Special Edition 2022 - Transformations of the dancing body

Taneční aktuality is preparing a new, fifth Special edition, a printed publication focusing on one particular topic each year. In previous years, these have included Dance and the Audience or Dance and Education. This year's theme is Transformations of the Dancing Body, and for the first time the articles are also written by writers from abroad.

The fifth edition of the Special Edition of Taneční aktuality will focuse on the issue of body transformations in dance from various perspectives through the eyes of internal members of the editorial team, personalities of the Czech dance scene and authors from Lithuania, Greece and Japan. The topic was derived from a survey among the correspondents of the editorial office and reflects the current need of the field depressed by the pandemic situation.

"We have always wanted Taneční aktuality to have the international reach that Czech dance deserves. This was also the case with our Special Editions, which are published bilingually and distributed abroad with the help of Czech Centres. This year, we wanted to take Czech dance reflection even further, towards a European dialogue, which is why we announced an open call for authors from all over the world in the autumn," said Lucie Hayashi, the editor of this year's Special edition.

"We are so delighted with the number of people who have responded. A recurring theme in many of the annotations we received was the effects of the pandemic on the dance world, but we wanted to give space to other, equally frequent and popular topics. In the end, we selected ten authors, half of whom are foreigners," she added.

Marianna Panourgia reflects on the transformation and functionality of the dancer's body during forced lockdowns, while Katja Vaghi explores the influence of the digital world on dance from the perspective of a choreographer. Greta Grinevičiūtė also opens the question and benefits of a fresh connection between choreographic and cinematic thinking.

Japanese writer Yuki Kawamura advises dancers on proper nutrition, while Kateřina Šalounová reflects on the body of the dance teacher as his essential tool. You can also read about working with body diversity in dance in Hana Strejčková's article The Special Body, and Jitka Pavlišová's article also deals with the inclusion of different "precarious bodies". 

You can also look forward to Petra Dotlačilová's article, which deals with the influence of costume on the dancing body. Daniela Machová, on the other hand, discusses the scenic use of nudity in her article. Anastasia Koukoutas's contribution also works with this to a large extent, focusing on the work of choreographer Florentina Holzinger and her views on the stereotyping of the body of classical dancers.

"The topic of body transformations in dance is a broad one, so we tried to select contributions from authors from all over the world, who have had a variety of backgrounds and experiences. All the articles are again in both Czech and English, so the biggest challenge was the sensitive translation of the authors' texts, which involved a large team of translators and editors. I hope that thanks to this, our Special Edition will be successful among both Czech and foreign readers," concluded Lucie Hayashi.

The fifth Special Edition of Taneční aktuality Transformations in Dancing Body will be published in early autumn 2022. A high-quality booklet with full-colour printing and cover photographs by Czech choreographer Anna Benhaková awaits you again. You can already pre-order the publication on the website www.tanecniaktuality.cz for 159,- CZK. If you enter the password PamPam in the note, you will get a 50% discount on any of the past editions as a bonus.

 


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