In a series of dialogues in the afternoon and performative encounters between dance, music and words in the evening, TANZNACHT FORUM – unsettled landscapes tries to unfold urgencies, political and social relations as well as possible historical connections that inform and form the work of contemporary choreographers in Berlin and Europe.

15:00-19:00  Part 1:  3 dialogues on contemporary aesthetics in dance

With Silvia Fanti & Anne Juren, Ligia Lewis & Ana Vujanović, Kirsten Maar & Peter Pleyer. Hosted by Silke Bake & Jacopo Lanteri.

26 years ago, Meg Stuart created „Disfigure Study“ (the first piece she performed in Europe and made her widely known), 19 years ago,Xavier Le Roy created „Self Unfinished“ (the piece he became inter-
nationally known with and which turned into a signature piece of contemporary dance), 18 years ago Hans-Thies Lehmann published „Postdramatic Theatre“ (the book that everybody had to read or to refer to and which explained for the first time the fundamental changes that marked contemporary performing arts in Europe and Northern America), and 10 years ago, the HZT in Berlin launched a BA programme called „Dance, Context, Choreography“.
Questioning the body’s appearance in society and reflecting the perception of the body on stage 
established a new understanding of contemporary dance. In the so-called absence of dance – as it was received at that time – choreography functioned as an instrument of critical thinking in regard to the perception as well as the theatre apparatus.
Looking at the unsettled landscape of dance nowadays, the question is which new dynamics and processes happen today and which references characterise them. The desire to talk explicitly about aesthetics highlights our interest in talking about what happens on stage and which questions are vital in today's works of contemporary dance. What kind of relations towards the audience are catered and explored in a dance work? Which modalities of body perception are reflected? Do these questions refer to the society we are living in - and by what means? Does society or the individual involvement with it have an impact on the working process or on how the body appears on stage? Does the critical examination of the instruments and approaches in choreography still represent a fundamental condition of a dance work? How could one define contemporary dance today? In opposition to performance for example? Or is it not interesting anymore to distinguish between disciplines?

Information for Part 2: 20:00-22:00 encounters in dance, music and words 

TANZNACHT-FORUM 2017 curated by Silke Bake, Jacopo Lanteri, Julian Weber | With the support of apap - Performing Europe 2020 | Co-founded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union and the Berlin Senatsverwaltung Kultur und Europa.
 

TANZNACHT-FORUM will take place for the second time in the interim year of the biennial TANZNACHT BERLIN to discuss the current issues of contemporary dance. In August 2018, TANZNACHT BERLIN will happen again, celebrating its 20th birthday around the working theme ecology. Artists living in Berlin will be invited to interrogate the interdependencies and influences between dance/choreography and other artistic disciplines (especially music/composition), various working practices and dance historical narratives as well as the environment.

In cooperation with Étape Danse