Norrlandsopera: BIRGIT BERNT
I am artistic director for dance of Norrlandsopera. We are Swedish partners. In Sweden, this project is a good chance to approach audiences in everyday life and public spaces. What I really like about the idea is to take out a chance to create an encounter in a very simple and accessible place where people are moving every day.
Some things are definitely how I imagined. I really like this approach of peacefully taking over the city and feeling something unexpected in places of movements. I am also interested in how to put your body in relation to the city and each other. What surprises me is how after just a few days you can feel that this is a very strong group, and that they interact with each other. But also it feels very natural how they move in public space. Most of them have not been doing outdoors and site specific performances.
ŠÁRKA PAVELKOVÁ
I am from Prague and I was included in the project by Sabrina, the leader of the project, she is from Chemnitz. She approached me three weeks ago, looking for a project coordinator. So I am not a member of any of the partners organizations, I am external and I will be administering and coordinating it. I have some experiences from outside performance. It is a game of architecture, public space and I think it is a good beginning for the project.
Theater Chemnitz: SABRINA SADOWSKA
Chemnitz is a city in Germany that nobody knows anymore. Before WW2 it was the richest city in Germany. First German locomotives were made there; it was very famous, like Manchester of Germany. It is not a city where dance was very crucial. Since 2017 I am artistic director of a ballet company there and in 2015 I made a festival Tanz Moderne Tanz, where I started to bring contemporary dance to Chemnitz from Ljubljana, which is a partner city, like Manchester, Tampere and Umea. We have already collaborated, that's why we know each other. Anthony Missen was working twice with our company. And since I have a festival I try to go on the street with dance to reach more people because nowadays many people don’t go to the opera house anymore, because they don’t know how to dress, they have so many excuses, it is not their social environment… This does not mean they don’t have to participate in dance. So dancing in public can be a lot. It can be an installation, can be dancing in the city, can involve people, can be also an intervention. I try to create similar performances also in our city Chemnitz. When the city of Chemnitz in 2018 started to prepare for the competition to become a culture capital, I was involved. We had workshops about European projects because usually as a city theater or government theater you do not do those things. They also told us that if we want to compete, we need such projects. That gave me an idea. Because we are all connected, Manchester, Finland, Germany, Slovenia, I thought it would be fantastic to involve everybody. We were preparing for this for a very long time, in 2021 we applied for this project and rethought everything all over again. What we saw these days was very nice. It would be nice if dancers started to develop these ideas. In May, they will go on the train. I think this is a very good thing for people to make others stay, to see, to reflect, to be touched, to join. It can be very elaborative. It can also work as supportive art to music on the street… I am very pleased with what I saw and it is the direction I expected because I know Anthony very well.
Dance Theatre MD: ANNIINA KUMPUNIEMI
I am from Tampere, from Dance Theatre MD, we work as partners in this project. What we saw today was really showing us a large scale of possibilities that could be done. I was amazed, because they had done so many sketches, tried out so many possibilities. It was nice that they have arranged so many possibilities already. In the part where dancers will develop their local actions and variations of things, they will be able to use very good tools. I am very happy and this is something that I also expected to see. City as a stage has so many small stages, different kinds of stages. Streets, market places, stairs can be a stage for example… There are so many architectural possibilities. I am happy that they tested out so many different places. They already have so many options so they do not need to add more ideas. They could develop these ideas and sketches or whole day performances or interventions. I believe it will be a huge success and we can see the development from this point to Tampere next May 2023, things will deepen and new variations will come to mind. I am very curious and excited.
I think contemporary dance is not very well known among common people so it is nice to give people an opportunity to see something that is made in the vast vocabulary of contemporary dance. It means an audience development at the same time. Some people do not have money, some people would never come to the theater to see contemporary dance or their friends would not come…. It is not easy just to pop up in the theater. We can catch so many interesting people while we are performing on the street or in the city environment. It is an easy way to say: “ Hello, there is contemporary dance going on in this city, so find out more and come to the theaters also!” Also it is interesting how movement changes the city and the atmosphere and certain places inside city architecture or inside the routes. Vibration or sound of the cities changes when movements change the pathways or atmosphere by adding something else to the very common or everyday environment, which we are so used to, that we don't even see how many details there are in the city. It also helps people to see more around the city and more about their everyday environment. It brings something which is in a way spiritual, emotional, or provides feelings. You can also confront it with a feeling, irritating or happy feeling.
