Big Nordic-Baltic Dance Seminar Hits Tallinn

Writing labs, think tanks and seminars are part of next week’s international meeting Dance Partnerships in Tallinn (September 18-20) focusing on contemporary dance in the Nordic-Baltic region. The event will gather more than 200 professional dancers, choreographers, producers and teachers – all associated with contemporary dance in the Nordic and Baltic countries. The meeting is part of the 3-year contemporary dance project keðja 2012-2015 headed by Dansehallerne in Copenhagen.

3 years of keðja-activities kick off in Tallinn’s creative district Telliskivi next week (September 18-20, 2012) with the aim to mobilize the professional contemporary dance scene for the sake of the Nordic, Baltic and European audiences. The ”Encounters”-seminar days, like those next week in Tallinn, will be repeated in 2013 in the Lithuanian harbour city of Klaipeda and in 2014 on the Finnish-Swedish Åland Islands.

Dance in rural areas
Aside from these meetings, residencies will also be held in 5 Nordic-Baltic rural areas, from the southernmost part of Denmark, to Latvia and Finland in the East, to Iceland, and Hammerfest, North of the Arctic Circle. These residencies will entail 10  Nordic-Baltic based dance artists groups spending 2 x 3 weeks in these non-urban spaces, interacting with local citizens and institutions, developing dance art inspired by the specific geography, culture, and milieu of the locations. . More than 100 artists groups have applied for the residency programme.

Think tanks and mentoring scheme develops dance infrastructure.
But the activities don’t stop here. keðja is also starting up 2 international think tanks, to address the significant challenges in performing arts, like the establishment of a common Nordic-Baltic touring network for dance performances, and sustainability in the production of dance and performing arts. Also 12 young, up and coming, performing arts producers will be granted a 2 year personal mentorship.

Strengthening of dance terminology and articulation
Finally, there will also be 8 different ”writing labs” taking place - all focusing on how dance is perceived, articulated, and reflected upon by critics, students, audiences or the artists themselves. 

The activities are part of the 3-year project keðja 2012-2015, headed by Dansehallerne in Copenhagen. The project is funded among others by the European Union’s cultural programme and is a continuation of keðja’s first Nordic-Baltic sessions held in 6 countries in 2008-2011 - also funded by the European Union. 

Facts about keðja 2012-2015:

• The keðja seminar in Tallinn takes place September 18-20, 2012.
• keðja means chain in Icelandic.
• keðja has up until now involved more that 1100 dance professionals from the Nordic and Baltic countries.
• keðja has implemented activities in 8 Nordic and Baltic countries. In the next 2 years, this will be expanded to 9 countries/autonomous areas in all.
• keðja is sponsored by the European Union’s cultural programme and the Nordic-Baltic mobility programme. The individual activities are sponsored among others by the Nordic Culture Fund, as well as several public and private funds (local ,regional, and national). 
• Dansehallerne in Copenhagen (formerly Dansens Hus) has been head of keðja since 2007. Other keðja partners are: Dance Info Finland, Helsinki; Dance Information Norway, Oslo; Independent Theatres Association, Reykjavik; Union of Estonian Dance Artists, Estonia; Fish Eye, Klaipeda; Bora Bora, Aarhus; Danseareana nord, Hammerfest; MAD Production, Helsinki; New Theatre Institute of Latvia, Riga;  SITE, Stockholm as well as associated partner Kultur i Väst, Göteborg.

Please visit:
www.kedja.net/tallinn-2012/
www.facebook.com/Kedja2012

For information about the keðja activities, please contact:
Kamma Siegumfeldt, project manager
danceinfo@dansehallerne.dk 
+45  33 88 80 21 / +45 21 49 04 11

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