studium-bühne | 2006

Studium : Bühne was conceived by Heike Langsdorf (f,r,o,g,s OS, brussels), at the invitation of Michaela Christensen (Nota Bene/Tanzwerkstatt - Burghausen) and Susan Quinn (SEAD/Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance). The goal of the festival was to re-invent and to re-potentialize the annual choreography competition, 'Choreographenwettbewerb Burghausen' organized and directed by Michaela Christensen since 1994.

The traditional focus of this event was to award the best and most beautiful choreography with a prize. With Studium : Bühne, this focus was shifted instead towards an open questioning around the importance of the stage in contemporary society. As the title states, the festival aimed to 'study' the phenomenon of the 'stage', with the purpose of introducing new concepts for performance and dance to Burghausen.

The project took place between the 31st of October and the 4th of November 2006, in Germany, and was considered as an intensive week of workshops and presentations rather than a competition or classical dance festival.

At the center of the 5 day event, was a choreographic evening organized around the theme 'public', and which presented the work of the 10 participating students from 10 different dance academies. The students were selected through invitations sent out by Nota Bene Burghausen, SEAD and f,r,o,g,s OS. This evening was presented twice: a first time during the opening of the festival, on the 31th of October and a second time during the last public evening, on the 4th of November.

During the four days between this opening and closing performance, the student-choreographers were able to work on their respective projects together with one of the young professionals invited to mentor the students: these mentors were choreographers and performers, but also composers, visual artists and theatre-makers, who were invited by Sead/Salzburg and F,r,o,g,s OS/ Brussels to present their work as part of Studium : Bühne and to share their knowledge with the young choreographers through various discussions and workshops.

After presentations from the invited mentors, the students were able to chose with whom they wished to work. The students were then invited to work in dialogue their mentors and to re-search, re-work, develop or even replace the original material of their short pieces as they saw fit. The second performance of the choreographic evening on the 4th of November was considered as a moment to share the outcome of this re-working with the audience.

During the course of the festival, the public was invited to watch the daily studio rehearsals, to attend the performances in the evenings and to participate in the discussions. These presentation and discussions were considered as a way to confront the students and the general public with a critical discourse on the format of the stage, as well as to confront them with very different types of dance and performance based work.


Several other initiatives were taken during the festival to open the event towards the larger public: In addition to the performances and discussions, a workshop open to professionals as well as non-professionals and students was given by the belgian/german performance-trio C&H. A performance library with documents and DVD's hosted by Stadtbibliothek Burghausen was opened to the public (see 'documents on the move'). A series of articles published by the local newspaper stirred the interest of the local public and during the course of the festival a little magazine edited by the journalism student Andrea Winterstetter with contibutions of David Helbich was distributed. Finally the web site www.frogs-os.be/studium-bühne provided an informative and accessible internet-presence for the event.


Studium : Bühne was made possible with the support of EUREGIO, a fund for regional development. After the pilot-project in 2006 a new concept was formulated for the festival giving the responsibility for its conception and realization over to the students of Tanzwerkstatt Burghausen. In 2007, Studium : Bühne received a second year of support from EUREGIO and the festival was organized by the director of the Tanzwerkstatt Burghausen and the students themselves. This self-run festival was realized under the title 'Tanz-Sinn-Natur' (dance-sense-nature) and included several workshops with guests artists and performances.

Originally conceived in 2006 by Nota Bene, SEAD and f,r,o,g,s OS, studium - bühne is now run by the students and teachers of Tanzwerkstatt Burghausen (http://www.tanz-burghausen.de). Founded by Michaela Christensen in 1983, Tanzwerkstatt is currently under the direction of Patrick Grigo.

Tour

30-10-2006 until 04-11-2006 Burghausen, Germany


concept :
Michaela Christensen, Heike Langsdorf, Susan Quinn
mentors :
Ewa Bankowska, Anna de Manincor, David Helbich, Mette Ingvartsen, Christophe Meierhans, Christoph Ragg, Anna Rispoli, Kaja Valenti
students / burghausen :
Michael Gross, Christine Auberger, Ophelia Young, Konstanze Schwenk, Veronika Lex, Andreas Eglseer, Anna Küffner, Iris Birke, Maria Deubzer
students from elsewhere :
Marisa Cabal, Renan Martins, Anna Mala, Doris Valtiner, Saraa Lamberg, Eva Musulisová, Klára Rakusanová, Ludmila Darílková, Petra Skrbková, Eliska Mullerová
organisation/coordination :
Michaela Christensen, Heike Langsdorf, Angela Nassal, Petra Siebler
co-production :
frogs OS, Kunst/Werk, Nota Bene Burghausen, SEAD, Bayern Kulturfonds
thanks to :
C&H, Zimmerfrei, Various Artists, Eric Christensen, Andrea Winterstetter, Dominique Richards, Karolina Billing, Liesa Baumgartner, Erika Langsdorf, Karlheinz Langsdorf, Lucie Schroff, Marvin Schroff
venues / support :
Stadtsaal Burghausen, Tanzwerkstatt Burghausen, Athanor Akademie, Stethaimer Schule, Stadtbibliothek Burghausen, Knoxoleum, Fischerbar, Arche Burghausen