New impulses for the network: An interview with the new partner institutions of explore dance

Strengthening contemporary dance for young audiences together in a sustainable way

explore dance has gained two strong new partners with Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm in Frankfurt am Main and Perform[d]ance in Stralsund. These two institutions now not only expand the network’s platform to six partners from six different cities and federal states, they also contribute their own artistic profiles and experiences in working with young audiences

explore dance Editorial Team | 22 October 2025

What motivated you to become part of the explore dance network?

What would you like your institution to contribute to the network – and what do you expect to gain from it?

In your opinion, what can the art form of dance offer young audiences in particular? 

Nora Elberfeld: 1004 Zentimeter Mut, Photo: Jonas Albrecht

Are there any topics, formats or communication strategies that you, as new partners, would particularly like to promote with explore dance? 

What specific plans do you have for your first season in the network?

Is there any inspiration from your previous work with young audiences that you would like to share?

„It’s a two-way street!“

What structural approaches, resources and attitudes do (cultural) institutions need in order to successfully accomplish the participation of children and young people?

Children, teenagers and young adults take on different roles in the work of explore dance: they are the subject of research, those whose lives are explored; they are a source of inspiration for a contemporary representation of young people’s lives; and at the same time they are colleagues in the joint conception of pieces and during the rehearsal process, as well as visitors, who come to experience a dance piece and take in its effects.

During the exchanges between explore dance artists from various cities, it became clear: it’s not only the young people, who are bursting with enthusiasm and experiencing lightbulb moments popping up in all directions like popcorn. Producing for young audiences opens up new perspectives for adult professionals as well – both in terms of artistic discourse about aesthetics and representation, as well as regards the regulation of bodies and their movements.

by Carolin Gerlach | 11 October 2025

Daring to Change Sides

In everyday life, roles are often pre-defined: whether in the classroom or the theatre, students usually sit and react, while teachers or dancers often stand and act. How can this perspective be reversed so that young audiences can also become young co-creators? What form of collaboration enables young people to move from mere presence or involvement in an activity #attendance to contributing equally #participation?

Let’s think big and go one step further by asking: What could #structural #engagement look like; one, in which children, teenagers and young adults have their hands on the controls, shape frameworks, manage resources, make decisions and, in this role, effectively bring their concerns to the public’s attention?

Over the course of a three-part online event series in spring 2025, we explored and discussed the conditions necessary for young creative artists to experience the greatest possible freedom of action, self-efficacy and public recognition. We interviewed pioneers between the ages of 11 and 45, who gave us insight into six projects.

Create the Framework

The first session began with reflections from an adult perspective: What spaces are available and how can they be made attractive for children and young people to want to participate in them? Open programmes for children and teenagers are available across Germany from a wide variety of institutions: from churches to community radio stations, youth fire brigades and Red Cross Youth organisations to theatre and sports clubs. Taking the municipal administration’s concept for more participation by child and young people in Riesa, Saxony, we spoke with Fabian Brenner from the Child and Youth Participation Service Centre and with artist Dominic Glöß about structural requirements.

Dominic Glöß now lives in Chemnitz and works as an illustrator. Growing up in Riesa, he helped organise an art festival there as a teenager twenty years ago and witnessed the power of genuine youth participation. “It’s about staying with it, working together from the idea to the actual implementation, overcoming apparent hurdles, and going through the various stages of development of the collaboration.” Understanding each other as a team and presenting an idea to the outside world has shaped Dominic to this day: as a young adult, he and his friends founded the Kotburschi collective, which organises events such as the interdisciplinary art festival MALJAM JUMBLE in Dresden.

Testing Autonomy

The involvement of children and young people therefore strengthens both their sense of self-empowerment and their political engagement. But how are such opportunities for participation structured and accessed? What incentives are created to attract the attention and interest of young people? And what really makes participatory processes attractive to children and young people?

What answers do project organisers and their adult staff find to these questions – and how do they differ from the answers given by young people? We will address this topic in the second discussion session and hear directly from young people aged between 11 and 24 about the projects they are involved in, what keeps them involved and how they actively shape life in their local communities.

