CREATIVE THINK TANK

To get into the mood for the CREATIVE THINK TANK, we recommend the documentary film FRAGMENTS OF RESILIENCE by Anna Semenova (duration: 25:00 min). The film is available online on the website of TANZ Bremen, www.tanz-bremen.com from 05/13/2023.

FRAGMENTS OF RESILIENCE, shot by the young Ukrainian director Anna Semenova. The film shows the creation process and the personal stories of the people behind EVERY MINUTE MOTHERLAND – a performance by the Maciej Kuźmiński Company, which premiered in August 2022. The piece and film were created in response to the war by a team of Polish and Ukrainian artists.

The Program

Based on different impulses and examples from artistic practice, participants will discuss strategies, methods, aesthetics and potentials of dance for artists and audiences.
To what extent can contemporary dance contribute to the resilience and resistance of individuals, groups and even societies?
What is the role of dance as a form of aesthetic expression and as a shared practice? In which way can dance generate solidarity and enable a collective, simultaneous experience of vulnerability and strength? Where does the search for an aesthetic language of form end, and where does a social practice begin?

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10:00 am – 2:00 pm
WELCOME
Sabine Gehm, Artistic Director TANZ Bremen and Sarah Israel, Dramaturg

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PART I – DANCE AND RESILIENCE

What possibilities does dance offer to contribute to the resistance and resilience of individuals, groups or even societies? What is the role of dance as a form of aesthetic expression and as a shared practice? Where does the search for an aesthetic formal language end and a social or therapeutic practice begin?

IMPULSES

Dr. Isabella Helmreich (psychological psychotherapist and expert in health prevention with a focus on resilience promotion/ Leibniz Institute for Resilience Research, Germany)
“Resilience – a buzzword or a universal answer?”  – On the concept of resilience and the question of human resilience.

Serge Aimé Coulibaly (choreographer, Faso Danse Theatre I Burkina Faso/Belgium)
On his understanding of resilience and empowerment through VEILLÉE AU SAHEL, a production with non-professional dancers dealing with effects of the ongoing threat of terrorist violence and political instability in Burkina Faso.

Viktor Ruban (choreographer, (cultural) activist I Ukraine)
On the possibilities of choreographers and dancers to continue working under war conditions and the development of tools from the practice of contemporary dance to help people with traumatic war experiences to deal with what they have experienced.

 

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BREAKOUT ROOMS
Afterwards, discussion and exchange on the impulses in parallel discussion groups:

BREAKOUT ROOM 1
What are the potentials and possibilities of contemporary dance productions to support processes of resilience?
Host: Susanne Traub (dramaturg, curator I Germany)
Special Guests:
Serge Aimé Coulibaly (choreographer, Faso Danse Theatre I Burkina Faso/Belgium)
Polina Bulat (producer a.o. Cie Maciej Kuźmiński I Ukraine/Germany)
Tamara Maksymenko (choreographer, dancer I Ukraine/Austria)

 

BREAKOUT ROOM 2
To what extent can contemporary dance tools and practices be used to develop restorative and resilience-building bodywork for people who have experienced war and violence?
Host: Simone Schulte Aladag (Culture Manager, Co-Founder Festival THINK BIG! I Germany)
Special Guests:
Dr. Isabella Helmreich (psychological psychotherapist and expert in health prevention with a focus on resilience promotion, Germany)
Viktor Ruban (choreographer, activist I Ukraine)
Haymich Olivier (choreographer, dancer | Namibia)

 

BREAKOUT ROOM 3
What role can platforms like festivals play in addressing socially or politically suffered violence?
Host: Simon Dove (executive director of CEC Arts Link I USA)
Special Guests:
Zora Snake (choreographer, dancer, director of Festival Mondaperf I Cameroon).
Yolanda Gutiérrez (Choreographer I Germany, Mexico)
Anton Ovchinnikov (Artist, Curator I Ukraine)

 

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1.15 pm – 2.00 pm
LUNCH BREAK

 

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2.00 pm -4.00 pm
PART II – EMPOWERMENT – STRATEGIES, METHODS, POSSIBILITIES

Empowerment – who empowers whom and through what?
To what extent can dance generate solidarity and enable a collective, simultaneous experience of vulnerability and strength? Where does the search for an aesthetic language of form end, and where does a social practice begin? Artistic strategies and potentials, working methods and challenges in collaboration with participating individual actors or communities.

 

Short presentations by the initiators and subsequent discussion in parallel breakout rooms.

 

BREAKOUT ROOM 1
Impulse: Galit Liss (choreographer I Israel)
About her artistic work with older women, mostly non-professional dancers, their motivation, working approaches and effects.
Host: Monica Gillette (choreographer, dramaturg I Germany)

 

BREAKOUT ROOM 2
Impulse: Ming Poon (choreographer, performer I Singapore, Germany)
About his own understanding of empowerment and artistic approaches, discussed on the basis of the participatory performance “The intervention of loneliness”.
Host: Anna Volkland (dramaturg, dance & theater critic/researcher I Germany)

 

BREAKOUT ROOM 3
Impulse: Be van Vark (choreographer I Germany)
On potentials and challenges inherent in bringing together heterogeneous groups in transdisciplinary, transnational and participatory dance projects (on stage or in public space).
Host: Gitta Barthel (choreographer, dance facilitator, dance scholar I Germany)

 

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16:00 – 17:30 Uhr
IMPULSE AND LISTENING SESSION

Siegmar Zacharias (artist, activist and researcher I Romania/Germany)
Siegmar Zacharias gives insights into the development and experiences with the concept of her Listening Sessions, which offer participants a practice of listening with the whole body. Afterwards, to conclude THINK TANKS, she invites you to a Listening Session that allows you to experience your own body as a collective resonance space for grief, joy and healing.

 

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CLOSING & WRAP UP

 

The CREATIVE THINK TANK is an event of TANZ Bremen and is supported by Bureau Ritter/TANZPAKT RECONNECT, funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media as part of the initiative NEUSTART KULTUR. Aid Program Dance.