It is not true that people stop pursuing their dreams because they get older. We only grow old when we stop pursuing our dreams. Donald Tusk, President of the European Parliament, quoting Gabriel García Màrquez
DANCE ON, PASS ON, DREAM ON is a large-scale cooperation project developed by nine distinctive dance institutions from eight countries to address ageism in the dance sector and in society. Led by Berlin-based non-profit cultural agency Diehl+Ritter, the partners are Belgrade Dance Festival, Codarts University of the Arts, the Belgian choreographer Jan Martens’ company GRIP, the Austrian Festspielhaus St. Pölten, Holland Dance Festival, the Swedish dance company Jus de la Vie, Nomad Dance Academy Slovenia, and Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London.
The partnership, with its organisational expertise and Europe-wide network of performance venues, festivals, and educational institutions, will make a difference: Instead of continuing to ignore and sideline older dancers and older bodies in general, it will showcase and celebrate the richness of age and experience – on stage and in society. DANCE ON, PASS ON, DREAM ON runs from June 2016 to May 2019 and is co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.
THE PROJECT ENCOMPASSES THREE STRANDS:
DANCE ON presents a model for a sustainable career in dance. A new company of dancers over 40 will develop, perform and tour an expanding repertoire of dance works by the most celebrated international choreographers, challenging assumptions of when dancers’ careers would usually end.
PASS ON investigates ways of passing on knowledge in an ephemeral and experiential art form such as dance. Academic studies and research projects by sports scientists, dance scholars and social scientists combine with experiential and performative forms of knowledge transfer, where dancers and choreographers experiment with digital forms of documentation.
DREAM ON invites older people to move and express themselves, asking questions about how we want to live when we get old. Local dance projects, participatory performances and intergenerational projects will give older people a voice, as well as fostering new encounters and shared experiences.