Strong partners for explore dance! Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm and Perform[d]ance join nationwide network for dance for young audiences

The nationwide network explore dance – dance for young audiences is expanding to include two new renowned partners from Hesse and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: The Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm in Frankfurt/Main and Perform[d]ance Stralsund have joined explore dance and will strengthen the network’s work and mission of providing children and young people across Germany with access to dance as an art form in terms of reception and cultural participation.

With a total of six partner institutions from six different cities and federal states, the work of explore dance is now on an even broader footing:
More new productions for young audiences can be created, the national and international touring of the pieces can be strengthened and further intensified with a focus on rural areas, and the educational programmes for children, young people and teachers can be expanded.
However, the prerequisite for this remains that, in addition to funding from the participating federal states and municipalities of the partner institutions as well as from private foundations, there is also a funding perspective at federal level in the future, which is currently still pending for the 2025 and 2026 federal budgets.

The two new partner venues will bring in new productions for explore dance in the coming season. Guest performances between the participating cities and countries and a lively nationwide touring programme are planned in order to make the best possible use of synergies within the network.

Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm, one of the most important centres for dance, theatre and performance in Germany, brings a wealth of experience in making art accessible to a young and broad audience.
Director Anna Wagner emphasises: “We are extremely pleased to be part of this successful network, which does so much for the cultural participation of children and young people. We believe that dance is a powerful language that inspires and connects young people. Through our support, we want to further promote access to creative, bold and accessible dance projects and see great potential for this here in the region.”

Perform[d]ance from Stralsund, which specialises in contemporary dance and community dance, regularly presents classroom pieces in schools and at festivals as part of MV tanzt an, inspiring young people for contemporary dance and offering them a platform for creative development. “Thanks to explore dance, we can further strengthen the touring potential and the collegial exchange of knowledge in the field of dance for young audiences. At the same time, we are contributing our experience from the rural areas of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern to the network. Together, we want to dedicate ourselves to the artistic and professional development of the field of dance for young audiences,” say Stefan Hahn and Dörte Wolter, directors of Perform[d]ance.

explore dance has been committed to promoting and teaching contemporary dance to children and young people since 2018. In the seven years of its existence, 35 dance pieces have been created for children and young people of different ages. The stage and pop-up pieces have already been shown in over 600 performances on stages, in classrooms and in public spaces in urban and rural areas throughout Germany and internationally, flanked by hundreds of educational formats – from Flensburg to Bad Oldesloe and Zwickau to Lalling, from Osnabrück to Altlandsberg and Berlin to Eisenhüttenstadt.

‘Together with our new strong partners, we can expand the diversity of our offerings even further,’ affirm the board members of explore dance e.V., Dr Kerstin Evert, K3 | Tanzplan Hamburg, Sven Till, fabrik Potsdam, Simone Schulte-Aladağ, Fokus Tanz München and André Schallenberg, HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts in Dresden.
“It’s great to see how our network is continuing to grow and how new synergies are emerging as a result. In future, we want to give even more young people access to dance as an art form and artistic participation, regardless of their place of residence or social background, and thus also promote their understanding of democratic values such as co-determination, tolerance and respect.”

explore dance – Netzwerk Tanz für junges Publikum is an association of fabrik (moves) Potsdam, Fokus Tanz / Tanz und Schule München, HELLERAU – Europäisches Zentrum der Künste Dresden, K3 – Zentrum für Choreographie | Tanzplan Hamburg, Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt/Main and Perform[d]ance Stralsund.

explore dance is funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media; the explore dance activities of the project partners are co-financed by the City of Potsdam, the Ministry of Science, Research and Culture of the State of Brandenburg, the Cultural Department of the City of Munich and the Bavarian State Association for Contemporary Dance with funds from the Bavarian State Ministry, the Saxon State Ministry for Science, Culture and Tourism, the City of Dresden, the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, the Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain, the Crespo Foundation, the Ministry of Science, Culture, Federal and European Affairs of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and the district of Vorpommern-Rügen.
With the support of the Beisheim Foundation and the Art Mentor Foundation Lucerne.

Photo: Michel Nölle
from top left to bottom right: Franziska Ruoss (HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts, Dresden), Yvonne von Duehren (Press & Public Relations, Berlin), Sven Till (fabrik Potsdam), Simone Schulte-Aladağ, (Fokus Tanz München), Dörte Wolter (Perform[d]ance Stralsund), Angelika Endres (Fokus Tanz München), Felix Wittek (K3 | Tanzplan Hamburg), Juliane Raschel (Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt/Main), Katrin Breschke (K3 | Tanzplan Hamburg), Lara Schubert (Fokus Tanz München), Kerstin Evert (K3 | Tanzplan Hamburg), Anna Wagner (Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm Frankfurt/Main)