DanceWEB Vienna

 Jayson wrote us the following about his time and experiences at DanceWEB 2018:

„With the support of the Tanja Liedtke Foundation, I spent five weeks as a guest of the Vienna International Dance Festival DanceWeb programme. As a guest, I had the ability to take part in multiple workshops, classes, presentations and performances during this time. 

The DanceWeb Scholarship Program influenced, challenged, and questioned my ideas around dance and contemporary performance practice.  What was particular about those 5 weeks spent in Vienna was the constant changing and unfolding of rhythms and routines. At once it is a shared experience among 36 other international participants, but it is also a very singular process. I got confused with dance, angry with dance, fell in love with dance and then broke up with it and then, climatically, we got back together.

I was most engaged in the classes & workshops; they were truly juicy. The knowledge shared around was complex and fiery. Dieter Rehberg’s class on somatic movement was so splendid. I was quickly tuned in to a softer, sweeter, lighter version of myself; dreamy and blissful. Spending time slowly touching other humans, mostly woman over 50, creating sensitivity to the energy of others around and finding more responsibility for the energy I create from within my body. Keith Hennessey’s workshop on political witchcraft continued with some of these ideas such as dance as resistance and activism. Dance as a method for healing the personal and political and healing anything at all, touching things deep within us that we didn’t know needed healing. Sara Shelton Mann had this infectious energy. At once her class was deeply grounded and highly buoyant. I remember her simultaneously smiling and yelling at us, the workshop participants to “Drop your emotions to the ground!”
I have thought about this direction nearly every day since then. Claire Vivianne Sobottke’s workshop on Strange Songs activated primal forces. Screaming. Yelling. Irregular breathing. When is a song actually a dance & when is a dance actually song? Is it ever possible to have a song without a dance…

DanceWeb invited me to think more deeply about the possibilities of dance and contemporary performance in everyday life. What excites me most is actually about how choreographic thinking can be translated outside of the stage, outside of the particular acute contemporary art market which creates so many limitations. This has left me with a spread of different areas of research and different pathways to go down. Who needs choreographic thinking the most?

Many of my ideas were activated and further developed and if not for the scholarship programme (which removes the financial barrier) then I would not have had the ability to participate. For that, I am deeply thankful for the support of the Tanja Liedtke Foundation.“

Jayson Patterson

Photo: Jayson Patterson

And here is what Luigi Vescio wrote about the DanceWEB scholarship program 2018 and his time in Vienna.

Luigis scholarship was co-sponsored by Eva Bernhart:

„Dear Tanja Liedtke Foundation,

I would like to send my heartfelt thanks for your support, which made the DanceWEB scholarship program a possibility for me all the way from Melbourne. I have never been part of such a rich and intensive engagement with my artform. Over five weeks in Vienna, I attended workshops, research labs, lectures, exhibitions and over 30 performances as part of ImPulsTanz festival. The scholarship program brought together 36 up and coming dance artists from 21 different countries under the creative mentorship of dance icons, Florentina Holzinger and Meg Stuart.

This was an absolutely unforgettable and immeasurable opportunity to engage with a plethora of exciting dance makers, thinkers and future leaders of our industry. My professional network has grown tenfold and I have genuine friendships that I’m sure will continue to foster further exchange opportunities. More than anything, I am grateful for having my perspective broadened so immensely. Through an exchange of many cultures, I realised how we are constantly shaped and reshaped by our experiences within the politics that surround us, and influenced by the history of our land or the land we now stand on. I will continue to process and be inspired by this experience. Thank you!“

Luigi

Photo: Luigi Vescio