Guided tour through the buildings

Dancehouses are essential to the practice and support of dance as an art form; in the same way that structures such as Opera Houses, Theatre Houses and Concert Halls exist to cater for the specific needs of their art forms.

Dancehouses are built for the unambiguous, unmistakable purpose of dance, with the specific infrastructure required for an institution to support dance in all of its many aspects.

Many dancehouses have been created over preexisting buildings: convents, factories, industrial sites… They have been developed recycling architectures and redefining the identity of spaces. In the case of new buildings, the relationship between architecture, needs and contents leads inevitably to explore the subject of sustainability.

This was one of the main issues of the EDN Atelier “Building a dancehouse“, that took place in Bassano del Grappa in August 2015. Coinciding with the celebration of that activity, many of the EDN members produced videos presenting the different buildings.

Here below is a watchlist provided by our members

ADC-Association pour la danse contemporaine Genève (CH)

The ADC is provisionally located at la Salle des Eaux Vives in Geneva, equiped with a moving technical system. The audience capacity is 150 people, the stage is 11 m deep and 15 m wide. The ADC manages 3 studios dedicated to creative research at la Maison des arts du Grütli, Geneva.

Bora Bora, Aarhus (DK)

Explore the facilities and the programme of our member Bora Bora in Aarhus (Denmark). Video: Lars Kjær Dideriksen

CDCN Toulouse Occitanie - La Place de la Danse (FR)

The CDCN Toulouse infrastructure consists of one studio of 250 m² with 100 seat capacity, a rehearsal studio of 150 m², 7 residential rooms with bathroom and work space facilities and a fully equipped kitchen.

Centro per la Scena Contemporanea Bassano del Grappa (IT)

CSC is housed in 3 unique buildings, all located at walking distance in the city centre of Bassano del Grappa: CSC Garage Nardini (99 seats), CSC San Bonaventura (140 seats) and Teatro Remondini (442 seats).

DanceEast – Jerwood DanceHouse Ipswich (UK)

DanceEast’s home is the purpose-built Jerwood Dancehouse in Ipswich. It houses four dance studios, a 200-seat studio theatre, a therapy room, offices and the danceeats! café.

Dance City Newcastle (UK)

Dance City has a purpose build Dance House in the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne. It has 5 studios with range in size, which are fully sprung, heated and with high quality lighting and sound systems. The theatre stage is 15×12 metres in size and it has seating for 254 people.

Dance Gate Lefkosia Cyprus presents Dancehouse Nicosia (CY)

Dance Gate Lefkosia Cyprus is an EDN member and one of the founding organizations of Dancehouse Lefkosia. The venue is given by the Ministry of Education and Culture and the building belongs to the Municipality of Nicosia and was to conceded to the Ministry of Education after the efforts of the dance community of Nicosia.

Dance House Lemesos (CY)

Dance House Lemesos has a large studio space that can also be used for performances, a big veranda looking towards Heroes Square, an office space, store rooms and a kitchen area.

Dance Ireland Dublin (IE)

Featuring 6 purpose-built dance rehearsal studios, an artists’ resource room, a tea station/green room area and exhibition spaces, DanceHouse is a working base for dance practice and a hub for the wider dance community. Studios are suitable for a variety of activities including rehearsals, classes, workshops and informal showings, and meetings.

Dansehallerne Copenhagen (DK)

It is situated in Carlsberg’s old mineral water boiling factory in the heart of Copenhagen. It has 2 stages with a capacity of 204 and 73 seats, an informal foyer stage and a laboratory stage. It also has 7 fully equipped sutdios, a large lounge and a foyer designed for audiences with screens for dance films.

Note: since this video was made, Dansehallerne moved from this building.

Dansmakers Amsterdam (NL)

It has 3 rehearsal studios, a large multifunctional hall and a stage called Dansmakers Podium. The venue is 30 m x 25 m and the stage with sprung floor is 16 m x 10 m. The audience capacity is150 seated on the set tribune and there is possibility of a large audience for activities and events with a different set-up.

