices of young dancers.

[10:20 -17:40] Myriam adds she had similar thoughts about the feedback and says there is a today looks at encouraging and cultivating the voices of young dancers.  Myriam introduces herself, saying she studied at HZT and comes from urban dance as her background and social dancing in San Diego. Growing up she always exposed to dance and urban dance in her family and community. She later went through a teaching training programme at a modern dance studio, which supported her education massively. She then got a big job at the Hip Hop Studio in San Diego where she was exposed to many movement genres and choreography and open jams and sessions. She met her husband at that studio and then moved to Germany.

[17:40 - 21:00] Brit and Myriam talk about the hierarchy and unspoken rules of urban dance, the emphasis on improving one’s technique and skill, within urban dance and the dyanmics within that. Myriam also talks about the different scenes within urban dance. 

[21:00 - 24:30] Myriam speaks about her work of developing the framework of the session space to make it more accessible while she was at HZT, but also honouring where this practice came from. She speaks to the community-based work supporting one’s indvidual expression in session spaces, and how she wants to give a language to the important work that happens in these spaces. 

[24:30 - 29:00] Brit and Myriam discuss the pros and cons of hierarchy and different learning approaches to learning from “masters” and also learning from everyone. Nicola speaks about how power can or cannot move in these hierarchies and structures.

[29:00 - 42:10] Parvathi introduces and explains a game to prompt a discussion point. They play the game and land on the prompt: Upon entering the dance studio from the street, I shed… And Brit responds by saying: My shoes! Another prompt asks: Sustaining myself looks like: Myriam responds by saying good food, dancing, making space in the house, meeting parents. Another prompt is: Take a sip of water. Another prompt is: If Solidarity had a sister, her name would be… and Myriam talks about “The Book of Qualities by J. Ruth Gendler and then says “Availability” is the sister to Solidarity. Brit adds someone telling you what to do, like to take a sip of water, actively take care by taking charge - is also the sister to Solidarity.

[42:10 - 01:06:00] Myriam and Brit return the opening feedback workshop, and the knowledge in the room. Brit talks about dancers often not having a voice due to how they are educated. They discuss the difference in dance cultures in the USA and in Germany, the difference in spatial structures with barres in classical ballet and circles

For further details and full episode notes, visit the artistic documentation site of the 8th Tanzausbildung Biennale Stuttgart 2022.

David talks about how empowering it may be for students if they more often experienced a horizontal hierarchy of working with educators and choreographers, being asked for their opinion and views, being valued. This was discussed specifically in relation to Ballet and contemporary dance, and opened up to themes brought up in the symposium. Constanze comments on the distinction between dance techniques from what can be done with it, breaking and thinking beyond stylistic categories, the value of encountering peers both as students and educators with openness, thinking together about what specific spaces of performance create for the people who engage with it. [9.27- 14.50]

To Nicola’s question about what value this meeting adds to the teachers’ practice: David shares that the Biennale offers educators exchange, tools and resources for practicing empathy, and a common touching point. But this also brings up the frustration of going back to your own institution and confronting old problems that may have been solved if everyone had participated in the Biennale. Eylül points out that the Biennale’s design is to make inadvertent patterns in the institutions visible. But this is does not work without participation. Many institutions are calcified and seem to not consider certain aspects such as discussion and academic reflection relevant to attend. [17:00 – 22:15]

Constanze expresses that in the contemporary dance field, it is assumed that certain issues aren’t relevant to us anymore. But all value systems are relative. “Contemporary dance is thought to be characterised by diversity. But what does it actually mean to accommodate difference? This is not explored enough. She also points at the fine balance of holding on to one’s own specificity while maintaining ways to help others relate to it. She felt that teaching a class at the biennale would be special because one would never get such a diverse group. One could learn from it and take it back to the one’s institution. David thinks that the boundaries and islands that dance professionals put themselves in, can only be stronger if we bridge and connect with one another. Constanze agrees and adds that this is why she perceives herself as a ‘practitioner of theory’ and without diminishing academic precision, keep her practice accessible while also showing them why they should do this [28:00 - 30:52]

Eylül feels that most often, while there is an education of execution and making, she finds a component of reflection to be missing. Though no one is a complete marionette now, she says, “I think we need to make a case for educating thinking dancers... They need to learn how to read choreography, connect it dramaturgically, and understand one’s place in it…There is an assumption that learning dance excludes theory and excludes analysis.” [30:53 – 32:22]

Please visit the Biennale's artistic documentation website for full episode notes.

