CREATIVE THINK TANK

The focus of the one-day CREATIVE THINK TANK was on exchange, the reflection on questions about one’s own work and knowledge transfer. Based on short impulses from different artistic practices, international guests and participants discussed strategies, methods, aesthetics, goals and empowering potentials of dance for artists and audiences.

The Covid pandemic period confronted us with massive limitations, worries and above all with the vulnerability of our bodies. But it also made us (painfully) experience our dependence on social and global contexts.

No sooner does this crisis seem to have been overcome than the war of aggression on Ukraine, trouble spots in the Global South and the effects of the climate and energy crisis now dominate our political and social discourses. Against this backdrop, we ask to what extent dance – as a physical practice, as an aesthetic experience as well as a social event of assembly – contributes to dealing with experiences of violence and re-imagining the present as well as strengthening communities and solidarity.

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CONTRIBUTORS
Impulses, hosts of the breakout rooms: Gitta Barthel (choreographer, dance scientist I Germany), Polina Bulat (producer I Ukraine/Germany), Serge Aimé Coulibaly (choreographer I  Burkina Faso/Belgium), Simon Dove (executive director CEC Arts Link I USA), Monica Gillette (choreographer, dramaturg I Germany), Yolanda Gutiérrez (choreographer I Germany, Mexico), Dr. Isabella Helmreich (psychologist I Germany), Galit Liss (choreographer I Israel), Tamara Maksymenko (dancer, choreographer I Ukraine/Austria), Haymich Olivier (choreographer, dancer I Namibia), Anton Ovchinnikov (artist, curator I Ukraine), Ming Poon (choreographer, performer I Singapore/ Germany), Viktor Ruban (choreographer, activist I Ukraine), Simone Schulte Aladag (culture manager, co-founder Festival THINK BIG! I Germany), Zora Snake (dancer, choreographer, festival director I Cameroon), Susanne Traub, (dramaturg, curator I Germany), Be van Vark (choreographer I Germany, Anna Volkland (dramaturg I Germany), Siegmar Zacharias (artist, activist, researcher I Romania/Germany)

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PART 1: 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?

Dr. Isabella Helmreich // psychologist // Germany
Resilience – Buzzword or a universal answer? – On the concept of resilience and the question of human resilience.

Serge Aimé Coulibaly // choreographer // Burkina Faso
On his understanding of resilience and empowerment through VEILLÉE AU SAHEL, a production dealing with effects of the threat of terrorist violence and political instability in Burkina Faso.

Viktor Ruban // choreographer, activist // Ukraine
On the possibilities to continue working under war conditions and the development of tools from the practice of contemporary dance to help people with traumatic war experiences.

Anne Nguyen // choreographer // France
How to understand resilience in the context of a work combing dance styles from various international urban street cultures.

WRAP-UP 1: DANCE AND RESILIENCE
Observations, Insights from breakout rooms
by Elisabeth Nehring (journalist) // Susanne Traub (dramaturg, curator) // Simon Dove (executive director of CEC Arts Link)