Artistic Director Recommends – November 2024

This month I had my first experience of being on a jury for a contemporary dance competition as part of Masdanza 2024, in Gran Canaria. This is one of Europe’s largest dance festivals that runs for a duration of a month and showcase a variety of programmes from local to global artists, community activity, platforms for under-represented artists and a competition focus. As an artist, I have been aware of such well established competitions that offer a cash prize. But often, artists must finance their trip and invest in presenting their work. Masdanza does at least provide travel and accommodation for participants. But, still there is an element of the artist inheriting much of the associated risk. Which is slightly at odds with the approach we are developing and trying to uphold at Dance Base. I must admit, what I discovered was a large network of international festivals and organisations that have reciprocal agreements between each other to either programme artists in their own festival, offer a space and support to their own competition, or provide some form of artist development support such as a residency. In addition to winning a reasonable sum of up to €6000 (sometimes a lot more for other competitions) artists are also under the gaze of a number of other invited international industry guests who have their own resources and opportunities to offer.

A new competition called Rotterdam International Dance Duet Competition recently awarded UK based company Spoken Movement an opportunity to develop a new piece of work with Germany’s Guy & Roni up to the sum of €100,000. In addition, artists are able to network and learn from each other and there were a variety of prizes up for grabs. Almost everyone walked away with something for what was overall a very nourishing event. Thanks to the number of programmes we run at Dance Base, we are continuously assessing applications. Over time, we have managed to develop a rigorous process to analyse both the practical and more nuanced aspects of a proposal. Watching dance live, and not reading about it, was slightly different. But thanks to our experience in this area, I felt that Dance Base was able to represent itself well as a knowledgeable and sensitive voice among other well established leaders in European dance who were part of the jury. I’m unsure if there is a place for Dance Base in this context, but it’s clear there are significant opportunities and visibility available, and we will make sure Scotland-based artists are aware of this. The winners of the best solo and group choreography were:

Fan Made by Min Kim and performed by Jongwoo Kim
Min is part of TOB Group who brough Are You Guilty to Bance Base in 2022. In the Chosun Dynasty, a fan was a symbol for upper-class people. In the late Chosun period, a caste system no longer existed, but the nobles still tried to maintain their power and dignity. These so-called ‘Yangban’ (nobles) even carried fans in winter and were described as ostentatious. The piece ‘Fan-made’ tries to interpret this phenomenon in our lives.

Why My Dad Left The Light on by Ja Collective
This LA based collective, led by Aiden Carberry and Jordan Johnson created a real gem of light, intrigue and visceral dancing. They create a suspenseful dream like landscape, peering into the worlds of each performer with a unique way of lighting the piece.

I also attended Rencontres Chorégraphiques de Casablanca to discover the scene in Morocco. The French Institute plays a strong role in supporting the cultural sector there and this festival was a showcase of both local and French artists. One artist to bring to your attention is French artist, Leila Ke. After starting with urban dance styles, Leila is now touring regularly with her company and creating ripples with her new work. Check them out:

• C’est toi qu’on adore
• ARTE film have managed to gain a good understanding of the industry platforms and networks that support mobility for dance in the UK, Europe and other

There was of course a strong presence of local artists, who continue to make work in incredibly challenge circumstances. One company that stood out was hip hop/choreography piece Hit Hayt from Cie Chara. The sounds, textures and city life of Casablanca are translated by four young male breakers and their bodies.

And turning the focus to Scotland, we recently presented our Autumn Scratch Night showcasing an eclectic programme of artist from around Scotland including Damara Velasquez Pastrana, who has recently relocated to Scotland form Mexico, Alex Rigg and Nomoss (feat Suzi Cunningham) delivering a dark and devilish foray utilising Butoh and live music, Nancy Jacinto put the theme of migration into her body using middle eastern dance and one of Scotland most establish makers, Jack Webb present a sublime piece of dance made from desire. Read a little more about Jack’s work here.

It’s clear Scotland is making great work. I’m hopeful that in the coming years we will establish opportunities and networks that lead to showcasing this talent outside of Scotland.