[dance-tech] Re: How long do we linger on the edge of the subject? MDF look-back.

dear all:

it is spring-time now, and perhaps not too late to take a long look back to the 
Monaco Dance Forum which took place in December, and then catch up with current 
developments.

Personally, I wanted to say that it was great to meet all of those of you able 
to attend the events at Monaco Dance Forum.  A week full of diverse programming 
and several highlights, provocative and entertaining, including some 
outstanding performance and several interactive installations.  There were also 
a whole number of workshops  and ateliers happening, and the selected artists 
who had been invited to MDF  gave presentations on their new work.  we owe 
thanks to the curators and the organizational staff of the DIGITAL DANCE at 
MONACO DANCE FORUM who managed to coordinate such a rich program and providing 
these platforms.

 I also wish to thank (and Scott deLahunta joins me in this) all those who 
actively participated in the WORKSHOPS and helped us to have exchanges and 
debates. I briefly summarize the workshop structure, for those of you 
interested in the programming of such an international and transcultural event:


The four Professional Workshops (10 to 5 pm Monday through Thursday) in Salle C 
were seen to be occasions for professionals to raise questions, witness and 
meet; and to foreground in discussion and reflection the artistic aspect of the 
work of their peers (not just foregrounding the technology).

The Educational Workshops (5-6 pm Monday through Thursday) also in Salle C 
following the workshops were open to a wider public and functioned as an 
opportunity to become acquainted with some of the technologies and their 
artistic application within dance.

The final Digital Dance award selection group made one hour Presentations in 
SalleB. There were eight of these per day for four days for a total of 32 
presentations. The Presentations ran parallel to the Workshops.

It should also be mentioned that there were post-show discussions and meetings, 
especially involving Franck 2 Louise, who presented  KONNECTING SOULS;   
Jaychandran Palazhy whose Compagnie Attakkalari Centre for Movement Arts 
presented PURUSHARTHA and who came along with Kunihiko Matsuo;   &  a round 
table with Trisha Brown, Curtis Bahn, Thanassis Rikakis and other members of 
the large interdisciplinary team that created "22" (with Bill T Jones)  & "how 
long does the subject linger at the edge of the volume." 
On a different day, there was also a presentation by Paul Kaiser and Marc 
Downie on "how long...;" and on the particular conceptual, design and 
programming contibutions made to the creation of the stage work/choreography. 

Various professional meetings took place which involved new and emerging 
research partnerships.

Towards the end, a meeting was arranged to found an international network: 
DIGITAL DANCE EXHANGE INTERNATIONAL NETWORK:
Monaco Dance Forum here took the initiative to initialize a network of 
international cooperation and exchanges between the centers of development of 
digital dance implanted in emerging countries and those of the developed 
countries. Leaning on partnerships engaged in 2006, notably within the 
framework of the MDF?s call to candidatures, this network will  formalize and 
to concretize international exchanges in technologies applied to the 
choreographic performances and to favor the distribution of the works. The 
concerned works will  arise from the initiative of the partners from emerging 
countries and be coproduced with partners of developed countries  (under 
financial shape but also, and maybe especially, in the form of residences and 
of transfers of technology). They can be the object of a programming in the 
next MDF.

On the final day of MDF, there was an award ceremony preceded by a post mortem 
discussion on the workshops, performances and installations. This was a very 
good meeting for most of us, having an opporunity to discuss what we 
experienced, new concerns in the community (i hesitate to say dance - tech 
community, as we are much larger and diversified now), as well as 
recommendations for the organisers and curators(of MDF and of events of such 
international scale).


Please feel free to send us any further comments or questions you have, since 
the dialogue, as always, has only just begun.


In a follow up mail, I will quote a press review (Monaco Times) detailing for 
us the results of the Prizes that were awarded to artists.  We were all happy 
for those who received them, and felt that they all deserved the support:   we 
send our congratulations to you. 

It is rare that amongst our constant hectic searches for resources, studios, 
infrastructures, venues, funding,  and opportunities for new creative work, and 
for research and collaboration, that we can gather, during a long week, see 
exciting work & meet in daily studio workshops, be hosted on the egde of the 
Mediterranean in a mild climate  and dance in the cafés at night to various 
kinds of folk & retro rock,  as well as see the dynamic curatorship of awards 
and supportive encouragement given to artists. 


Johannes Birringer
DAP Lab, London

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