Czech dance successful in competition with more than 600 European works

Czech dance successful in competition with more than 600 European works

“It’s a historic achievement for Czech dance to succeed in such competition, among 35 European countries,” says Yvona Kreuzmannová, the director and founder of Tanec Praha, and she continues: “Over the 25 years of existence of Aerowaves, the Czech Republic has never seen three productions in the top 20.”

Aerowaves is now celebrating 25 years since its foundation at The Place, London. Each year in late October, experts from various European countries meet in a selected European city after they have watched tens of video recordings of short pieces (15-40 minutes) by emerging artists (i.e. dance makers at the beginning of their international career). During a three-day intensive meeting, they watch tens of samples of other works as selected by the representatives of individual states, but in smaller working groups, which means each work can be assessed by 3 to 7 experts.

The Aerowaves network is about spotting new talents and allowing them to establish themselves on the international scene, which happens through the ten-year running Spring Forward festival, hosted annually by a selected European city (Tanec Praha 2016 in Pilsen). Each year, experts select 20 works out of hundreds of video applications that seem to have the most potential to gain international success. These are later promoted on https://aerowaves.org/, presented by the Aerowaves partners with the support of the Creative Europe programme, and they have a chance to be part of the Spring Forward festival which annually draws more than 200 presenters and journalists from around the globe.

In the past, Czech dance makers succeeded approximately once every three of four years. In the last decade, though, they started gaining international renown and Czech dance works have already made twice to the Aerowaves Twenty – last year it was Viktor Černický’s PLI and Markéta Stránská’s LeŤ. This year’s meeting in Athens made history not only because of its atypical format (due to COVID-19 restrictions, the jury consisted of only 12 members and the remaining 30 experts debated and watched videos on Zoom) but mainly because of its result.

Twenty21, which is a selection of top 20 works for the year 2021, includes three works from the Czech Republic, thanks to their unquestionable quality, diversity, and an original approach of each dance maker. Two authentic female solos - Tereza Lenerová Hradilková (Don’t stop) and Cécile Da Costa (Roselyne/ProFitArt) - and one appellative duet by Sabina Bočková and Johana Pocková/ PocketArt (The Lion’s Den) are the selected Czech representatives who have succeeded in the fierce competition with more than 600 applicants from 35 European countries. The Czech Republic had 13 applicants in total which is a solid number.

“We can hardly find a better way of promoting and turning attention to the outstanding potential of Czech dance and movement arts. I was so proud of our artists and conveyed to them the congratulations of other jury members, all this with a beautiful vision that within a few years, our country will have its own Dance House and create appropriate conditions for the professional growth of all these talents,” adds Kreuzmannová.

Source: Tanec Praha z.ú.

Translated by Tereza Cigánková.