{"id":18632,"date":"2025-06-27T17:16:51","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T15:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/explore-dance.de\/?p=18632"},"modified":"2025-07-02T11:53:59","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T09:53:59","slug":"culture-in-rural-areas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/explore-dance.de\/en\/journal-en\/culture-in-rural-areas\/","title":{"rendered":"Culture in rural areas"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row full_width=”stretch_row_content_no_spaces” css=”.vc_custom_1614879841390{padding-top: 0px !important;padding-right: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;padding-left: 0px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”18645″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css=”.vc_custom_1750848972314{margin-right: 0px !important;margin-bottom: 0px !important;margin-left: 0px !important;padding-top: 0px !important;padding-right: 0px !important;padding-bottom: 0px !important;padding-left: 0px !important;}”][vc_column_text][\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

Culture in rural areas<\/h1>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

Opening doors for young people \u2013 how explore dance<\/em> combats the silence with dance<\/h3>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]With physical precision and emotional strength, the pop-up WUW \u2013 Wind und Wand<\/em> by dancer duo ZINADA speaks of pressure and marginalisation in youth, but also of self-empowerment. With this performance, the explore dance<\/em> network brings contemporary dance to places where art rarely goes \u2013 and meets young people for whom silence is sometimes louder than all else.<\/strong><\/p>\n

By David Schmidt | 27 June 2025<\/strong>[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”12px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]A grey gym, strong electro beats, a few dozen pupils on benches \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

In their coming-of-age performance WUW \u2013 Wind und Wand<\/a>, Jin Lee and Jihun Choi tell the story \u2013 merely through dance and without words \u2013 of the struggles that young people go through with themselves, their parents’ expectations, feelings of shame, depression and the pressure to perform.<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 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 \u2013 until Lee finally stands tall and confident on the wall. Conflicts can be resolved, hurdles can be overcome: WUW<\/em> ends on a note that offers encouragement to their young audience at the Strausberg II grammar school in Altlandsberg. ZINADA<\/a> danced here in May 2025.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”18747″ img_size=”full” css=””][vc_empty_space height=”42px”][vc_column_text css=””]The performance was initiated by the explore dance<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n

A central component are the so-called pop-up pieces, which also include WUW:<\/em> these are mobile productions that do not require complex stage equipment and take place where young audiences already are \u2013 in classrooms, gyms and assembly halls. A small town like Altlandsberg is a particularly good place to perform in. \u201cWe want to take dance to places where it doesn’t normally occur,\u201d says Johanna Simon, project manager at explore dance.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s like a sneeze \u2013 you can’t suppress it\u201d<\/h3>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]In this physically intense performance, choreographer Jin Lee explores her own adolescent experiences \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

Through the distance from her parents and the practice of expressive dance, she found ways to process her youth \u2013 and gradually reconnected with her family. The lessons she drew from this journey are artistically woven into WUW<\/em>. “It\u2019s about the feeling of not being seen,” says Jin Lee. “And about how dance can be a way to rediscover yourself.”[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1750863584116{margin-right: 200px !important;}”][vc_column_text css=””]Modern dance can be emotionally challenging. This is clearly evident in the reactions of the young audience. The fact that ZINADA’s performance gets by entirely without words is a particular strength: it creates a directness that provides young people with immediate access to the topic.<\/p>\n

For some this causes visible irritation: A boy is sitting on the sidelines with a bright red face.He avoids looking at the stage, laughs embarrassed and uncontrollably. \u201cIt’s like a sneeze,\u201d says teacher Anne Schnetzinger sympathetically about the laughing student, \u201cYou can’t suppress it.\u201d It is important to support the students during such emotional outbursts.<\/p>\n

