Education

The workshop 'Introduction to Contemporary Dance' offers the spectator basic reading and contextual tools with which to enter into the "reading" and thinking of contemporary dance. Through key historical paradigms and their contexts, the workshop guides participants through the production and creative processes of 20th-century contemporary dance, exploring how the understanding and treatment of dance bodies, space, time, choreographic structures, the role of the choreographer, the dance spectator, dance institutions, etc., have changed. We present key historical and contextual moments that sparked breakthroughs and shifts in the production and creation of contemporary dance works and their concepts (from performances to studio practices). We also touch upon the ways in which various contemporary dance publics responded to dance work, and how these publics were produced, nurtured, and transformed. Our historical magnifying glass covers the period from the turn of the 19th to the 20th century, through historical avant-gardes to the post-WWII era and the final decades of the 20th century; from early modern dance to conceptual dance or "post-dance".

As part of his residency in Ljubljana within the framework of the project Choreographic Turn #10, Keith led a week-long laboratory for local artists, from which a new work emerged. Initiated by Dragana Alfirević and created in collaboration with Slovenian artists, the piece Political Witchcraft for the New Era brings together the politics of play and care with the rituals of summer in the context of advocating for the renewal of social relationships − both among humans and beyond the human.

Alongside the exhibition Reflection of the Body, photographer Urška Boljkovac shared her knowledge and experience in the specifics of dance photography in a workshop intended for high school students. Boljkovac is part of the local artistic community, where she documents processes and events through her photographic work and transforms motifs from the field of contemporary performing arts into her own artistic photography.

Thiago Granato invited us into an artistic immersion in which individual and collective working situations served as the basis for exploring different logics of composition. Through choreography, we examined the performative capacities of the body to create, penetrate, dissolve, merge, move, and transform various contexts. In the workshop, Granato presented his working methodology and proposed several possibilities for discussing how, today, we can recognize, situate, and sustain a performance practice or choreographic project.

During his a week-long stay in Ljubljana, Mårten Spångberg gave a public lecture titled How Much I Dislike Art That Looks Experimental, presented his book Stories That Tell No Nothing, and mentored young choreographers and writers (Tatiana Kocmur, Anja Mejač, Julija Pečnikar). His residency, co-organized with Maska and Kino Šiška, offered dramaturgical guidance and a critical framework for reflecting on dance and expanded choreographic practices.

Long-time NDAS collaborator Céline Larrère visited us in the context of the project Choreographic Turn #7: A Meeting with Deborah, within which she led a three-day workshop titled Come Together, Right Now, Over Ljublj. In the workshop, Céline focused on presenting her practice of improvised solos that create a dance community.

Visiting multidisciplinary artist Adam Kinner (musician, composer, choreographer, performer, and dancer) led a five-day workshop during his residency and presented a work-in-progress at CoFestival. Adam shared elements of his practice with the group, combining voice and body in a particular way − how can vocal sound production also trigger or stimulate movement production? Certain preparatory exercises (such as voice and breathing warm-ups) were repeated, while others were developed further in order to embody and expand the experiences and practices.

The experiential anatomy workshop was prepared and led by Katra Kodela, a therapist and educator. The workshop was designed for professional dancers who already have experience in somatic work. Kodela structured the workshop around bodily systems so that each day focused on one of the physical systems, which was then translated into movement/dance. I

Impossible Actions is a procedural work for ten performers who, within a precisely measured and structured working period, engage with the procedures (structure, tasks, and dramaturgy) of the dance solo Nutricula in order to realize it individually and collectively.

Mistakes, slips, and failures are not only part of artistic practices but also integral to entrepreneurship, science, and, ultimately, life. In the contemporary world, they carry a negative connotation. Failure is the opposite of success, and when capitalism is its choreographer, it must be eliminated.

In the period between 2017 and 2021, NDAS collaborated on the production of Snježane Premuš's project Physical Manifestations, co-producing residencies in Budapest and the performance Every now is time, space. In October 2018, we co-organised a Body-Mind Centering workshop taught by Lisa Clark. Clark has been collaborating with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen since the beginning of the development of the movement method and is one of its best pedagogues. The workshop was organized for the participants of Snježana's project as well as the wider public.