Czech Dance News stirred reflection on dance in Europe

Czech Dance News stirred reflection on dance in Europe

During these two years, the Czech editors collaborated with colleagues from Norway, namely Geir Lindahl from Performing Arts Hub Norway and critics Hild Borchgrevink and Anette Therese Pettersen from Performing Criticism Globally. Other partners included international festivals in the Czech Republic and Norway, where writing workshops for emerging critics were held.

"We suspected that international collaboration would advance our work in many ways, but the great interest in dance criticism really surprised us after each open call," admitted Lucie Hayashi, the initiator of the project. "This gave us the confidence to be more open to international writers, both on the English pages of the website and in the preparation of the Special Edition."

The beginning of the project was affected by the coronavirus pandemic, and so the first activities took place online. Inevitably, writing in the age of covid also became the subject of a panel discussion on 15 June 2021, which, in addition to Czech and Norwegian critics, also included British critic Sanjoy Roy, writing for the Guardian and Aerowaves, and American-French critic Marisa Hayes, based in Paris (report and recording here).

The first workshop took place in early July 2021, and although it was held online in the middle of a hot summer, there was a lot of interest from applicants. From twenty-five applicants, eight participants based in different parts of Europe were selected to watch lectures, watch videos, discuss and write shorter and longer reviews over three days. The first workshop met with positive feedback from participants and teachers Petra Dotlačilová, Josef Bartoš and Anette Therese Pettersen. Texts from this and all other workshops are available on the English version of Dance News, in the Emerging critics section.

In October of the same year, another meeting followed, this time in a hybrid form. The workshop and discussion took place during the MOVE fest in Ostrava, which focused on alternative spaces for dance. This time, the workshop was led by critics from Norway, but remotely via Zoom, while the eight participants and TA editors mostly came in person to watch the performance. The theme of the workshop mirrored the focus of the festival - participants tried out alternative formats of critical reflection. The results were indeed varied, poetic and inspiring. The second panel discussion, also directed by Norwegian critics, revolved around the theme of Dance and Words, and the invitation was accepted by MOVE Fest director Jana Ryšlavá and Norwegian choreographer Mette Edvardsen.

The penultimate panel discussion was organised during the Czech Dance Platform in April 2022, where Czech and Norwegian critics met with their British colleagues Sanjoy Roy and Emily May. In a discussion moderated by Lucia Hayashi, they exchanged experiences from their dance writing practice; they talked not only about writing itself, but also about working conditions, fees, communication with artists and readers, and so on. A recording of the discussion can be viewed here.

The third workshop – Write/Move – led by lecturers from Norway was hosted by the KoresponDance festival at the castle in Žďár nad Sázavou. The atmosphere of summer in Žďár, the performances in the open air, and the movement between and during them inspired five young writers to write often meditative texts reflecting on the body of the critic in dance work.

The grand finale of the project took place in October 2022 in Bergen, Norway, during the Oktoberdans festival. Five participants from France, India, Italy, Serbia and Norway were selected from an incredible 52 applicants who responded to the open call for the workshop. The three-day workshop entitled Playing Dance Writing was led by Czech Dance News editors Lucie Hayashi and Petra Dotlačilová. The festival also hosted a meeting of the European network of dance critics Aerowaves / Springback Magazine, giving everyone a unique opportunity to get to know this community and exchange professional experiences. In this context, Hild Borchgrevink and Anette Therese Pettersen then led a panel discussion on the provocative topic of Working Slow, during which the demands of fast work from critics were challenged, and instead the benefits of working slow were discussed. In addition to the workshop and discussion, participants were also able to engage in activities during the festival, such as the More than one hat critics' discussion workshop or a seminar on dramaturgy in contemporary dance, and of course see all the performances of this very busy festival.

In total, twenty-six participants from nineteen countries (with residency in Europe as a prerequisite) took part in the "Dance and Performing Arts Criticism in Europe" project: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, India, India, Italy, Latvia, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Spain. The feedback from the participants, as well as from the lecturers and guests at the discussions was very positive – everyone welcomed the opportunity to try something new, to discuss the topic of dance and writing about it, to meet new people, places, artists and their works.

Robin Lamothe, a dancer and choreographer from France, was not sparing in his superlatives: “Amazing seminar, an incredible group and a great opportunity to write my first review!”. Ivana Balabanova, choreographer and dancer from North Macedonia, evaluated the workshop as follows: “I learned a lot of new things and I hope this experience will be useful for me.”  Theatre maker and reviewer Richard Pettifer, originally from Australia but based in Berlin, praised “good organisation and openness of the cooperation”. Mónica Jaramillo Sanjuán from Colombia, studying dance anthropology in London as part of the Choreomundus programme, added: “It was enriching to share with all of you, plus this encounter gave me a needed boost to come back to my writing outside the thesis.”

Petra Dotlačilová commented on her experience as a lecturer: “Each workshop brought together interesting personalities from all corners of the world. There were active artists, critics, a producer, a philosopher and a dance anthropologist, which contributed to the depth of discussions and diversity of perspectives. For me, too, it was a very enriching and inspiring experience.”

Hild Borchgrevink na konto účastnic workshopu uvedla: “The writers really impressed me, especially since we gave them very little time to write in a way that was still completely new to them.”

During the final meeting in Bergen, the Czech and Norwegian partners agreed to continue their cooperation and the organisation of educational and discussion activities in view of the growing demand from interested parties. There are plans for workshops of a similar format in the Czech Republic, as well as trips abroad for editors to gain experience. International cooperation has also prompted a new direction of the English version of the Czech Dance News website, which no longer offers only translations of reviews of Czech works, but aims to become a European platform where reviews and reports from different places in Europe and from different theatres and dance genres, from the Paris Opera to the Bergen Studio of the Carte Blanche company, will appear regularly.

Contact for media: Lucie Hayashi, lucie.h@tanecniaktuality.cz, +420 776 597 935