WOODS

The core artistic work of this Perform Europe partnership, WOODS, calls for environmental awareness. It’s a large-scale open air live performance that engages local people to make a powerful and strong statement. Based on research that brings together dance, live performance, and visual arts, the artistic work creates unique landscapes in the cities, pursuing the idea of impermanence and instability of the body, nature, climate and collective practices.

Woods is a Big Pulse Dance Alliance co-production, co-produced by New Baltic Dance (Lithuania), International Dance Festival TANEC PRAHA (Czech Republic), Sismògraf Dance Festival (Catalonia – Spain) and Julidans (The Netherlands), presented by Tanz im August/HAU Hebbel am Ufer (Germany), co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, and produced and managed by Linha de Fuga Associação Cultural (Portugal). In the framework of Perform Europe, the partners join forces with Dance Umbrella Limited (UK), Lietuvos šokio informacijos centras (Lithuania), In Between Time (UK) and STHLM DANS (Sweden) in order to make not only a sustainable performance, but also a sustainable tour.

The choreography and the structure makes the artistic work very minimalistic as there is no need for theatrical lights, sound systems or audience guidance, allowing the partnership to tour the piece with only four artists and to invite and involve local participants. On location, two-day workshops for local participants are being created to discuss the concepts of the piece and to practice and rehearse the choreography with costumes. The partnership also upcycles collaborating with large factories and fashion designers to get donations from textile waste for their costumes. The partnership is also keeping the well-being of participants in mind offering child care and sign language interpretation.