For further details and full episode notes, visit the artistic documentation site of the 8th Tanzausbildung Biennale Stuttgart 2022.

In this episode, we hear Rimi Mizuoka, Claudie Lacquemanne, Paulina Kalvelage, Machi Goto, Irina Stadnik and Mana Matsumura discuss some of the highlights of the Biennale and what surprised them or what was memorable. This included seeing many the different understandings of dance, watching other schools’ work, participating in the workshops and the reflections. They speak about coming from a classical ballet institutions, and how enjoyable it was to see different approaches to dance as well as hearing the opinions of other dancers. [01:30-07:40]

We asked about what they thought of Ilse Ghekiere’s presentation on abuse of power in the dance world. They found it to be an important topic to be addressed, saying it was present in the classical dance world. They appreciated the work that is going into speaking about this. They spoke about how female choreographers and directors are still rare in the classical ballet world. [07:40-09.40]

When we asked about any systems of support they may have, they said there are systems of support, but they couldn’t name one in the moment of talking and that this is missing. They mentioned that this topic of abuse of power is more discussed in contemporary dance scenes, and that the classical ballet dance scene it is not yet recognized. They mentioned how abuse of power is considered “normal” or “just
ballet” in ballet contexts. [09.40-12.30]

They mentioned that at the Biennale they experienced this feeling of there is no “right” or “wrong” and how they appreciated it, and that was a new experience. [13.00-13.48]

When asked about the perspectives they may have shared with other students, they spoke about how they’re quite younger than many of the other students and how the contemporary dance field may not know that ballet dancers actually don’t want to isolate themselves, but participate in certain issues and stay with the times. [13.48-16:32]

When asked about the process of deciding who attends the Biennale, they responded that it’s always the graduation class that goes and this year the graduation class was less than ten people. They spoke about other schools have very different selection processes. [17:15-18:20]

The conversations concludes with an audio extract from the performance “YOU Among us” performed by the students of Ballett-Akademie Hochschule für Musik und Theater München at the Biennale.

In this conversation, we talk with Antonio Jorgos Papazis, a student from Folkwang Universität der Künste, who shares some of his thoughts, experiences and some of the things he has learnt during his time at the 8. Tanzausbildung Biennale Stuttgart.

For further details and full episode notes, visit the artistic documentation site of the 8th Tanzausbildung Biennale Stuttgart 2022.

This conversation begins with Antonio asking us (Nicola and Parvathi) if it’s our first time at the Biennale and we speak a bit about our special position, as people who have been tasked with documenting the Biennale. We speak about how it’s a privileged position and that it was great that the documenting task was very open and non-prescriptive. [01:00 - 2:40]

We then played a simple game with Antonio to arrival at some prompts that he could respond to. The prompt he got was: Sustaining myself looks like... He spoke going with the flow and being more ‘back’ than ‘front’, and coming ‘back’ to himself, and going back as a remembrance of who we are. [03:40 - 07:00] 

The second prompt was: Behind my mask I am... Antonio responded to this by saying there is no mask, and when he does something instintively or unconsciously, he does not have a mask. [07:00 - 09:37] 

When we asked him if there was a moment or event from the Biennale that he’d like to share, he spoke about enjoying perspectives that were different to his. He said how interesting it was to hear from different dancers, especially after Covid. He spoke about how the Biennale has allowed a release and for people to do and say what they think, and this gave him a lot. [09:37 - 12:00]