Inspiration from Berlin – Children Accompany a Festival

The perspectives of the young participants vary greatly: children have different needs and interests than teenagers, who in turn have a different view of the world than young adults. In conversations with children from the Blick’s Mal youth group at the Augenblick Mal! festival, it became clear how important contact with their adult partners from the festival team is to them.

Two cultural educators take care of communication with parents and guardians and supervise the children during the meetings. They organise rooms for group meetings and tickets for excursions, moderate the proceedings, and document and communicate the children’s decisions as feedback back to the larger festival team. The kids can always rely on this – and therefore feel well looked after. Incidentally, the language of appreciation is particularly evident here in one achievement: “When the chaperones actually bring the snacks we choose!”

Inspiration from Bremen – Young Adults Curate an Exhibition

“New Perceptions” is the name of the Young Curatorial Board at the Kunsthalle Bremen. The deal is clear from the outset: the cultural institution aims to “open its doors to new and younger audiences and promote diversity and participation.’”To this end, it offers its young board members the chance to design their own exhibition and the opportunity to independently lead guided tours at the Kunsthalle as paid guides

A project coordinator acts as the “hinge” between the young board and the management of the Kunsthalle. She takes care of communication and makes sure that decisions are taken notice of and implemented in both directions. Another cornerstone for the successful integration of the youth group is access to their own spaces. By providing a space and even handing over the keys, the institution allows the group to experience both a sense of belonging and freedom.

Inspiration from Wolfenbüttel – Young People Shape Local Politics

Freya and Emil from the Jugendparlament Wolfenbüttel are actively involved in local politics. They were elected by students for a two-year term and represent the concerns and interests of young people in their town, for example when it comes to school, leisure activities or the environment – from new sports fields and safe routes to school to better bus connections. The Youth Parliament listens to the concerns of children and young people and incorporates them into city politics.

Encouraging Self-Empowerment

Although the calls to run for office and vote in the youth parliament are aimed at a broad target group, Freya and Emil criticise the lack of diversity among those involved. Access opportunities in terms of equal rights and participation for all students in the city are therefore an important issue for participatory projects.

Who does an invitation reach? Who actually feels addressed by it – and who does not? How does the composition of a group affect its decisions? And what if young people did not first have to be invited by an institution to come together and engage in social or political discourse? In the third session, we will look at methods of self-empowerment.

Cesy Leonard, founder of the collective „Radikale Töchter“ (Radical Daughters), provides ideas on how we can formulate societal concerns, discover our own voice and take action. Since 2019, she and her colleagues have been motivating teenagers and young adults to participate more in politics using playful methods in school workshops. The collective sees it as its task to educate more people about the possibilities of political participation and, at the same time, encourage them to express their feelings in unconventional ways and to put utopian ideas into practice.

Changing the Rules

Performance art intervenes in the social and in politics and aims to transform society through creative means. Every square, park or street section has its own rules, which can be legally interrupted or disrupted for a short time through performance art in order to attract attention. This blurs the line between performers and spectators. It all starts with dissatisfaction: those who want to change something and find a way to make their voice heard on a chosen topic become active. The core of their performance art is working with anger and indignation, as many young people are familiar with feelings of injustice and can relate to them: “When was the last time you were angry and why? Has anger ever helped you achieve something? What makes you angry over and over again?” Anger often stands at the beginning of political change. “It’s a powerful feeling when we manage to turn anger into courage!” Young people are encouraged to use their anger for something productive.

How to #Rule?!

Successful child and youth participation has many similarities with dance and theatre productions: it requires people to gather in one place at the same time and focus on a common goal. The exemplary projects share the fact that they are affiliated with a supporting institution, which provides financial resources and professional accompaniment in the form of at least one paid specialist who mediates between the institution and the young people.

All initiatives are based on the conviction that children, teenagers and young adults themselves know best what interests them, what they want to do and what support they need in order to do it. It is therefore up to us adults to manage the spaces and resources, monitor regulations, listen attentively and create such opportunities.

Certified by students

How young people accompanied and helped to shape the creation of the pop-up Tie Break

During the rehearsal process, explore dance artists visit students at school, discuss the choreographies’ topics with them, show them initial excerpts, or invite them to rehearsals. How do young people experience being involved in the creation of an explore dance production at their school?

