Czech-based dance network spreads around the world

A festival of contemporary dance held annually by the non-profit Tanec Praha since 1991, the Czech Dance Platform this year operated in linkage with European Capital of Culture Plzeň 2015. As well as select performances of contemporary dance, the festival also featured workshops and seminars, and dance pieces describing the host country. The high-quality program attracted people involved with dance from around the world, also making the festival a networking opportunity. Yukio Suzuki and Ayano Honda took part in 2014, and their observations from the perspective of dancers had a great influence on their subsequent work. In 2015 the Japanese critics Takao Norikoshi and Megumi Ikeno took part. Their take-away from Czech contemporary dance was not only the high level it operates at, but the “abundance with admissibility” that makes room for interlocutors from outside. One looks forward to the development of much cooperation in dance between Japan on one hand and the Czech Republic and Europe on the other.

Dance perfomance confronting worldwide issue of social recluses  

The Farm in the Cave theater company is known for its creative process in which the dancers get to the core of their subject matter by themselves conducting conscientious research and interviews. Based in the Czech Republic, the group enhances the appeal of its pieces with the richly varied perspectives of its multinational makeup, with dancers coming from such countries as Korea, Vietnam and Slovakia. Inspired by the novels of Ryu Murakami and such contemporary Japanese art as the pictures of Tetsuya Ishida, “Night in the City” takes as its theme the societal issue of social recluses that has now appeared outside Japan as well. Assisted during their Japan visit by Kawamura, who served on the volunteer staff at the Sibiu International Theatre Festival in 2012, the dancers conducted an energetic course of interviews and investigation. Their true-to-life performance in this production underpinned by actual experience was acclaimed. Included in the program of the 2016 Czech Dance Platform, the piece enjoys growing prospects for presentation to a broader audience in future.

Date:

24-26 Nov. 2015

Venue:

DEPO2015

Artist:

Farm in the Cave http://infarma.info/enlng/profil-en

 Joint production by Japanese, Czech artists who studied together in Paris

The stage production Among Us emerged from the encounter of Chinami Gentsu and Hana Strejčková as students at L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in 2011. The creation of local children and a production team assembled from such far-flung places as the Czech Republic, Japan, Jordan, the United States and Poland, this piece underwent long-distance preparations and then three weeks of rehearsals in the Czech Republic. The exploitation in the work of workshops held concurrently and of the results of a survey of the viewpoints and creativity of children in non-linguistic areas was reminiscent to an adult audience of our receptivity in infancy. The performance stirred large numbers and brought much to their notice. With the success of this project in the Czech Republic, ideas are afoot for bringing the performance to Japan as well in future.

Date:

8 Sep. 2015  -5 Dec. 2015

Venue:

Moving Station http://www.johancentrum.cz/en/ The No Name Tearoom http://www.bezejmenna.name/index-e.html Ponec http://www.divadloponec.cz/news/index/mn/17/page/15

Artists:

Chinami Gentsu Hana Strejčková Juni Endo Sota Sakuma