HELLERAU – Europäisches Zentrum der Künste Dresden (DE)

Built in 1911 as a school of Rhythmics, the building has an eventful history. It has 2 studio rooms and a totally flexible Main Hall with a capacity of a maximum of 460 seats. The Residence Center has 10 apartments for artists and a rehearsal stage.

K3 – Zentrum für Choreographie| Tanzplan Hamburg at Kampnagel (DE)

3 dance studios, as well as adjacent studio stage P1, where K3 presents up to 40 performance night per season form the basis of K3 in Hamburg, a comprehensive centre for expertise in the field of contemporary dance, choreography, artistic research and dance outreach.

KLAP Maison pour la danse Marseille (FR)

It offers 3 studios of varying size and function having the flexibility to cater for a range of uses. The creation space has 240 seats and equipped with production areas, grills and scenic materials. The small studio is specifically dedicated to continuing education, amateur practice and educational awareness programmes and the large studio is primarily used for rehearsals of new works and long-term residencies.

Lavanderia a Vapore, Turin (IT)

Explore the fabulous history, facilities and programme of our member Lavanderia a Vapore in Torino (Italy), located in the laundry of the former royal asylum Regio Manicomio, converted in 2008 in a dedicated dance venue and run by Piemonte dal Vivo since 2015.

Maison de la Danse Lyon (FR)

Maison de la Danse has a stage and 1100 seat auditorium worthy of its ambition and capacity. The house is able to offer a studio at a company’s disposal for rehearsals or residencies. This studio seats up to 100 and can be used for more intimate presentations.

Mercat de les Flors Barcelona (ES)

The main auditorium, Sala MAC, has flexible layout and has a maximum of 436 seats. The Sala Sebastià Gasch mainly hosts small-scale performance (80 seats). The Sala Ovidi Montllor, built inside the premises of the Institut del Teatre is shared with the school (320 seats). The Sala Pina Bausch is a multipurpose auditorium covering 240 m², acts as a rehearsal room and also hosts small-scale activities.

Graner Barcelona (ES)

Managed by Mercat de les Flors, Graner has a surface of 1.000 m², with 4 rooms for rehearsal, creation and performance, divided into a 240 m² set, 2 rehearsal rooms of 100 m² and a individual research room of 42 m². There are also several meeting spaces and common areas, residence rooms, and a kitchen.

O Espaço do Tempo Montemor-o-Novo (PT)

Is based in the Convento da Saudação, an ancient Dominican monastery dating from the 16th century. Facilities include 5 large rehearsal studios equipped with grid, light, sound, video and internet. In addition to very generous social areas, it offers 14 double rooms.

Tanec Praha (CZ)

PONEC is a the dance venue of Tanec Praha, which has the stage (12 x 14 m) with professional equipment and technical services. The capacity is flexible, from 80 to 180 spectators. One of the major partners is Studio ALTA, which can provide 3 studios and an open office.

Tanzhaus NRW Düsseldorf (DE)

It is a performance venue as well as space for production and an acknowledged educational centre. It has two stages: a 320-seat
 stage, and a smaller 90-seat, plus 8 training studios and rehearsal rooms used for production development and advanced training of professional dancers and choreographers.

Tanzquartier Wien (AT)

TQW has 3 rehearsal and training studios, 2 of which are equipped for performances (100 seats). There are 2 performance venues: Halle E (approx. 870 seats) and Halle G (approx. 310 seats). The library offers specialist literature. It is complemented by a media library and an online Mediatek, with video recordings of shows and discursive works hosted in the dancehouse since its foundation in 2001.

The Isadora & Raymond Duncan Dance Research Center Athens (GR)

DDRC Athens is operating with 2 studios and 2 meeting rooms. The audience capacity reaches 100-120 people. The outer space and the architectural specifications of the house provide an appropiate frame for cross disciplinary projects, installations, site specific works and community dance productions.