For the new Hamburg production Tie Break, choreographer Constantin Trommlitz and his dancers worked closely with the theatre profile course at the Emilie-Wüstenfeld-Gymnasium. In the following interview, students Mila (17) and Gianluca (17) talk about how they experienced the process and what was special about being so closely involved in the creation of a dance production.

Interview by Katrin Breschke, project manager explore dance Hamburg | 12 September 2025

Describe a normal school day as opposed to a day when someone from outside – like us – comes in. What’s the difference?

Were you apprehensive when you found out that you would be working with dance and choreography next?

What was it like when we first visited you? I remember you had just finished a maths test and your mind was completely elsewhere. You knew we were coming, but you didn’t know what it was about. Right?

Do you feel that the theatre profile course is a subject where you have more say than in other subjects?

If you had to describe the piece to someone else, what is it about and why should they see it? (They think about it). Perhaps it’s about different topics for you. 

What advice would you give to people who are afraid they won’t understand dance? 

Now we’ve come to you and already had an idea for a piece. Constantin had topics he wanted to work on choreographically. If you could still have a say in the matter, what topic should a dance piece be based on?

It is important to be in dialogue with the target group during the rehearsal process?

Could you put a stamp on it saying ‘”certified by …”?

Is there a difference between dance performances coming to your school and you going to the theatre?

Culture in rural areas

Opening doors for young people – how explore dance combats the silence with dance

With physical precision and emotional strength, the pop-up WUW – Wind und Wand by dancer duo ZINADA speaks of pressure and marginalisation in youth, but also of self-empowerment. With this performance, the explore dance network brings contemporary dance to places where art rarely goes – and meets young people for whom silence is sometimes louder than all else.

By David Schmidt | 27 June 2025

A grey gym, strong electro beats, a few dozen pupils on benches – and a wall in the middle of the room. Not a real one, but a gym mat smeared with writing and colourful graffiti motifs. It symbolises the challenges that young people face.

In their coming-of-age performance WUW – Wind und Wand, Jin Lee and Jihun Choi tell the story – merely through dance and without words – of the struggles that young people go through with themselves, their parents’ expectations, feelings of shame, depression and the pressure to perform.

The wall controlled by Jin Lee’s dance partner Jihun Choi is a mighty obstacle that the artist tries to overcome, over and over again – in vain. After countless attempts, she collapses on the floor, visibly resigned. But then Lee takes up the dance again, this time with a new dynamic, playful and lighter. What seemed immutable just a moment ago is gradually transformed – until Lee finally stands tall and confident on the wall. Conflicts can be resolved, hurdles can be overcome: WUW ends on a note that offers encouragement to their young audience at the Strausberg II grammar school in Altlandsberg. ZINADA danced here in May 2025.

The performance was initiated by the explore dance network for dance for young audiences, which brings children and young people into direct contact with contemporary dance and aims to further enable more artistic participation by young audiences throughout Germany.

A central component are the so-called pop-up pieces, which also include WUW: these are mobile productions that do not require complex stage equipment and take place where young audiences already are – in classrooms, gyms and assembly halls. A small town like Altlandsberg is a particularly good place to perform in. “We want to take dance to places where it doesn’t normally occur,” says Johanna Simon, project manager at explore dance.

“It’s like a sneeze – you can’t suppress it”

In this physically intense performance, choreographer Jin Lee explores her own adolescent experiences – marked by exclusion, psychological pressure, but also self-empowerment. As a teenager in South Korea, Jin Lee felt unaccepted by those around her. So she left, studied at the Experimental Academy of Dance in Salzburg, graduated with top marks, and later moved to Munich, where she has since made a name for herself through her performances.

Through the distance from her parents and the practice of expressive dance, she found ways to process her youth – and gradually reconnected with her family. The lessons she drew from this journey are artistically woven into WUW. “It’s about the feeling of not being seen,” says Jin Lee. “And about how dance can be a way to rediscover yourself.”

The search for words that express individual feelings

After the performance, the teenagers talk about what they have experienced, their feelings and their interpretations in a workshop. They form a large circle around Jin Lee and together search for words to express their individual feelings. Pens and yellow sticky notes are distributed. They write down two words: A feeling they had while watching and the part of their body where they feel it. One pupil writes “happiness and head” and sticks the note on her forehead. Another writes “despair and head”– and then sticks the note to her heart.

