The Introduction to Contemporary Dance workshop 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 us through the production and creative plants of contemporary dance in the 20th century, identifying how the thinking and handling 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 triggered breakthroughs and changes 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 changed. 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 period and the final decades of the 20th century; from early modern dance to conceptual dance or "post-dance".

WORKSHOP LEADERS
Rok Vevar, Dr Jasmina Založnik.

METHOD
Our work is based on documentary film footage from the collection of the Temporary Slovene Dance Archive at MSUM. The workshops are conducted in the form of lectures and discussions.