How to start?
In the context of SEAD's dance and research project, hidden states, we initiate an exchange with dancers, choreographers, teachers, students, and audience from Austria and Israel. Or maybe let's be more exact: artists who are living and working in Salzburg at SEAD, and artists from Israel who are living in Tel Aviv or anywhere in the world.
What inspired us to create this exchange?
We live in Salzburg, a calm and beautiful city - which allows us to work with focus in our dance art and daily training without distractions. At the same time we keep our eyes open to the outside world, watching current work and artistic explorations that stimulates our fantasy. We are curious, intrigued by dance from all over, and we look for new ways for collaboration and working together. We search to wake up a sleepy dormancy in order to bring a new constellation to the surface. Within us, within them, within our dance, within our art (of living) and our understanding.
So, how do we exchange?
As we begin to explore hidden states we begin to unravel different facets and layers that were not obvious to us in the beginning. Some were expected, some were hidden, some were simply not known. With each day of exchanging we are peeling off more and more layers that are encasing and concealing information and emotion. We dive deeper and deeper into what we want to share with each other which guides us to discern what is important and integral to us. We do this through dancing, talking, singing, through meeting, by simply having this project opportunity to be together.
We teach one another and take classes together. We dance and perform side by side to international audiences. We initiate a discourse on the work that we are doing and the work that we are imagining. We analyse our intentions by writing and sharing. We document our projects for others to learn and explore. We talk about education in dance and compare results and attempts at a new way of learning. We emphasize the importance of community by insisting on the need for working together in order to take a step forward and away from a divided and self consumed dance world.
hidden states is an ambitious project that SEAD has taken on for the next three years. We are committed to exchange and all that it entails; observing, questioning, sharing, experimenting. We expose our willingness to enter these new artistic and human relationships with an open mind and heart for a unique and original dance future. In this blog we will share our experiences with you and show you some of the layers we are creating, developing and scrutinizing.
Hidden States - a cultural dance exchange project of Israel and Austria - is funded by Bundeskanzleramt Kunst, Salzburg Land Culture, and Salzburg City Culture. With the friendly support of the Embassy of Israel in Vienna, and the Austrian Cultural Forum in Tel Aviv.
...with choreographer Sita Ostheimer and dancers from SEAD's Bodhi Project and Tel Aviv-Jaffa, at AJCC.