“That’s exactly why I do my job”, says Schnetzinger: “To open doors for young people.” The teacher wants to offer access not only to art such as modern dance, but also to other forms of thinking, feeling and talking about it. “Especially here in the countryside, physicality is often only associated with achievement,” she says. “But what happens when we start using our bodies to talk about things that can’t be put into words?”

Children at Brandenburg’s schools are often good at sports and at functioning. But when it comes to their feelings, they become quiet. And this is precisely what makes the work of explore dance and performances like the one by ZINADA so valuable: “It’s about things that children can’t deal with because nobody talks to them about how it works. But the reactions show: the feelings are there.”

“In the countryside, interactions are often less open – there is a lack of encounters with people who are different.”

Jin Lee from ZINADA emphasises how important it is to address emotions in teenagers by telling a story: After a performance in front of a sixth grade class in Potsdam, a girl approached her and asked: “Did you really experience it like that?”

The twelve-year-old said that she suffered from depression and could not talk to her parents about it. “She felt like they were treating her as if she were a threat,” says Lee. “She was twelve and felt severely depressed, and there was no one to help her. That made me incredibly sad.” She encouraged the girl: “I said to her: “You will find your way, just like I found mine. Yours will be different to mine, but I know you will find it!”

Such encounters with adults who listen, says Lee, were rare in her childhood – and are still not very common today. “I learnt as a child that my way of being was wrong,” she says. “I was always too much. Too loud, too wild. And I was constantly told what a girl should be like.”

Even today, she still encounters prejudices in her work – especially when she is travelling in more rural regions, as she is here with explore dance. People are often less open, sometimes you sense subtle rejection, sometimes open irritation. In big cities like Berlin, Munich, Hamburg or Potsdam, on the other hand, the response is much more open and diverse. “I encounter sexism and racism more often in the countryside,” she says. “I’ve realised that the two go hand in hand, even with children.”

However, she actually welcomes these incidents because: “It’s good when it becomes visible. Then it can be discussed.” Jin Lee speaks to students who behave like this on the spot. She will discuss it later in front of the class, she says, “but without naming names”. Away from the big cities, there is often a lack of engagement with diversity – or simply encounters with people who are different. “That’s precisely why we want to also be present there.”

David Schmidt is independent journalist and lives in Berlin. www.davidhansmoritzschmidt.de

In the seven years of its existence, explore dance has so far produced 35 dance pieces for children and young people of various ages, including pieces for the stage and mobile pop-up pieces. These have been shown in over 600 performances on stages, in classrooms and in public spaces in cities and rural areas throughout Germany – from Altlandsberg to Lalling, from Bergen (on Rügen) to Eisenhüttenstadt, from Osnabrück to Braunschweig to Berlin.

“Feeling the spirit of the performance”

How the go plastic company’s pop-up Fight for your fairytale can be experienced barrier-free thanks to audio description and tactile guidance

Since 2018, explore dance has been committed to ensuring that all children and young people – regardless of their individual circumstances and personal background – have access to dance as an art form. In this context, the network is also concerned with the question of how its productions can be experienced by blind or visually impaired young people.

Our Dresden network partner HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts has developed an accessible description for the pop-up Fight for your fairytale by the Dresden-based go plastic company together with audio narrator Swantje Henke. With the help of this accompanying audio description and a tactile tour in advance, the playful ‘spirit’ of Fight for your fairytale can also be experienced beyond visual perception.

Other artists in our network also offer accessible adaptations of their plays: Munich-based choreographer and dancer Sarah Huby has developed a version for blind audiences for her pop-up Hey Körper?!. More participation and inclusion through accessible programmes – an important goal that explore dance will continue to pursue together with its artists and partners.

This article uses selected German audio examples to provide an insight into the audio description of Fight for your fairytale. In the concluding interview, audio descriptor Swantje Henke explains the challenges and opportunities of accessible programmes, especially in the field of dance.

By Swantje Henke and Franziska Ruoss | 6 June 2025

1. Listen, touch, feel – how dance can be experienced without barriers

Audio description gives blind and visually impaired viewers access to the visual elements of a dance show or performance. These include the plot, costumes, locations, gestures, facial expressions, objects and other visual communication elements.

