TOOLKIT RAIL2DANCE
Reflections on Audience Engagement, Sustainable Touring and Working Collectively in Public Spaces
This publication is a short collection of lessons from Rail2Dance, a collaborative Creative Europe project that took place in 2022ー2023 and dealt with the topics of audience engagement, sustainable touring, working in public spaces, knowledge exchange, collective
creation, and possibilities of remote co-creation in the contemporary dance sector.
It brought together four countries (Finland, Sweden, Germany, and Slovenia), eight towns, four established European venues (all, except one in Ljubljana, located outside the capital cities), six dance artists of different backgrounds, nationalities, and ages, one mentor, five pairs of VR-glasses, thousands of railway kilometres and dozens of interactions with viewers and other dancers in public spaces.
Written by Anna Kozonina
TOOLKIT RAIL2DANCE Reflections on Audience Engagement, Sustainable Touring and Working Collectively in Public SpacesThe international project Rail2Dance, which includes theater partners from Germany Die Theater Chemnitz, Slovenia PTL – Plesni Teater Ljubljana / Dance Theatre Ljubljana, Sweden Norrlandsoperan and Finland Tanssiteatteri MD, takes public space and the codes of behavior that define these spaces as its central theme.
Rail2Dance takes public space and the codes of behavior that define these spaces as its central theme. The ideas, which were developed in residencies with the help of mentor choreographer Anthony Missen from Company Chameleon (England), will later branch out and be upgraded into individual and space-bound choreographic projects of all participants. The core dancers in the project are Laura Chambers (Finland), Patrik Riipinen (Finland), Sascha Paar (Austria), Alja Lacković (Slovenia), Anna Pehrsson (Sweden) and Maria Naidu (Sweden).
In the end of May 2023, the core group of dancers will dance their way from Tampere and Vaasa (Finland), Umea and Malmö (Sweden), go via Chemnitz (Germany), and end the journey in Maribor and Ljubljana in Slovenia.
The 40-day long moving Rail2Dance residency starts from Tampere. The performances happening around the Tampere railway station are showcased as part of the Tampere Dance Current festival organized by Dance Theatre MD. The performances during 29.-30.5.2023 are happening with the support of Operation Pirkanmaa.
More information about the project
Pictures: Drago Videmsek
