About us
explore dance enables children and young people to experience contemporary dance and participate in the artistic process, regardless of their place of residence or social background. Through the production, mediation and performance of dance pieces, the network aims to establish and expand the field for young audiences nationwide at a high artistic level.
During the rehearsal phases, the artists interact directly with children and young people and actively involve them in their creative work through various mediation formats such as workshops, rehearsal visits and research sessions. In addition to stage productions, explore dance has a special focus on mobile productions in the so-called pop-up format, that provide access to dance as an art form away from the theatre stage – for example in schools, museums, cultural centres or in public spaces. Regular festivals present current productions and offer space for nationwide and international networking as well as for cultural and educational policy dialogue.
Experiencing theatre and dance performances is an essential artistic experience for children and young people – making this experience possible for them is a fundamental cultural policy task. The network also aims to strengthen the visibility of the art form in the long term: Contemporary dance is to be anchored permanently and on an equal footing with other art forms and genres in the standard programme of cultural activities available to children and young people.
Seven years of explore dance show the potential that dance opens up for young audiences: 34 dance productions with around 600 performances nationwide and internationally, rehearsal visits, workshops and dialogue formats as well as collaboration with over 400 schools and around 200 artists bear witness to the network’s success. In addition to the 2019 Perspective Award for forward-looking and cultural policy projects from the German Theatre Award DER FAUST, the network also received the award for outstanding development in dance as part of the German Dance Award 2024.
PARTNER INSTITUTIONS
In 2018, the partners Fokus Tanz München, K3 – Center for Choreography | Tanzplan Hamburg at Kampnagel and fabrik Potsdam founded the network. With the start of the second funding phase of TANZPAKT Stadt-Land-Bund in 2022, the network expands to include a fourth partner, HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts Dresden. In summer 2024, the partners founded the explore dance association. In the future, explore dance will be expanded to include partners from other federal states.
“Networks are constellations without a centre. A network that wants to have an impact across federal states needs strong hubs – and the persistence to maintain and cultivate them in the long term. This is exactly what explore dance achieves – multidirectionally, for six seasons, at several locations, with many creative bodies and minds – for a large audience of children and young people.” (Excerpt from the jury statement, Dance Award 2024)
fabrik moves Potsdam
INTERNATIONAL CENTRE FOR DANCE AND MOVEMENT
fabrik moves is a subsidiary of fabrik Potsdam and holds the project explore dance Potsdam.
fabrik Potsdam – International Centre for Dance and Movement Art – is a house for professional dancers and companies, as well as a house for each and everyone who wants to watch and experience dance on their own.
fabrik Potsdam advocates independent research in the areas of dance, movement art, performance and choreography. The fabric was founded in 1991 as an initiative of choreographers, dancers, musicians and cultural activists. As the only theatre for dance in Brandenburg, it has since distinguished itself through its local ties, as well as its national and international networks.
Dance performances by young dancers, as well as worldwide renown choreographers, residency programs, the Potsdamer Tanztage as a yearly, international festival for contemporary dance, workshops and regular courses for bodywork and dance (for amateurs, professionals, children and adults) characterize the fabric Potsdam’s profile, making it a place, where dance is researched, produced and communicated.
Employees for explore dance:
SVEN TILL
Artistic direction Potsdam & management fabrik moves
sven.till@fabrik-moves.de
JOHANNA SIMON
Project management Potsdam
johanna.simon@fabrik-moves.de
GIULIA DEL BALZI
Dance outreach formats Potsdam
giulia.delbalzi@fabrik-moves.de
+49 [0] 331 280 03 14
fabrikpotsdam.de
K3 – Centre for Choreography | Tanzplan Hamburg at Kampnagel is competence centre for expertise in contemporary dance and choreography. Its programme focuses on residencies that combine artistic research and production, courses and qualification programmes for dance professionals, as well as dance mediation and cultural outreach. The choreographic centre is one of the few dance houses in the German-speaking region and the only one in northern Germany. K3 | Tanzplan Hamburg was founded in the 2006/07 season as part of the Federal Cultural Foundation’s Tanzplan Deutschland initiative (2006 to 2010). In 2007, the k3 exhibition hall at Kampnagel was renovated with funds provided by the Hamburg Cultural Authority. The resulting three dance studios, as well as the adjacent studio stage P1, now form the basis of K3 | Tanzplan Hamburg. K3 is an artistically independent institution operating within the organisational structure of Kampnagel.
