EU Dance Hack is a 20-month long project devised by TaikaBox (FI), Central Europe Dance Theatre (HU) and Developing Art (RO). The objective of the project is innovation and it addresses the priority of international dimension. To find new directions and practical tools for performing artists and arts organisations working in the independent/freelance sector to navigate the increasingly unstable world, the partners focus on devising a unique Dance Hack residency method that brings international artists, education specialists, researchers and technology businesses to work together as equals in a practical and experimental way towards a common goal.
The methods are developed through a series of test and evaluation cycles that include three five-day Dance Hack residencies taking place in Finland in month 5, in Romania in month 11 and in Hungary in 17. A total of 15 artists – five for each residency – from different parts of Europe are selected through open calls to work as part of trans-disciplinary teams. The partners build ecosystems around each residency, combining the fields of arts, science, education and business to support the logistics of the residencies, to create a vast network of like-minded people and to broker new ways to regenerate these fields. Ecosystems are built through practical work together but also through a programme of networking and knowledge-sharing activities such as workshops and match-making events to broker new relations between sectors. Public demos, panel discussions and the project website are used to disseminate the project outcomes to a wider public. The partners also run a residency mentoring scheme to support the realisation of the residencies and to build capacity. Three mentor trainees – one from each country – attend the programme. At the end of the project, the partners publish a guidebook and provide consultancy on how to run a Dance Hack residency to inspire other organisations and to widen the network.
EU Dance Hack is a project co-funded by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union.
Barna Petrányi
2024-2025