The description is provided live via a separate audio track, which is recorded by a professional audio narrator using a wireless headset system. The audience wears the headphones during the performance and receives a detailed description of what is happening on stage – from movements and facial expressions to changes in space. At the same time, they perceive the music, sounds and atmosphere of the live performance like the rest of the audience.

In addition, a tactile tour before the performance offers the opportunity to explore key elements of the play tactilely: the stage space, costumes, objects and the dancers themselves and their characteristic movements. By specifically feeling the most important dance moves and making own movements, visually impaired visitors gain access to the choreography – even before the performance begins.

2. Audio examples from the audio description of Fight for your fairytale

The following audio samples are taken from the audio description by Swantje Henke in collaboration with the go plastic company team. They are initially only available in German.

3. Interview with audio narrator Swantje Henke

Swantje Henke is an actress, narrator and audio writer based in Berlin.

Franziska Ruoss is artistic project manager for explore dance at HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts.

On expedition with two aliens in Potsdam

A creative photo story inspired by the pop-up Was geht, Erdling? by Caroline Beach and Saida Makhmudzade

Imagine you had the opportunity to fly to another planet and find out what life is like there. Are there living creatures? How do they move? What peculiarities, special features or absurdities characterise them? How do they interact with their environment? And what does all of this possibly reveal about our own life on Earth?

This is exactly the experiment attempted by the two aliens Ronny and Margret, only in reverse: they land on planet Earth and examine it with curiosity.

Scenographer and photographer Amelie Sabbagh welcomed and accompanied both of them on their expedition to earth – to Potsdam to be precise.

You can follow our duo’s first steps on unfamiliar terrain in the photo story.

From Amelie Sabbagh | 28 May 2025

About the piece

Was geht, Erdling? (translated as What’s up, earthling?) is an interactive pop-up piece for children age 6 and up – funny, spontaneous and very curious about humanity. Choreographers and perfomers Caroline Beach and Saida Makhmudzade combine danced elements of street style with direct communication and playful interaction with the audience.

Together with their young audience, they set out on a moving expedition to the peculiarities of life on Earth: What is good about our planet – and what maybe less so?

By asking targeted questions, they spotlight the children’s ideas and weave their answers into an improvised stand-up rap. The result is a poetic and impressive kaleidoscope of young perspectives on our world.

Was geht, Erdling? leaves its mark even after the show: it not only causes laughter, but above all encourages children and adults alike to think about our world.

Choreography and Performance: Caroline Beach, Saida Makhmudzade

Set and Costumes: Amelie Sabbagh, Josef Panda

Production Management: Kati Thiel

“Sharing Unspoken Secrets”

How dance becomes a secret language in WUW – Wind und Wand (“Wind and Wall”): A film about the interaction of students with the artistic collective ZINADA

With powerful yet sensitive choreography, the artistic collective ZINADA creates a special connection with its young audience. The performance compares growing up with overcoming a massive wall. Jihun Choi and Jin Lee capture the emotional challenges of this phase of life so impressively in their dance that they are intuitively understood by their young audience.

Ulrike Klemm, teacher at Klenze-Gymnasium, and Angelika Endres, project manager of explore dance, explain why this educational format also works without words and how the pupils are actively involved. Find out more in our film clip and take a look behind the scenes of the WUW premiere in a Munich school sports hall.

A film by Fokus Tanz München for explore dance | 31 January 2025

Concept: Jin Lee
Choreography & Performance: ZINADA (Jihun Choi and Jin Lee)
Music: Benny Omerzell
Costume and wall design: Soli Jang, Jihun Choi
Production: Fokus Tanz
Interview partners: Ulrike Klemm, Angelika Endres
Editing: Severin Vogl, Lara Schubert

“It was mainly about the heart”

An interview about the pop-up KOSMOKÖRPER by Brazilian choreographer Elisabete Finger

The theatre pedagogue and teacher at the AWO primary school in Potsdam, Chica Schmidt, accompanied the creative process of the KOSMOKÖRPER pop-up with her primary school class as an explore dance project partner. In this interview, she explains why projects like this one provide children with new creative freedom and spaces for movement – and how creative workshops, rhythmic heartbeat movements and drawing the outlines of their own bodies inspired the young participants.