As a globally affiliated dance house, K3 is a key initiator for the continued visibility and empowerment of dance as an art form in Hamburg, regionally, nationally and internationally. The three main areas of activity – residencies, classes and training, dance outreach – are contextually closely interwoven in order to render the boundaries between artistic work and dance outreach permeable. They are also the basis for, often longstanding, collaborations with academic and artistic institutions in various local, national and international contexts. Regular classes and professional trainings, specialised qualification formats as well as orientation and counselling services are also directed at professional dance makers and cultural practitioners. Programmes and courses for dance enthusiasts of all ages combine dance practice and discourse. A special focus is placed on cultural education formats for children and young people, both in the context of partnerships with schools, in projects with and by young people, and through dance pieces for young audiences.
Employees for explore dance:
KERSTIN EVERT
artistic direction K3
UTA MEYER
KATRIN BRESCHKE (Vertretung 2025)
project management Hamburg
BIANCA KLOSS
project asstistance Hamburg
FELIX WITTEK
funding management and Controlling
felix.wittek@kampnagel.de
+49 [0] 40 270 949 45
tanzplan@kampnagel.de
Fokus Tanz München has been working since 2006 with a focus on dance education and qualification and enables children and young people in a school and extracurricular context to gain access to artistic practice through professional dance professionals. The educational work is part of the initiative ACCESS TO DANCE – Tanzplan München, which contributes to the promotion and strengthening of contemporary dance in Munich and Bavaria. Fokus Tanz designs training courses for dancers and dance teachers and realises participatory art projects in collaboration with museums, orchestras and theatres.
In 2011, Fokus Tanz founded the Think Big! festival for contemporary dance, performance and music theatre for young audiences. Initially in cooperation with Campus/Bayerisches Staatsballett and from 2018 in partnership with the Schauburg, Theatre for Young Audiences of the City of Munich, the biennial festival makes a significant contribution to bringing the performing arts with a focus on dance to a diverse audience and creates places for international networking and exchange between dance professionals. The non-profit organisation is supported by the City of Munich’s Department of Culture and cooperates for explore dance in particular with the HochX Theatre and Live Art (see picture), as well as with the Munich City Library, the Muffatwerk and Tanztendenz München e.V.
fokustanz.de
thinkbigfestival.de
Employees for explore dance:
SIMONE SCHULTE-ALADAG
Artistic Direction
simone.schulte@fokustanz.de
ANJA BRIXLE
Managing Director
anja.brixle@fokustanz.de
LARA SCHUBERT & ANGELIKA ENDRES
Project Management
lara.schubert@fokustanz.de
angelika.endres@fokustanz.de
+49 [0] 89 30700238
HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts was founded as festival house and academy for musical and rhythmic education according to the visions of Heinrich Tessenow, trailblazer of modern architecture, and music educator Émile Jaques-Dalcroze in 1911. As the first cultural centre in Germany’s first garden city, the legendary edifice drew artists from all over Europe to Hellerau, among them Rilke, Kafka, Diaghilev, Van de Velde, Kokoschka, Gropius, Van der Rohe, Werfel, Busoni, Milhaud, Le Corbusier, Nolde, and Stefan Zweig until 1914. In the 1930s, the building was used as Police school and SS barracks, it was later a Soviet barrack and military hospital. The 1990s saw the houses revival through art.
Today, HELLERAU acts as an interdisciplinary and international centre for dance, performance, music, theatre, media art and visual arts. HELLERAU offers spaces for productions, festivals, concerts performances, exhibitions and discourse, cooperates with various regional cultural partners and is firmly connected internationally.
The residency apartments are as unique as opportunities for artistic research, production and encounters. Dresden, with its geography at the borders of Poland and the Czech Republic as well as by its history within Germany, occupies an important East-Western hub. Therefore, one important programmatic aspect deals with the role taken by the arts in trans- formational social processes in Eastern Bloc States after 1989. Other topics deal with neighbourhoods, generations, heritage and remembrance as well as with digital transformation and ecological sustainability. Carena Schlewitt has been artistic director since the season 2018/19.
Employee for explore dance:
Franziska Ruoss
ruoss@hellerau.org
+49 [0]173 369 63 66
+49 [0]351 264 62 85
www.hellerau.org
