Vitlycke – Centre for Performing Arts is looking for participants for DCL – Dance Communication Lab in Vitlycke-CPA, Sweden, 14-16 November 2024. Dancers from Beyond Front@ partner countries: Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Poland, Romania and Sweden are welcome to apply. 

Application deadline: 29 September 
Apply here: https://forms.gle/FcqJDnrBa6dVEBHp6 

DCL is organized within the framework of Beyond Front@: Bridging Periphery – a Creative Europe project (2023-2026) created by Central Europe Dance Theatre – CEDT (Hungary), Bunker (Slovenia), HIPP (Croatia), Krakow Dance Theatre (Poland), M Studio (Romania) and Vitlycke – Centre for Performing Arts (Sweden) to foster local development of the contemporary dance fields. 

What is DCL? 

DCL – Dance Communication Lab is a 3-day-long workshop-exchange that focuses on dance improvisation as an important component of the creative process in contemporary dance. The aim of the DCL is to give 6 professional dancers from partner countries the opportunity to get to know each other through dance improvisation. 

DCL in Vitlycke-CPA – “My body is a room filled with …” 

DCL at Vitlycke will be led by choreographer and dancer Liza Penkova. 

The workshop stems from one of the research periods behind the “18 steps through (dance) history” – trilogy that Liza Penkova initiated in 2020. 

If we think of our body as a room, what kind of furniture is in it? What kind of books are standing on the shelves? What size is it? What material is predominant? Is it a coherent interior or a more chaotic compilation of souvenirs? Second-hand or new? Is there anything in it you try to hide? 

In this workshop Liza Penkova proposes each participant to reflect on their dancing background as different objects/traces/memories inhabiting their body. What are the predominant narratives, timelines? How do they manifest? In rhythm, style, texture? Every day we will be mapping out our collective bridges, entrances and exits in and within the contemporary dance field. Through improvisational tasks, reflective writing and storytelling the group of participants will be working towards an impromptu dialogue between past and present canonizations, techniques and norms that has transformed our bodies into the rooms they have become. We need the past to reflect on what has come before us and to thereby understand where we are going. The goal is to refurnish, update and recycle. But also to learn from each other. 

This DCL will conclude with a public improvised performance, presented on 16 November at Vitlycke – CPA. 

Liza Penkova 

Liza Penkova is a choreographer based in Gothenburg, Sweden. Her interest lies in the processes of translation across and within performing arts traditions and its aesthetics. She often relies on historical archives as an important source of inspiration in both her artistic and academic work. With dance and choreography as her foundation, she looks for borderless encounters of performing genres, traditions and physical cultures. 

Previously a long term dancer with choreographers Anna Theresa de Keersmaeker and Michele Noiret in Belgium, as well as a freelance collaborator with Scandinavian choreographers Helena Franzén and Veli Lehtovaara. Penkova initiated a diverse range of collective projects such as “Phd in one night” and “House of Bertha” before deciding to focus on her own work in 2020. Read more about Liza’s work here: https://penkova.cc/ 

Who is the DCL for? 

The DCL is for aspiring professional dancers and dance artists from Beyond Front@: Bridging Periphery partner countries: Sweden, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Poland, Romania. The Dance Communication Lab will select one dancer from each country. 

When and where? 

13 November – arrival day to Vitlycke-CPA 
14 – 16 November – DCL 
16 November 18.00 – public presentation of DCL 
17 November – departure day 

The lab will take place at Vitlycke – Centre for Performing Arts (Vitlycke gård 3, Tanumshede, Sweden). More info about Vitlycke-CPA: www.vitlycke.org 

What do we offer? 

Vitlycke – CPA provides: 
-Accommodation for four nights, 13 – 17 November 
-Per diem (75 EUR in total) 

The Beyond Front@ project national partner from your country of residence will cover: 
-Travel costs. 
-Your artistic fee in the amount of 150 EUR 

How to apply? 

Apply to DCL via Google Form: https://forms.gle/FcqJDnrBa6dVEBHp6