Dance XChange Development project starts up

Last edited: April 03, 2012

Posted by Business and Arts South Africa

Dance Forum has begun work on a new portfolio, the Dance XChange programme, which will start up in May 2012.

Dance Forum was the producer of Dance Umbrella 2012, principally funded by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, which ended on March 4, 2012. The festival played to capacity houses and Dance Forum is happy to announce that audience figures doubled from 2011.

Funded by Rand Merchant Bank with additional support from Business and Arts South Africa (BASA), the Dance XChange programme will be working with dance organisations in the Northern Cape and Orange Farm.

This three-year project will professionally develop South African contemporary dance practitioners to enable them to create, perform, diversify their creativity and professional skill and earn a sustainable living as performing arts professionals. Over the first 12 months, the programme will result in at least 20 young dance practitioners finding new ways of creating work, attending various workshop programmes and presenting the results of the process at Dance Umbrella 2013 and other dance platforms.

The Dance XChange programme will work on two tiers: professional and developmental, as follows:

- A Dance and Choreography Development Training Programme: this will bring young individuals in the Northern Cape region to attend workshops and/or residencies. It will be a training programme in a creative working environment which will give them the opportunity to experiment with dance and choreography, focusing on their choices and patterns of life. The process will encourage constructive critical analysis which will assist them in visualising: â€œ...create what you want to be a part ofâ€. The cultural diversity of the region will be the main focal point. The focus of this section will be in the Northern Cape with Alfred Hinkel as the facilitator.

- An Arts Management and Administration Training Programme: this will be held in the Orange Farm region and the focus, aside from dance workshops and classes, will be an arts management and administration training programme for the project participants to learn to be more structured and organised. They will be assisted in creating a programme that will look at how best to uplift and assist young people in their region. There will also be a focus on building joint artistic and financial management competencies, so that the participants can look at a career that can be self-motivated and self-sustaining. Additional subject matter includes proposal writing, fundraising, marketing and entrepreneurship in the arts. There will also be workshops in contemporary dance and choreography. Nthabiseng Segoe from the Orange Farm region will assist in the facilitation of this programme.

The Project manager for the Dance XChange is David April.