BOOK OF DANCE MAPPING

Contemporary Dance in Slovakia. A complex analysis of the state, financing, and production conditions within the period of 2010 – 2016.

The project was realised since September 2016 until April 2017 and its aim was to look into the functioning of the non-established scene of contemporary dance in Slovakia (in terms of several aspects) within the years 2010 – 2016. It consisted of two workshops dedicated to the dance community and preparation of a publication Contemporary Dance in Slovakia. A complex analysis of the state, financing, and production conditions within the period of 2010 – 2016.

The project was realised since September 2016 until April 2017 and its aim was to look into the functioning of the non-established scene of contemporary dance in Slovakia (in terms of several aspects) within the years 2010 – 2016. It consisted of two workshops dedicated to the dance community and preparation of a publication Contemporary Dance in Slovakia. A complex analysis of the state, financing, and production conditions within the period of 2010 – 2016. The first workshop (a mediated meeting of the Slovak contemporary dance field performers) took place in November 2016 with a German cultural manager Madeline Ritter, the author of German national project for the support of dance Tanzplan Deutschland. The second took place in December 2016. It gave an opportunity to confront various opinions of individuals, dance community members and through the form of a focus group it also gave a chance of naming the situation more precisely. The facilitator of the workshop was Mr. Bohdan Smieška.

The survey itself (the publication preparation) consisted of the methodology creation, creation of questionnaires made to measure of the non-established art form of contemporary dance, distribution of the questionnaires to the authors, and the acquired data evaluation. A significant part of the active Slovak contemporary scene has taken part in the mapping. The publication brings an overview of the artists and legal subjects working in the field of the contemporary dance in Slovakia, identifies the background and cultural spaces for the creation and presentation of productions, production conditions, regional distribution of forces, international co-operations, financial aspects. It provides data for deeper analyses, points out strengths and weaknesses of the field and, as such, is a suitable base for specific reflections on how to invest in this art form, how to make it more visible, how to reduce the outflow of the professional youth as well as how to support the development of cultural industry. The survey methodology co-author is Zuzana Ivašková, a cultural geographer.

The initiator and main realiser of the survey is PlaST. The project was co-funded by the Slovak Arts Council and Goethe-Institut Bratislava.

PlaST members focus group led by Bohdan Smieška -

a consultant and facilitator in the fields of social and organisational development, philanthropy, and strategic planning; expert of KU-BA (Cultural Bratislava) platform – took place at the PDCS (Partners for Democratic Change Slovakia) premises in Bratislava on 16 December 2016. The aim of the focus group was to get other than quantifiable data, to understand the atmosphere in the contemporary dance area consisting of a heterogeneous group of artists and civic associations, simply put, to try to “colour” the blunt quantitative data by interesting observations. The focus group was attended by 18 PlaST members.

Súčasný tanec na Slovensku – Mapovanie stavu, financovania a podmienok pre tvorbu za obdobie 2010 – 2016.
Vydavateľ: Platforma pre súčasný tanec, 2017. Publikácia kolektívu autorov v rozsahu 90 strán približuje fungovanie nezávislej scény súčasného tanca z hľadiska viacerých aspektov. Mapuje tvorcov, právnické subjekty pôsobiace v oblasti súčasného tanca, existujúce priestory a produkčné podmienky, regionálne rozloženie síl, medzinárodné spolupráce, finančné aspekty. Opiera sa o dáta zhromaždené prostredníctvom špeciálne vytvorených dotazníkov distribuovaných medzi všetkými aktérmi na scéne súčasného tanca (ktorých tvorbu metodicky zaštrešila a usmernila Zuzana Ivašková), obsahuje tiež výstupy fokusovej skupiny (pod vedením Bohdana Smiešku) a kometáre k výsledkom mapovania (autorky: Marta Poláková, Maja Hriešik). Publikáciu je možné si objednať za cenu 4 eur na emailovej adrese sucasnytanec@gmail.com

Cultural Politics & Contemporary Dance - workshop of the Contemporary Dance Platform with Madeline Ritter University Library, Bratislava, Slovakia, 16 – 17 November 2016

A truly inspirational meeting with a leading personality of the Tanzplan Deutschland project took place within two days of the 11th NuDanceFest edition last November in Bratislava. First day, the meeting had a form of a mediated discussion led by Madeline Ritter, who enriched the discussion by a point of view from a point where contemporary dance has been a well-established art form for quite some time already. Besides the PlaST board members, there were also the representatives of institutions with which PlaST is trying to look for ways of creating conditions for sustainable development of Slovak contemporary dance. The second day, Madeline led a meeting of PlaST board and other members present. It was focused on a detailed analysis and articulation of the Slovak contemporary dance artists needs and PlaST – as their umbrella organisation – tasks definitions.

The mission of PlaST as defined at the meeting with Madeline Ritter, 17 November 2016:

Making positive change happen for the contemporary dance with specific results that strengthen the art form of dance and the community.