By Astrid Priebs-Tröger | 19. Dezember 2024

When was your first encounter with explore dance? How did you become a partner of KOSMOKÖRPER?

We had already been in contact with the fabrik Potsdam, had several pop-up pieces as guest performances at our school and were therefore asked to be a project partner for KOSMOKÖRPER. This was in autumn 2023, and in summer 2024 I went to a workshop at the fabrik with Year 1 and 2 pupils. It was really well received and the children had fun. Especially the movements they tried out there and the painting on wallpaper panels.

It was very much about the heartbeat – babum babum babum – which the pupils also revisited themselves afterwards. In some cases, their teaching assistant did too, because it is something easily incorporated into a morning circle. It was mainly about the heart and then the children drew their own life-sized outlines on rolls of wallpaper. One child lay down on the floor on the paper, the other traced around their body with a pencil. The children then filled in the outlines of their own bodies and coloured them in:  What organs are inside you? What did you have for breakfast today? Where is your heart? The piece was still in its early stages and the choreographer’s idea was to capture the children’s thoughts and incorporate them into the development of the piece. It was mainly about movement ideas, but also about seeing how the children generally reacted to the subject matter.

What happened apart from this workshop, what material was available for preparation and follow-up?

There were two workshops – one at the fabrik, one at the school – and a first rehearsal performance at the school, in which the children saw an excerpt of the piece a week and a half before the premiere and then gave feedback to the artists. The children’s response to the performance was that the play wasn’t too long. And also that they saw and recognised a lot. Even at this age, they already handle abstraction well.

During the first workshop, it was also clear that some pupils already know a lot about their bodies, its processes and operations. They were however amazed at the step – taken from the workshop, when the team was still researching – to the rehearsal performance, in which the actual piece was already clearly visible in images, projections and choreographic elements. They reflected that they recognised the exercises and games from the workshops in the choreography of the piece.

As the name suggests, KOSMOKÖRPER by Elisabete Finger establishes a connection between the body and the cosmos.

They permeate each other and overlap.

How do you introduce primary school children to such a complex topic?

Well, mainly with lots of movement. (laughs) The choreographer and the two performers offered a lot of movement. One very impressive example was a circle that everyone formed together. It arose out of a very lively situation and then this heartbeat rhythm was passed on and received in silence by tapping each other. Always with one’s own hands on the other person’s back. It was very touching. The first workshop focussed on the participants’ own bodies. Which organs, which sounds do you recognise? How does the heart beat? Our pupils then saw the other level – projections of the cosmos – in the rehearsal performance.

How was the communication with the director and the two English-speaking performers?

Communication was pretty straightforward. Johanna Simon from fabrik Potsam translated in the workshops and our children also learn English at school. They could also ask questions themselves and these were then translated. The children found this exciting because it gave them an example of why they are learning English. They listened intently, also to find out whether they already understood something by themselves.

How did you approach the topic yourself, how did you specifically guide the children?

There was extensive preparatory and follow-up material, including practical exercises and additional information about the piece and its contents, sent out in advance. It included perception exercises on the subject of the body. I didn’t explicitly prepare for this myself because the topic comes up all the time in my theatre pedagogical practice. I took the children to the fabrik and let myself be surprised. We then took it up again in the follow-up to the workshop.

How were the inside-outside levels of the piece addressed?

How did the children react to it, what effect did it have on them?

It’s a very complex topic and if we were to do the project again, I would suggest Year 5 or 6 for it. First and second graders are still very young and their attention span is shorter than that of older children.

The inside and outside were already offered when colouring, but I’m not quite sure whether this really got through to everyone. There was one exception: one boy was able to explain very vividly what goes on in his body when he eats breakfast, where the food he eats goes and how the processes in the body take place. He described himself with the words “I’m a little doctor” to the amazement of the group.

Of course, the other children also took something away with them and collected ideas, and they experienced a form of theatre that they would not experience in this way outside of school.

What was important in the workshops?

What were the challenges? What were the highlights?

What did the students enjoy the most?