It is thanks to Schnetzinger that the students at the new Strausberg II secondary school are able to see such performances at all. She has been teaching art in Altlandsberg in the M\u00e4rkisches Oderland, an hour away from Berlin, since 2018. To her it is important to not only teach art history to the children and young people living here, but also to introduce them to contemporary art.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”18763″ img_size=”380×380″ alignment=”right” css=”.vc_custom_1750863619925{margin-left: -50px !important;}”][vc_empty_space height=”15px”][vc_single_image image=”18766″ img_size=”380×380″ alignment=”right” css=””][\/vc_column][vc_column][vc_empty_space][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

The search for words that express individual feelings<\/h3>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]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\u201d and sticks the note on her forehead. Another writes \u201cdespair and head\u201d\u2013 and then sticks the note to her heart.[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”18790″ img_size=”full” css=””][vc_empty_space height=”52px”][vc_column_text css=””]\u201cThat’s exactly why I do my job\u201d, says Schnetzinger: \u201cTo open doors for young people.\u201d 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. \u201cEspecially here in the countryside, physicality is often only associated with achievement,” she says. \u201cBut what happens when we start using our bodies to talk about things that can’t be put into words?\u201d[\/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”18781″ img_size=”full” css=”.vc_custom_1750866808839{margin-left: -10px !important;}”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″ css=”.vc_custom_1750866935441{margin-left: 10px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”18783″ img_size=”full” alignment=”right” css=”.vc_custom_1750866820709{margin-left: -10px !important;}”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space height=”52px”][vc_column_text css=””]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: \u201cIt’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.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the countryside, interactions are often less open \u2013 there is a lack of encounters with people who are different.\u201d<\/h3>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_column_text css=””]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: \u201cDid you really experience it like that?\u201d<\/p>\n

The twelve-year-old said that she suffered from depression and could not talk to her parents about it. \u201cShe felt like they were treating her as if she were a threat,\u201d says Lee. \u201cShe was twelve and felt severely depressed, and there was no one to help her. That made me incredibly sad.\u201d She encouraged the girl: \u201cI said to her: \u201cYou will find your way, just like I found mine. Yours will be different to mine, but I know you will find it!\u201d<\/p>\n

Such encounters with adults who listen, says Lee, were rare in her childhood \u2013 and are still not very common today. “I learnt as a child that my way of being was wrong,\u201d she says. \u201cI was always too much. Too loud, too wild. And I was constantly told what a girl should be like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even today, she still encounters prejudices in her work \u2013 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. \u201cI encounter sexism and racism more often in the countryside,\u201d she says. \u201cI’ve realised that the two go hand in hand, even with children.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, she actually welcomes these incidents because: \u201cIt’s good when it becomes visible. Then it can be discussed.\u201d Jin Lee speaks to students who behave like this on the spot. She will discuss it later in front of the class, she says, \u201cbut without naming names\u201d. Away from the big cities, there is often a lack of engagement with diversity \u2013 or simply encounters with people who are different. \u201cThat’s precisely why we want to also be present there.\u201d[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”16px”][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]David Schmidt<\/strong> is independent journalist and lives in Berlin. www.davidhansmoritzschmidt.de<\/a>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator css=””][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]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 \u2013 from Altlandsberg to Lalling, from Bergen (on R\u00fcgen) to Eisenh\u00fcttenstadt, from Osnabr\u00fcck to Braunschweig to Berlin.<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Opening doors for young people \u2013 how explore dance combats the silence with dance | 27 June 2025 […]<\/p>\n

Read More… from Culture in rural areas<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":18645,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[138,140,490,425,144],"class_list":["post-18632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-journal-en","tag-explore-dance-en","tag-junges-publikum-en","tag-kultur-im-laendlichen-raum-en","tag-pop-up-en","tag-tanz-en","ort-general"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/explore-dance.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/explore-dance.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/explore-dance.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explore-dance.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explore-dance.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18632"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/explore-dance.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18632\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18850,"href":"https:\/\/explore-dance.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18632\/revisions\/18850"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explore-dance.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18645"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/explore-dance.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explore-dance.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/explore-dance.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}