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Dance Dialogues Africa was designed to provide several points of access for artists at various levels of development and to promote a shared sense of responsibility across the network of partners. By engaging a variety of formats (guest performances, workshops and residencies, staff exchanges, seminars and contextualising activities), it sought to link production structures between the partners in a sustainable way and to build lasting connections amongst artists and producers.

Running from February 2012 to June 2014, the project was composed of:

  • Artistic exchange between European and African artists through guest performances in Africa and Germany and workshops and labs to share techniques, styles and experiences.
  • Co-productions at the 5 African partner dance centres.
  • Invitations of young artists to create new work benefitting from mentorship by an established colleague.
  • Seminars offering advanced training in management skills.

Finally, a touring festival including the co-produced works travelled to the 5 partner dance houses in Germany, accompanied by activities and documentation giving insight into the process and context of creation.

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Un tango avec le Baron, Kettly Noel, Koffi Koko, Donko Seko.

Key outcomes

  • Creation of a functioning network for future projects involving African dance centres.
  • 12 new works were co-produced with the 5 African partners and toured in European and African venues and festivals.
  • Development of a successful 2-way skills exchange model between European and African artists and partner organisations.

Partners & Funders

Supported by the Kulturstiftung des Bundes, Dance Dialogues Africa was led by Tanzhaus NRW and involved 2 other German EDN partners: HELLERAU-European Centre for the Arts (Dresden) and K3 Zentrum für Choreographie - Kampnagel Hamburg. Other German partners were DansArt Tanznetworks (Bielefeld , DE) and Theater im Pumpenhaus (Münster, DE).

African partners included CulturArte (Maputo, MZ), Donko Seko (Bamako, ML), Ness El Fen (Tunis, TN), Studios Kabako (Kisangani, CD), and Vuyani Dance (Johannesburg, ZA).

Düsseldorf I Germany

K3 Zentrum für Choreographie

Tanzplan Hamburg Kampnagel

Hamburg I Germany

HELLERAU

European Centre for the Arts

Dresden I Germany