We asked him if there was a shift in the past week that may impact his practice and he responded by saying he really enjoyed seeing his teachers not in the role of teachers this past week. Even though it felt awkward in the beginning, it opened a lot around the teacher-student dynamic, and seeing his teachers as just humans. Antonio also spoke about one teacher saying he wanted to learn from the students and that was interesting. [12:00 - 14:52]

Antonio then asked us the same question, what about this week has impacted on us. Nicola spoke about how the week reminded them of their past, how their ballet and contemporary training was interrupted by an injury and they moved more into performance. And how the week allowed them to re-meet dance in a more inspiring way, and how dancing with other people is very political and important. Nicola also spoke about how they’d like to do more classes or find a dance group when they leave the Biennale. They spoke about how achieving a certain technique can both hurt and empower you, and that can co-exist. [15:08 - 20:45]

Parvathi resonated with what Nicola said, explaining that she also comes from a rigorous classical dance background, but Indian dance. She spoke about considering her dance community as something she left behind in India, and that she misses dancing in a group. She spoke about the feeling of not dancing perfectly enough, as well as making dance works that need to mean or change something and how both of these have held her back. She asked herself the question: “Beauty or joy - what is the point of dance?” and how aesthetics are not uniform, but joy is necessary. She said to move in spite of and because of political circumstances is the point that we celebrate our life. And these are some of the realizations she’s taken from the Biennale. [20:45 - 24:43]

For further information and full episode notes, check out the artistic documentation of the 8th Tanzausbildung Biennale

Sebastian Varra and Tamora Dinklage share their current self-reflections and negotiations with choosing their path in dance, as final year Bachelors students and also in their journey in Schwerpunkt Tanzvermittlung. When speaking about what experience in the Biennale sticks out in their mind, Sebastian cherishes the encounter with a Ballet student from the Munich school which led to the realization that in her young age, she is also highly self-reflective and aware of her tense relationship with the Ballet form. For Tamora, the Biennale brought an understanding of each dance institution in Germany functions very differently and that dance education in the country has a wide range of ethos. [2:22 – 9:42]
Sebastian shares that their school, ZZT, focuses a lot on developing a critical reflective approach among their students, which aren’t necessarily crucial in all other schools. Yet Sebastian is struck that the students themselves have profound insights and observations, and reflective questions that seem to come from experience and other knowledge systems. This was observed in the Students feedback and reflection sessions. [9:43 – 12:10]
Sebastian shares that they heard from another participant that the Biennale has enabled discussions, such that something that would not been said before in the scope of their institution’s approach, is beginning to be articulated. They say, “There is also something in the air, going from one exchange to the other and crossing trough a third one, and then you hear other conversations.” Nicola compares this to crosspollination that bees enable, that strengthens the DNA and survival strategy of each flower because they are exchanging genetic material. Tamora feels that she expected these conversations to be better woven into the Biennale’s programme and organisational framework, rather than something participants have to actively seek out during meal times and other programmes. [12:11- 14:50]
Adding to the list of things that are missing in the Biennale, they mention that there are also students from their institution who aren’t present in the Biennale. They wonder how Inclusion (a term indicated with the Biennale’s themes of solidarity, sustainability and encounter) corresponds with the decision of leaving someone behind. Each institution has very different ways to deal with who can come. Sebastian points out that this decision making is sometimes related to how the institution wants to represent its own work and artistry. [14:51 – 19:38]
What are the methods of sharing and exchange to be continuous and sustained? Acknowledging that there is need for safe space as students to speak about the pieces, Tamora asks regarding the Student’s reflection sessions, “But why should one speak only about the pieces. There could be so many more layers. I would like to speak to the teachers, or with the choreographers of the pieces.” This would enable much more relevant and sustained mingling through the week. Their overall perspective the Biennale is that there is much discourse in the dance field that does not always reflect here. The themes this year of solidarity, sustainability and encounter are not met at every step, even though there is the start of an attempt.