Nordic dance residences & performances 2020-2023
Nordic Hip Hop to the Stage is an international project that aims to build an institutionally backed network for collaborations in the sphere of street culture and performance arts between Continental and Northern Europe. The project provides a platform for French dance-theatre professionals to share their know-hows with the Nordic street-dancers and empower aspiring young choreographers and dancers who have limited access to formal education within their dance-styles.
Participants for the project were selected through the open call in October-November 2020 by a committee of independent international dancers. The selected dancers have done a series of online workshops as well as two residences with workshops and performances in Paris in June-July 2021 and Helsinki in June 2022. The next stage of the project is the further development of the performance alongside the continuation of the educational process. The project will include another residences and a tour in Sweden and Denmark in the summer of 2023.
During the first residences, the dancers attended workshops designed by the French dance-company Art Move Concept and acquired basic skills needed for the creation of dance performances on the big stage. The transfer of know-how was done with a hands-on approach with the participants collaborating with each other to create a performance during the residences. Apart from educational activities, mentoring and professional guidance, the participants also visited cultural centres and dance events in France and Finland to network and learn about institutional and commercial structures that support performance arts.
Photo credit: Kansallisgalleria | Finnish National Gallery / Sonja Hyytiäinen
The result of the project is a dance-theatre production. A pilot version of it was presented for the public during the URB-festival, organised in the summer of 2022 in Helsinki by the Finnish national gallery, Kiasma. Three of the participants in the project also presented their first solo-works at the URB-festival. The performances sparked interest among the public and was praised in a series of articles in different Finnish media outlets. In 2023 the project continued with one more residence and two more performances developed in close collaboration with Art Move Concept director and producer. The team, which got three new dancers, worked on their artistic skills for the performance as well as new additions to the show. The result of the residence were shown at Dansekappellet, Copenhagen, Denmark and festival SommarLund in Lund, Sweden.
The project is produced by Swedish NGO Nordkonst (Stockholm), the Finnish Cultural Institute (Paris), and dance-company Art Move Concept (Paris), and supported by a network of local partners in each participating country: Café-Danses Bobby Sands (FR), Initiatives d’Artistes en Danses Urbaines (FR), The Finnish Breaking Association (FI), Soul Sessions Oslo (NO), Exiled (SE), Break Forward (DK) and Pskov Hiphop Center (RU). The project is financed by Nordic Culture Fund and Nordic Culture Point.
https://www.youtube.com/@nordichiphoptothestage7483/videos