Even the journey there is a challenge for younger children. Travelling together by bus and train, the unfamiliar space in the fabrik. New, unfamiliar people. What the children enjoyed most were the different movement activities, which they also took back to school afterwards.

The highlight of the whole process was the performance that took place in the school at the end. There were great “aha” moments with the finished choreography – including the arc from the inside to the outside when looking at the projections, own associations to plants that looked like body parts. “Is that a breast? Or a cactus?”, Are they really eating the gloves?

Feelings were experienced intensely, both as irritation and fascination. And the encounters with the two performers. Overall, it was clear to see how open the children were to the artistic team after the multiple encounters, how mutual trust developed.

Were the children’s ideas that emerged in the workshops incorporated into the performance?

If so, which ones?

The subject of digestion was already a topic in our first conversation: What did you eat this morning? But other associations of theirs also flowed into the piece, particularly visually into the projections – such as rivers inside and around us. Or the topic of rubbish.

How did the children react during the performance and in the conversations afterwards?

The performance took place in the school’s theatre hall. In front of a total of 50 children, including some who had not been involved in the creative process.

The children reacted in different ways. Many were enthusiastic, fascinated by what they saw and some even asked and answered questions afterwards: What did you see? What did you feel? Did something irritate you? There were also lots of technical questions: Where did the smoke come from? Was it all under the white coat?

There were also children who found what they saw very strange. That’s completely okay – and that’s exactly how the questions are organised in the follow-up conversation – that’s what these conversations are for. For many children, it’s the first time they’ve seen this kind of dance.

What do dance projects like these do in co-operation with the children involved, with the teachers? Was the project integrated into regular lessons?

Yes, the project was integrated into lessons, there was the collection of topics and the preparation and follow-up work. We spoke to the children again – we do this after every visit to the theatre – and it’s great when the pupils can move together with dance professionals. These are different, unusual encounters for everyone, an exchange at eye level and a way of being and learning together. And the dancers are always asked the same question: Is this your profession?

Your personal conclusion at the end?

It was and is a great project. Because I think that in our current society, children lack creative freedom and spaces for movement. I hope that many more schools will be able to take part in this project.

Chica Schmidt is a theatre pedagogue and works at the Potsdam AWO primary school “Marie Juchacz”, which has a theatre pedagogy profile and celebrates its tenth year in 2025. Chica Schmidt works with all learning groups, including across year groups and always on a project basis.

Johanna Simon works as artistic director of explore dance at the fabrik Potsdam.

The interview was conducted by Astrid Priebs-Tröger, who lives and works as a freelance cultural journalist in Potsdam.

explore dance at the German Dance Award

On 12 October 2024, explore dance was honored for outstanding development in dance at the German Dance Award ceremony at the Aalto Theater in Essen. The network thus received one of the highest and most prestigious awards for dance in Germany.

Editorial team | 31. Oktober 2024

The jury statement of the Dachverband Tanz Deutschland states:

With a diverse range of thematic offerings from friendship to physics, the network creates spaces at various locations for experiencing contemporary dance and the socially relevant issues it addresses. (…) With formats such as the Mobile Pop UP, explore dance goes beyond its main objectives to offer children and young people dance through performance, it also introduces them to modes of perception and takes them seriously as an audience. explore dance’s focus is not only on dance education (…), the touring system, which allows individual members to show their work throughout Germany, is also a special strength of the network. In this way, contemporary dance is actively reaching out to young audiences, as it is an audience that cannot travel to festivals, galas or well-known venues in the same way as working adults.

On the evening before the gala event, choreographer Anna Konjetzky presented her explore dance production “MOVE MORE MORPH IT!”.

