Outreach formats
explore dance offers a variety of approaches to contemporary dance for children and young people. For us, mediation means enabling young people to experience dance – and to do so in different ways. One focus is on opening up artistic processes, enabling an exchange at eye level between young audiences and artists, and exploring alternative ways of engaging, thinking and sharing. Seeing dance, talking about what has been seen, asking questions and dancing ourselves – we try to make all of this possible through our programme and to make dance an art form that can be experienced holistically.
A special feature of explore dance is that school children, day care and kindergarten groups have the opportunity to accompany the development of a piece. Children and artists meet in different formats and at regular intervals. The participating children are involved in the artistic processes, from finding a topic to the actual performance. Thanks to the intensive and continuous accompaniment of a production and the examination of its topics, the children and young people have a chance to get to know artistic methods of working and to slip into the role of young dramaturges.
These formats are an opportunity for the artistic team to immerse themselves in the everyday realities of their young audiences and thus gain a better understanding of their perspectives, thoughts and concerns. The formats support them in finding topics and in generating movement material.
Warm up | Meet & Greet – The children welcome the artists to their school
In a preliminary first visit to the school, the artists spend some time observing class and getting to know the students over the course of a school day. This allows the artists to gain a first impression of the learning environment and everyday school life of the children involved in the project and provides an opportunity for them introduce themselves and the idea of their piece. Physical exercises and movement games will also enable both sides to get to know each other on a non-verbal level.
Rehearsal visit with feedback session — The children come to the theatre
By visiting rehearsals in the theatre or the studio, the children meet the artists in an extracurricular space. They are invited to watch rehearsals or individual scenes of the production and then talk about them with the artistic team. They experience the work of dancers as a professional profession and get to know the theatre business better. Through direct feedback, they contribute their own impulses to the process.
Movement Workshop
Artists share their working methods by suggesting physical and dance exercises as well as movement tasks. In doing so, they give the children the opportunity to immerse themselves physically in the piece.
Introduction to the piece
In spoken or physical introductions to the performances, the audience is prepared for the artistic work in a sensual or informative way. These formats focus on the creation, the contents or the context of the production.
Post-Performance Talks
In discussion formats, young spectators and artists exchange ideas about what they have experienced. Questions, ideas and images associated with the piece during the performance can be verbalised and expressed. In the case of children and young people, small groups are particularly suited to creating an intimate atmosphere and integrating as many participants as possible in the conversations and allowing them to have their say.
explore dance offers a multi-faceted introduction to the field of contemporary dance for students and teachers. In addition to standard visits to performances, it is also possible to accompany the creation of a contemporary dance piece with a class in the form of workshops and visits to rehearsals, thus getting to know artistic methods of working up close. Our productions are always developed in close cooperation with schools. The pop up piece format even allows a dance production to be created directly in school or to be presented in the classroom.
In addition to our outreach programme for school classes, our formats for educators offer chances to delve more deeply in the subject of theatre and associated topics. In workshops, we teach artistic practices, dance techniques and feedback methods to integrate contemporary dance into the classroom.
For more information please contact: info@explore-dance.de
In order to prepare for a visit to the performance and to do some follow-up work on it, we provide supporting material for all plays. In addition to background information on the artistic teams and the content of the piece, this supporting material also contains instructions for practising or playing. It can also be used for getting inspired to carry out own choreographic experiments with students.
The supporting material is developed specifically for the performance and the age group addressed. Impulses for preparatory discussions within a class are often part of the material, which is created by experts in the field of dance for young audiences.
For more information please contact: info@explore-dance.de.
