danceWEB Scholarship Programme 2013

The danceWEB Scholarship Programme 2013 took place from July 10 - August 14, 2013 in the frame of ImPulsTanz Vienna International Dance Festival under the mentorship of the Bulgarian choreographer Ivo Dimchev.

The following 67 dancers from 38 countries have been selected to participate:

Argentina - Ollantay Rojas
Australia - Emily Ranford          
Austria - Nanina Raffaella Kotlowski / Teresa Vittucci / Oneka von Schrader  
Belgium - Fleur Khani
Belgium - Iceland / Inga Hakonardottir
Belgium - Finland / Mikko Hyvonen
Belgium - France / Gaetan Rusquet
Belgium - The Netherlands / Karin Verbruggen
Belgium - USA / James McGinn
Bulgaria - Iskren Petkov / Denitsa Dikova
China - Wei Ming Pak / Zhenxin Zhang
Congo (DRC) - Jolie Ngemi
Cyprus - Eleana Alexandrou
Denmark - Marie Topp
Egypt - Ahmed El Gendy
Estonia - Karl Saks
Finland - Arttu Palmio
France / Brazil - Ana Maria Krein
France / Spain - Fernando Lopez Rodriguez
France / USA - Bryan Campbell
Germany - Verena Brakonier / Rebecca Egeling / Marc Philipp Gabriel / Claudia Garbe / Magda Korsinsky / Katharina Maschenka Horn / Claire Vivianne Sobottke
Germany / Argentina / Italy - Ana Laura Lozza
Germany / Australia - Martin Hansen
Germany / Austria - Thomas Proksch
Germany / Ireland - Cathy Walsh
Germany / Portugal - Antonio Pedro De Almeida Coimbra Maia
Germany / Russia - Sonya Levin
Germany / Turkey - Leyla Postalcioglu
Germany / USA - Jorge De Hoyos
Greece - Kostas Tsioukas
Great Britain - Janine Harrington / Gillie Kleiman / Louise Tanoto
Israel - Asher Ben Julius Lev / Yuli Kovbasnian
Netherlands - Fernando Belfiore
Netherlands / Czech Republic - Eva Susova
Netherlands / Belgium - Lisa Vereertbrugghen
Netherlands / Iran - Setareh Fatehi
Netherlands / Portugal - Rita Vilhena
Poland - Hygin Delimat / Weronika Pelczynska
Portugal - Joana Castro
Romania - Dorin Eugen Ionescu
Slovenia - Jasmina Krizaj
Slovenia / Hungary - Gyula Cserepes
Spain - Acerina Ramos / Irene Cantero Sanz / Angela Peris
South Africa - Kieron Jina
South Korea - Jin Young Park
Sweden - Adele Essle Zeiss / Rebecka Stillman
Switzerland / Venezuela - Sophia Rodríguez
Uganda - Catherine Nakawesa
USA - Macklin Kowal
USA / Ireland - Mica Sigourney

View their CVs and reports about their danceWEB experiences >>HERE

View the experience report from the danceWEB mentor 2013 Ivo Dimchev in the right column.

The danceWEB Scholarship Programme 2013 took place from July 10 to August 14 in the frame of ImPulsTanz – Vienna International Dance Festival . The final selection process was implemented by this year’s artistic mentor Ivo Dimchev (BG), a danceWEB scholarship holder 2003 himself. Out of approx. 1000 applicants, 67 participants from 38 countries were chosen to follow the intensive 5-week further training program in the field of contemporary dance and performance.

The first days of the program focused on writing about dance performances. The New York Times dance critic Gia Kourlas was invited to share her expertise and experiences with the scholarship holders to provide a better insight in this topic.  Ivo Dimchev asked the ‘danceWEBbers’ to write about each piece they saw in the frame of ImPulsTanz and to upload their texts to a blog. The format of these texts was not pre-defined, it could be an essay, a short text, revue-like, a poem, a mind map etc. With this task the scholarship holders got the opportunity to articulate and reflect upon what they saw on stage and learn something about their own artistic practice at the same time.
Since the scholarship holders could design their own personal schedule of performances, workshops and research projects, depending on their individual artistic needs, the number of texts/reviews published on the blog varied from each participant. In total they could chose out of 58 productions, presented within ImPulsTanz. Next to the performances, they were offered a wide range of workshops (approx. 200) and research projects (14) of ImPulsTanz. The research projects varied in theme and focus, Trajal Harrell’s Rite Of Summer for example alluded to Igor Strawinskys The Rite Of Spring and had it’s peak in a final presentation within ImPulsTanz – 12 danceWEB scholarship holders participated in this performance evening.
As the scholarship holders followed their individual schedule throughout the four weeks of ImPulsTanz, it was all the more important to arrange one group gathering during this time period: the so called danceWEB Salon. Ivo Dimchev used this gathering to deepen the topic of dance writing, so they scholarship holders found themselves in a surrounding in which they could focus on writing their texts and discuss them amongst each other.

ImPulsTanz being one of the biggest contemporary dance and performance festivals in Europe is equally offering, next to its performances and research projects, a unique platform of networking and possibility to engage in future collaborations with artists and choreographers present at the festival. The danceWEB reception – a get together evening, inviting funders, supporters and friends of danceWEB - contributed to the idea of networking as it provides a platform for the scholarship holders to meet their funders and representatives of their respective embassies. Representatives of the Bulgarian, Dutch and Romanian embassy attended this evening, as well as former scholarship holders and artistic mentors, such as the French choreographer Mathilde Monnier. The danceWEB reception was followed by the attendance of “X-On”, a performance by Ivo Dimchev and the Austrian fine artist Franz West.

The last days of the scholarship program were focusing on work presentations of its participants: the scholarship holders self-organised a video performance/work-in-progress marathon in their accommodation, a Viennese high school boarding school, that lasted for a whole day. The danceWEBbers could detect common artistic interests amongst each other that could lead to future collaborations and learned more about the different local dance scenes and their working conditions. Another internationally wide spreading web has been spinned and danceWEB is curiously following up its possible offspring.

„I was loosing so much perception of time and space, to gain so much perception of another time within the time and another space within the space.
Time and space were so fast, intense, dynamic, full and huge.
It was like a whole art piece for 5 week. An exhausting beautiful breath-taking durational performance that i stepped in.“ Ahmed El Gendy (EG)