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UP2DANCE

Why does a dancer in Bulgaria not receive (social) benefits?

UP2DANCE (2019-2021) is a Creative Europe project aimed at harmonising knowledge, competences and skills in the dance profession and dance education at European level. The aim is to increase the mobility of dance professionals within Europe.

Update
The amazing journey within the UP2DANCE Project came to an end in 2021. The realisation of the project went through several stages.

18 round tables focused on the professional roles in contemporary dance, and namely Dancer, Dance teacher, Choreographer, Rehearsal director, were conducted in all the partnering organisations – Balletto di Roma (Italy), Derida Dance Center (Bulgaria), Polish Dance Theatre (Poland), Magenta Consultoria Projects (Spain), and Companhia de Danca de Almada (Portugal) with the aim to define the state of art in terms of updating the above mentioned professional profiles toward contemporary dance.

A vital part of the project activities were the Peer learning workshops conducted among all partners, which strengthened the partnerships by sharing experience and good practices specific for each partnering organisation.

Stakeholders were involved in national dissemination events in each Country, during which important discussions were brought up and took upon consideration in the creation of the Manual of Good Practices.

The last stop of this intense journey was the final international conference that brought together the five partnering organisations, and the stakeholders from around Europe at one place in order to present the project and its results as well as to connect all the interested parties towards discovering a common path to the future of professionals in contemporary dance.

The main project findings, collected during the round tables with stakeholders, the Peer Learning Workshops amongst partners, as well as the final dissemination events, were all collected in the “The Manual of Good Practices”, a handy and useful tool for dance professionals, organisations and stakeholders interested in knowing more about the professional dance sector and its challenges, with the aim at building up an EU framework for the better recognition of profiles, related competences and training paths. Not a full stop in partners’ research, but a starting point for future further development and exploitation.

The Manual of Good Practices is freely downloadable at www.up2danceproject.eu.

 

UP2DANCE: Diving into professional profiles
Following the successful development of a strategy in regards to organizing round tables on the topics of the professional dance profiles, namely Dancer, Dance Teacher, Choreographer, and Rehearsal Director, the realization of the UP2DANCE Project proceeded with their launch.

The first round table organized by Companhia de Dança de Almada, Portugal, was on the professional profile of the Dancer with the name: “Professionalization of the Dancer: The role of Schools of Artistic Training Specialized in Dance”. The table was moderated by Ana Macara and counted on the active participation of Susana Rodrigues (Ana Mangericão Dance School); Madalena Xavier (Escola Superior de Dança); Albino Moura (Lugar Presente - Escola de Dança); Cristina Pereira (Dance Art School of the National Conservatory); Carla Albuquerque (Ca.DA Escola). Representatives of professional associations who can contribute to this process were also invited: Iolanda Rodrigues (1st Position Association); Pedro Fidalgo Marques (Pro-association of dance professionals); Administration, teaching staff, and dancers of Ca.DA school, and selected dance professionals. The target group of this round table was administration, teaching staff, and dancers of Ca.DA school, and selected dance professionals. Everyone saluted the organization of the meeting which brought into contact several institutions that work for the same purpose but which are usually not very much connected, wishing it will start good possibilities of collaboration for the future.

Companhia de Dança de Almada organized their second round table on the profile of the Dance teacher. It was held under the name “Classical and Contemporary Dance: The role of the dance teacher”. The approached topics included: fundamental knowledge, techniques, and skills for practicing the profession of classical or contemporary dance teacher today; role and existing difficulties in the training of teachers in the dance area; training models for dance teachers; recognition of the profession of dance teacher and regulation on the necessary qualifications for teaching.

The 3rd round table lead by Companhia de Dança de Almada on the profile of Rehearsal Director / Repetiteur was held under the name “The role of the rehearsal director/repetiteur in the dance company: Relationship with choreographers and dancers”. The addressed topic included: basic knowledge, techniques, and skills for the exercise of the profession; role and difficulties in exercising the profession of rehearsal director/repetiteur in dance; recognition of the profession.

Next partner to implement the round tables in their activity was Polish Dance Theatre (Poland). They focused on the professional profile of the choreographer and set the name: "Choreographer vs. Polish Dance Institutional and Educational Environment." The aim was to present different points of view of professionals that have experience and knowledge in the field.
A choreographer profile is not described precisely in the Polish Qualification Framework. Many recognizable choreographers don’t have a title given by universities but they have great experience and portfolio.
Polish Dance Theatre invited to the round tables people from the public institutions as well as freelancers and those who have chosen different paths for their careers.

"Dancer-Teacher: role, competences, professional development opportunities" was the second round table that will be held by Polish Dance Theatre. According to them, Dancer Teacher is a very important profile but underrepresented at the higher education level. Still, there is a limited number of universities that teach dance and hiring dancer-teachers in Poland. What we can do to make this profile to be more appreciated and recognizable is the leading question of discussion.