The Pop Up piece – danced by Sahra Huby, who has just been awarded the Dance Prize of the City of Munich – is a journey through different identities, self-designs and fantastic figures. It premiered in Munich in 2018 and has since been shown in around 70 performances across Germany and internationally – from Johannesburg to Laos, from Mexico City to Reutlingen and Copenhagen

From the laudatory speech by Helge Lindh, MdB

In his laudatory speech, cultural politician Helge Lindh, member of the German Bundestag, paid tribute to the service to democracy that explore dance provides:

„explore dance beteiligt unendlich aufrichtig und ernsthaft junge Menschen, Kinder und Jugendliche, am tänzerischen Schaffensprozess, indem es ihre Lebensperspektiven, ihre Realitäten, ihre Fähigkeiten will und würdigt. Und es erkundet damit auf eine schonungslos ehrliche Weise das wahrlich komplizierte Beziehungsgeflecht von Tanzkunst, Leben und Demokratie ganz praktisch. Und leistet damit ganz konkret tausendmal mehr für den gesellschaftlichen, emanzipatorischen, demokratischen Prozess als zahllose Panels und Podien dieser Erde. Es ist radikal künstlerisch und radikal gesellschaftlich zugleich.“

The award is a promising signal for the future of the network, which still lacks a long-term funding perspective, especially at federal level, but whose importance and track record for the development of dance as an art form as well as aesthetic education at federal and state level is undisputed.

The states and municipalities of the four partner cities that support the nationwide network also congratulate from Saxony, Hamburg, Munich, Brandenburg and Potsdam on the outstanding award as part of the German Dance Award:

“A Healing Process”

Choreographer Alexander Varekhine reflects on the creation of his new piece “Where the Carpet Catches Dust”

Von Peter Sampel | 25. Oktober 2024

A calming background noise fills the room. Is it the steady crackling of a fireplace or is it raindrops gently hitting a window from outside? Either or, it envelops the room in cosy warmth. Two massive rolls of carpet are lying on the floor (Set: Christopher Dippert), out of which the dancers Alexander Varekhine and Laura Kisselmann first emerge, then later balance and play on, pulling them back and forth or using them as shelter. In numerous voiceovers (Sound Design: Sebastian Wolf), the two recall memories from their childhoods, of their homes. Invisible images of nature, of food, seasons or a forgotten language, but also of pain, abandonment and toxic family relationships hover over the performers and deconstruct the often idealistic image of a safe home.

The carpet as a representation of home

Carpets not only provided the title, they are also complex, fluffy protagonists that feature throughout the entire piece. For Alexander, a carpet is the ultimate representation of home. He has always been confronted with them, whether on the walls of his great-grandmother’s house or on sofa beds. As a child, you play on carpets, they catch and keep out the cold, says Alexander. At the same time, however, they also set a clear boundary between soft and hard and represent a conservative normativity, a shell or fixed idea of a home that perhaps needs overcoming.

Over the course of the 30-minute performance, Alexander and Laura provide images for the mental pain of their childhood through physical battles, falls or protective postures in order to ultimately overcome these threats together and hold each other, providing comfort and strength. Here the carpet becomes the foundation of a new home, which can be found in positive memories, chosen families, friendships or even in oneself. Alexander says: “I can also build my home on the level of the things that have given me a home.”

A kind of empowerment

It is easy to see why the rehearsals for “Where the Carpet Catches Dust” and even the performances have been a very emotional process for Alexander and Laura. Writing the texts for the voiceovers was very difficult in some respects. Some passages were peppered with small untruths, mixed up or swapped in order to make the specific “roles” less recognisable. In retrospect, however, the most important thing for Alexander wasn’t the pain that they were able to express during rehearsals, but rather the kind of empowerment attained, the realisation that they are not at the mercy of others, but that there are other ways forward. Alexander wants to provide young people with one central message: “You don’t always have to follow the rules of your home. You can also go against them. If you don’t feel good about them, you don’t have to put up with them. There are places where you can talk about your experiences.”

Since its premiere at K3 in September, “Where the Carpet Catches Dust” has also been shown in Potsdam and Cottbus. Alexander says that he often observes young people reacting defensively in the beginning, especially young men, but that they always calm down towards the end. The follow-up discussions sometimes allow for personal insights, but the classroom is also not the right place to open up vulnerably. It is much more important what happens in their heads later, allowing them to take time to digest and feel empowered ­– and this applies not just to the young people, but particularly also to the adult spectators present, who can reflect on their own childhood and possibly their role as parents. According to Alexander, the empowering effect of “Where the Carpet Catches Dust” is not just limited to its younger audiences, but affects everyone, even himself as a performer: “In many ways, it was a healing process. I was able to understand and forgive a lot. And work things out: Maybe there is another way.”