The first pilot version of the Springback Academy took place during the Spring Forward festival in Umeå in 2014; a second, extended version was held during Spring Forward in Barcelona in 2015, and a third, in Pilsen in 2016. Once again, in 2017, Springback Academy will offer aspiring dance writers the chance to be mentored in the fundamentals of quality dance criticism in the action-packed environment of Spring Forward, Aerowaves' buzzing annual festival that will take place this year in Aarhus, Denmark from 28-30 April 2017.Under the guidance of four experienced dance writers, participants have the chance to create, shape and share conversations about dance and hone their critical writing skills for a number of different formats. It's a fast-track way to gain experience and technique in responsible, effective, attractive dance criticism as well as to explore and understand the opportunities that digital publishing has to offer.
We are looking for up to 10 opinionated people with an interest in, or some prior experience of writing about dance. The participants will be mentored in critical writing by our four lead critics: Donald Hutera (The Times, London), Sanjoy Roy (The Guardian, London), Roslyn Sulcas (New York Times, London/New York) and Monna Dithmer (Politiken, Copenhagen). Oonagh Duckworth, Brussels based editor and dance producer will also be present as Springback Academy coordinator.
During the Spring Forward festival each participant will:
Write short reviews in English (140 words) of several of the performances they see over the weekend. They will work to tight deadlines so that their reviews can be published each day on the Aerowaves website.
Generate ultra-short reviews, provocations, opinions and questions to share on Twitter - using #Springback to gather the conversations.
Participate in a round-table/panel discussion about where dance writing is, or should be, heading.
Contribute one longer, opinion-style piece for the Aerowaves website in the week after the festival — to allow for greater reflection or to draw themes and bigger ideas together.
How to apply:
Send us a summary of your experience in critical review writing (140 words or less).
Send us a sample review (in English) of a dance performance you have seen (140 words or less). This can be an existing review or one you've written especially for this application.
Tell us in 140 words or less why you want to participate in Springback Academy 2017.
Tell us in 140 words or less about your local dance scene.
Tell us your potential arrival and departure date and time. If selected for the project, you would ideally need to arrive on the afternoon (if possible by 2pm) of Thursday April 27 and depart after midday on Monday 1 May.
Send all of this in an email to: oonagh@aerowaves.org and CC alice@aerowaves.org before 11am (GMT) on Monday 27 February 2017. Please put “Springback 2017 Application” as the email subject.
Participants will be notified by email by Monday 13 March 2017 whether they have been selected for the project.
More info here.
Source: Spring Forward
Josef Bartos
Thank you for your thoughts. One got stuck in my mind – that passion makes us different from AI. Just yesterday I read…I am a dance critic. I am a member of an endangered species