Danceweb report




Danceweb is....
The Scholarship Program is a 5 week residency taking place every year in July - August in Vienna within the frame of ImPulsTanz festival.
The Programme offers around 65 young professional dancers and choreographers from mainly European but also from non European countries the possibility to take part in an intense multinational further training program.

To see all danceWEB scholarship recipients

My Impressions

It was a rich moment, one that could fulfill my desire to learn. At the beginning of the dancewebbers' meeting, we wanted to know all about each other, and there were also many questions about Danceweb. This year our mentors were Sarah Michelson and Yasuko Yokoshi. They, together with the festival staff, had selected us to be dancewebbers.

During the Impulstanz festival, I bought the book of Jonathan Burrows. He said,
'If you apply for funding, you will have to write a very good description of what you're going to do. This is not the same thing as making a very good piece, though these two things get confused by some people.' I didn't have a chance to take his workshop, but I agree with his words.

To become a dancewebber is a kind of status symbol for young dancers, in my opinion. I just got this chance by luck, as if by accident. I felt that my standing in the dance world and network is so small, while this festival is so huge. This festival seemed to me to have already become one of the traditions of Vienna.
To describe the feeling, it was as if I had been swallowed by huge waves and was trying to get something to hold onto for safety. During the time in Vienna, I swam several times at the Donau River, even though I am not able to swim without a tube. Most people laughed at me swimming with a tube. But I didn't have time to feel ashamed. I was very serious during this time. I was talking now about the swimming in the river, but my life in the festival was the same feeling. I watched the performances almost every night. I tried to take 4 classes in the day and also to cook . And I understood the words, 'Quality is more important than quantity.'

The common memory between all dancewebbers was the event of Danceweb. Most of us stayed at the student house. There was a dangerous alarm in the kitchen, that was set off very easily. It might seem an unimportant topic. But sometimes these communal accidents bring us more closer, in helping and calming each other, and laughing with each other, than dancing at a crazy party.

I felt that most of the workshops that I took guided me to touch the meditation. To be without goal is playful and painful, but is not ordinary. For example , there's a map of the world. We can be divided into two types, 'Map lover' and 'Map hater.' This world must be hard for the 'Map lover,' because sense of reality is changing. But all our locations exist inside our heads. Focusing on the present moment makes me confused. At the same time, it was fun to journey in my thoughts. Sometimes I think that dance teachers and researchers are developers of potentiality and internalization. The denotational semantics connect to intentional semantics. I believe that creating another meaning is a way to create a possible world.

I'm interested in transforming meaning through dance. Most artists have a vision of collaboration, sharing, engagement, and exchange. One night there was a talk session . It was interesting to listen to the words of Guilherme, a member of Sweet and Tender collaborations and producer of Rosas company. I felt a gap between mainstream dance and non-mainstream dance. There's a system or cycle of the business market of dance. Normally, young artists are eager to enter this society or network. And on the other hand, there's a movement which is against or questioning these networks and they're searching a new way of sharing. It also looks like a survival game. These conversations reminded me that I'm a foreigner. The beginning of sweet and tender must be made by the simple idea of sharing as friends. The process of understanding is a similar process, of abandoning all knowledge. Some people said 'Dance is a global word.' Danceweb is an opportunity to meet people who have different backgrounds. Generally I focus on a separation, a difference, minority and majority, a borderline, an edge around social context. But actually it might be that there's no separation in the universe. During the Danceweb program, I got a lot of information, and most of my knowledge didn't work. It was a most exciting moment for me to feel 'Life is new all the time'.

I want to say thank you to all the artists that I met before and after Impulstanz, to all the staff, to the sponsors of Impulstanz, and to all the people of Vienna. You all still exist in my small head.

photos Keith Hennessy(top)
Jennifer Monson(middle)
Ultima Vez(down)