Guiding principles
Station is a horizontal, self-organized structure based on principles of solidarity, mutual support, invitation and knowledge sharing. All artistic and strategic decisions are made by the collective body with artists, curators and producers. Station is strongly engaged in cultural policy debates in Serbia as an opinion-maker in the field of contemporary dance in order to influence political decisions relating the status of artists, social and economic position of artists, progressive policies for contemporary arts and substantial changes in the dominant capitalist system of culture.
It also fights for the contemporary dance space in Belgrade and Serbia which do not exist within the public system of cultural institutons. It raised a large campaign for spaces for dance in 2017.
Station advocates for the Balkan cultural cooperation through the platform Nomad Dance Academy.
History
STATION Service for contemporary dance is a bottom-up initiative of the contemporary dance and performing arts community in Serbia, established in 2005.
It has been working on development of contemporary dance scene through education, production and promotion of emerging and established artists, dancers and choreographers. One of its main focus is the Balkan collaboration and networking in the dance field; Station is the founding member of Nomad Dance Academy network for contemporary dance in the Balkans.
Station’s programmes include education platforms (Puzzle), Kondenz festival of contemporary dance and performance, a residency programme (StationOne), a regional platform for development of dance theater for children (Generator), a mentoring programme for emerging writers on contemporary dance, theory and cultural policies (Critical Practice_Made in YU), the archive of Serbian contemporary dance history and various formats for production and coproduction of new work.
Building and facilities
Station works in Magacin and is one of its founding members in 2007.
Magacin is an independent cultural center in central Belgrade with the unique self-management model where all users are equally responsable for the space, its mantainance and development. This model functions through the open callendar giving the space for free on the daily basis to different users that contribute in a collaborative way to maintainance and improvement of the space as well as to is larger visibility and significance. In this way it has constituted itself as a community that has been expanding and as an example of collective work on preservation of the common good. It is not a curated cultural center, but rather a community center used by more tan 1500 different users per year.
Within Magacin there are two dance studios as the most used spaces in Magacin. The space hosts our annual Kondenz Festival of contemporary dance and performance, our residency programme for dance StatioOne and all other Station’s programmes, very often in dialogue with other arts present in the center / visual arts, theater, circus, poetry, music, political activism, feminist activism, urban activism etc.
Picture: Magacin space, by Luka Knežević-Strika
Due to the limitations of the epidemic, the International Festival of Contemporary Dance CoFestival, with curatorial theme »The Amplifiers of Voices« will be performed in two separate segments. Between 20 and 25 November 2020, a series of online events will take place and the festival with live shows will be postponed until April 2021.
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European Dancehouse Network together with Fondazione Fitzcarraldo present the report with results of "EDN in Times of Covid-19" survey with responses of 38 dance houses from 23 different countries.
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Dampfzentrale (EDN member) is looking forward to see you in Bern, Switzerland for the 12th edition of its festival.
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Over the course of the summer, EDN member Lokomotiva (North Macedonia) conducted the first edition of its International Summer School. We highly recommend diving in the resources made available online by Lokomotiva to reflect on contemporary practices of performing arts in relation to activism, social movements and self-organization.
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The project Europe Beyond Access supports disabled artists to break the glass ceilings of the contemporary theatre & dance sectors. At the lab hosted by Holland Dance Festival, the following question stood central: How can we create dance and performing arts scenes that are more diverse and that support the work of disabled dancers and artists?
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Perform Europe supports experiments with more sustainable ways in cross-border physical and digital distribution of the performing arts in the 41 Creative Europe countries with a view to designing future support schemes for the sector.
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Tanzquartier Wien organised the "EDN Roadshow", an activity in order to discuss positions and developments in contemporary dance, structures, aesthetic strategies and practices of diverse cultural contexts of South-Eastern Europe.
Summary list
By taking part in a nomadic bus trip to several locations in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia and Bulgaria, EDN members connected with Nomad Dance Academy – Balkan network for contemporary dance and got acquained with the potentials of the region.
Summary list