THE DESIRE FOR CHANGE & ACADEMIC INSTITUTES IN DANCE

OBSERVING COMPLEXITIES IN INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE





Starting from the call for revolution in art education in the TEDTalk above, I like to address the need for revolution in education to higher dance education in the Netherlands for a moment. Under this expressed desire for new forms of education lies a question around the functionality of academies in contemporary society. How does this desire manifest in higher dance education? Are these questions valid for the dance academy? I will try to answer these questions by approaching the paradigm shift around institutionalization and the historical development of dance academies in the Netherlands.

The institute knows many forms in society, but in general it resembles the organization of society, structured by functionality. A lot of arts/educational institutes subsidized by the Dutch government were originally founded after World War II to celebrate existing cultural values & to embrace freedom of expression for everyone (Documentary Holland Danst!). Academies were literally capturing ideals & values that were relevant for the arts practice & sentiment of their time.

Dance education had to develop faster in a shorter time, because the Netherlands didn't have a long professional dance tradition for several reasons. The '60s and '70's gave space to the extremes of experimenting with art and expressing all kinds of ideals (Utrecht, L. 1988). Celebrated freedom was taken to the extreme. During these times we were introduced to the mindset: All for the arts! In the '80s and '90s the sentiment developed into more stability, capturing the rich and rather short professional attitude of post-war traditions. In short, all these historical events were somehow captured into the institutes we know today. So what does this mean for the current definition of the institute in contemporary Western Society? 

The institute symbolizes past movement and stable ground to build from: Giving acknowledgement to the arts and  the importance of art in society. But this institutional method also became the absolute norm, which has led to procedures & rules in terms of organizing an education program. This was also the case for rising dance Academies in the Netherlands from the 50s on. For a long time this brought a secure protection for both artists and employees. But now, with the global economic crises just behind us and fundamental distrust in one of the largest institutes, our financial banks, the 'total institute' called Western Society (or Europe so to speak) is under strict evaluation. The institute is stressed by distrust and disconnection.

The challenge in higher dance education is even harder by the uncertainty in career perspectives of performing artists and dancers. There is no clear career path for those artists that need to audition for jobs, work for little money and have to be creative in order to survive a dance career in a shrinking work field. How can education prepare you for those hard circumstances? Does these developments undermine the right for existence of those institutes? They don't guarantee increasing employability by their curricula from this point of view. The question remains whether this is the right question for artistic careers. But that is another blogpost.

Different dance academies are performing research, changing their educational profiles or organizing conferences about big topics in future education: Different form of artistic research, the connection between health & dance, the future of ballet in the curriculum and intensive study programs like Re-Designing Spaces that we organized with Fontys Dance Academy. They all address urgent topics in the dance field or the search for new forms of education, online and offline. And these activities are building further on the design of those institutes. I

 didn't witness an academy that dared to start over from scratch, letting go of the structure that was constructed till now. Educational development is always intended to respect the authority of the institute, even though the desire for educational revolution urges to question more and more if this is still valid in contemporary times. To me the question remains if institutes within their reality are capable to keep up with the tempo and huge shifts around them and if and what might break with the tradition of adding to what already was created. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Expanding Dramaturgy in Practice

Image
A Series of Quotes Explained My original craft comes from dramaturgy. I have studied and practiced traditional dramaturgy in theatre for over 12 years. I have been dramaturg in more than 15 productions, I gave dramaturgic introductions on performances, interviewed choreographers and studied dramaturgic subjects. In my career it became clear though that dramaturgy meant more to me than just a traditional craft to perform. Dramaturgy is a mindset, a perspective on how things work and how to move within your surrounding. The cross-over practice of dramaturgy is my main source to study how art-based practice can inspire us outside the making of art.  Observing the global system followed by zooming into the detailed experiences we have. Many scientists, theorists, artists and dramaturges write about those expanding practices of dramaturgy. The following blog posts honor some of those definitions on dramaturgy. The quotes have inspired me or triggered me to develop my own practice. I&
Read more

Reconsidering Purpose, Art and Performance

Statement 2: On Contemporary Dramaturgy Anton Chekhov put it best when he said, ‘If a pistol appears in a story, eventually it’s got to be fired.’ (…) What Chekhov was getting at is this: necessity is an independent concept. It has a different structure from logic, morals or meaning. Its function lies entirely in the role it plays. What doesn’t play a role shouldn’t exist. What necessity requires does need to exist. That’s what you call dramaturgy. Logic, morals or meaning don’t have anything to do with it. It’s all a question of relationality. Chekhov understood dramaturgy very well. (Murakami, Haruki, Kafka on the shore . London: Vintage, Random House, 2005. p. 376). When art-based practice teaches us to think In a time of a pandemic the concept of necessity in performance becomes more urgent. On the one hand you want necessity to be present in your life as a compass for living. But at the same time in lockdown you have to deal with a lack of necessity give
Read more

STORYTELLING AND PERCEIVING TRUTH

Image
How the choice for words matters I find this film a great example of how the choice for language defines what we believe and become our truth. It does remind me of my studies in theatre analysis at Utrecht University, where we discussed meaning by relational signs. These could be words, gestures, props, light cues, costumes and more. But in the film they bring it back to the choice of your words only. Check it before reading further:   In the analytical theory of semiotics is seen as schemes of signs, singular parts of objective information that get meaning by its relation to time and space. And the moment it becomes meaningful for someone was the tricky part. There, always a subjective component played a role in understanding what someone had seen or becoming attached or offended by words, gestures and scenes. And this theorietic concept that was used to understand art is also important when you communicate your own expressions.  This film fragment emphasizes the me
Read more