 

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Final Conference

The “UP2DANCE Updating professional profiles towards contemporary dance – FINAL CONFERENCE” will be held on Monday 29 November 2021, on Zoom Platform, from 15:00 CET. The project was supported by the ERASMUS+ Program of the European Union and realized in collaboration between six European dance companies: Balletto di Roma (Italy), Derida Dance Center (Bulgaria), Magenta Consultoria (Spain), Polish Dance Theatre (Poland), ICK (Netherlands) and Companhia de Dança de Almada (Portugal).  

The online event involves the main representatives of partner organizations with the aim of sharing and disseminating theoretical conclusions and practical results achieved by the European exchange, inaugurated in January 2020 with the first official meeting in Pozna? (Poland). On the occasion of the conference, further initiatives born in the context of Up2Dance will be previewed: among these, the official presentation of the Manual of Good Practices in Contemporary Dance, the result of the research conducted within the project between 2020 and 2021, with the cooperation of dance professionals from each of the partner organizations. The online conference will once again make the “virtual meeting” between different countries and European partners possible and it will be articulated through dialogue and QA sessions that will bring them even closer by sharing their experience.  

 

Not an end, but the beginning of a new path with the hope that the good practices exchanged also lead to future collaborations. A point of arrival and departure through shared visions: the network born during the fruitful meetings between partners will continue the UP2DANCE project, investigating the different needs of the sector in terms of competences and skills, to promote a wider recognition of the same competences at EU level, and to facilitate dance professionals' mobility and recognition.   

The initial goal of the UP2DANCE project was to investigate the profound changes occurred in the system of contemporary dance in the last 20 years, which can be considered a “revolution” that still affects the entire world of dance. Dance companies willing to differentiate their offer face numerous challenges, such as the needs of a re-definition of curricula and general update of training programs in accordance with the most recent trends, new languages and methodologies; as well as the need to smooth out differences between Northern EU and South-eastern in a proper diffusion in the vocational training programs.  

For this, the UP2DANCE project aimed to support the modernization of education and training systems, in particular through a better use of EU transparency and recognition tools and the exchange of good practices concerning the dance sector at European level, in order to boost the process of harmonization and update of curricula of the professional profiles, according to the requirements of the contemporary scenario and also with the development of specific skill for today and tomorrow contemporary dance professions.  From January 2020 to November 2021, several meetings between the partners addressed those subjects creating a common ground and looking for ways to implement the good models shared without forgetting political and cultural differences. Furthermore, relevant professionals in each country were called to collaborate, participating in roundtables and peer learning workshops for the discussion (and practice) of each of the topics.  

The global pandemic, which began in March 2020, did not stop the UP2DANCE project, which continued constructively through online meetings and workshops. Starting from summer 2021, finally, the partners were able to meet in person, first in Almada-Portugal (July) and then in Rome-Italy (November) on the occasion of the Transnational Final Meeting: intense days, full of ideas and discussion, with the precious contribution of directors, choreographers, professionals of the important European organizations involved.   

The Manual of Good Practices in Contemporary Dance, which will be presented during the final conference, was designed to support both individual professionals and dance organizations in the management of programs and individual careers, as well as to contribute to passing awareness and understanding about the importance of developing and regulating national and European performing arts systems. For many years, little has been done to establish on a European level the need for structuring and socially supporting the very important professional roles in dance in general and in contemporary dance in particular. The document is not intended to be a definitive one, but rather it aims to contribute as a guide useful to bring a new and sustainable approach to a subject that is in deep need for further research and application.

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ICK hosting round tables

In line with the dance research at ICK Academy on vocabulary development through dance (an)notation, documentation, and knowledge transmission, they also aim to cultivate a discourse about the verbal articulation of the tacit, unspoken, and mostly yet unrecognized knowledge of dance. ICK wants to evaluate the potentials of this knowledge in relation to the collectively shared challenge of the Corona crisis, the high mobility of securities triggered by it, and in relation to the future of dance.

In these round tables, ICK Dans Amsterdam aimed to map and identify some of the current needs related to each profile on both artistic and socio-political levels. ICK wishes to activate a field of discourse about the ideal dancer, the ideal dance teacher, the ideal rehearsal director, and the ideal working conditions for the further evolution of contemporary dance in the NL, as it is imagined and practiced by the different players in the field.

On September 22nd, ICK dans Amsterdam hosted their second roundtable on the profile of the Dance Teacher. Statements about the ideal profiles proposed by the participants of the roundtables were the departure point for the discussion. The vocabularies used in these statements were compared with each other and in relation to the competencies articulated in the Dutch Beroeps- en Opleidingprofiel Dans (2017)[1] (Professional and Educational Profile Dance), as well as in relation to other relevant sources contributed by the participants.

On September 29th ICK Dans Amsterdam conducted their third roundtable on the profile of Rehearsal Director. They invited dancers, dance teachers, artistic directors, policymakers, choreographers, rehearsal directors, and educational policymakers to participate in the roundtable. For the rehearsal director, they had a choreographer who also has experience as a rehearsal director, Artistic coordinator Academy, researcher, and ICK production manager. Because of the low response in the field, they will try to set up more 1 on 1 conversation in the near future.

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Alwin Poiana

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