European Dancehouses: Models of Managing Tangible + Intangible Heritage
What is a dancehouse? And how can it be a model of heritage management?
According to the European Dancehouse Network,
"a dancehouse….presents, promotes and supports international contemporary dance through an annual ongoing programme as its primary purpose; has a public mandate or mission under an independent artistic direction and professional management promoting diverse artists and aesthetical diversity; Has an ongoing audience and artistic development programme with learning, engagement and participation contributing access to dance for professionals and the general public; is regularly engaged with dance and related issues at local and international level; has facilities for dance research, residency, production, and presentation. (EDN website).”
So what is this network? What does it mean to be a dance house?
The EDN is 36 dancehouses across Europe. Each of these are fully funded by state, regional or municipal grants. Each of the dance houses have studios for use, educational programs, and performance facilities. The EDN claims that this model is, "The most sustainable model. The development of individual talents, who do not necessarily stay in the same place, is embedded in the development of a lasting landscape (EDN website)." These dancehouses provide the space for artists to grow and perform, as well as the space for the public to engage in the art of dance. Furthermore, they provide space for cross-discipline collaboration and strengthen the art and intellectual communities in their cities.
Reykjavík Iceland, a city with a thriving contemporary dance scene including a company, freelance artists, and education, is not a part of the EDN.
To undestand the role of EDN as models for managing heritage I will look at the dancehouses in three other Nordic cities and look at the history of Dansverkstædid in Iceland as told to me by my research participants, as a catalyst for understanding why #rísidanshús is so important to heritage management in Iceland.
Denmark | Dansehallerne
"We’re not just a ‘Dance-House’ with stages, we’re also a place for innovative creativity, where artistic meetings take place and new participative, inclusive activities for all ages, including the very young and children, develops.” –Efva
One of my research participants was from a small town in Norway and trained at Dansehallerne before coming to the Academy of the Arts in Reykjavík. To her this space changed everything. She viewed dance every week, she knew the "famous" dancers in Denmark, and had the opportunity to learn from them. The national company, freelancers, international residencies, and the best dance school in Denmark are all housed in this one space. Through that space and the network it built, she heard about the BA in Iceland.
Like many of the dancehouses, Dansehallerne has moved multiple times due to funding from the state, each time growing bigger and making a larger impact. This September they began the moved to “new premises in Kedeluset, a former heating plant for the Carlsberg breweries, in Central Copenhagen." This is an area in Copenhagen that was abandoned during growth, and that the city is re-investing in. Dansehallerne's move into this old building will allow the old building and its history to remain central in this part of town.
Norway | Dansens Hus Oslo
“Dansens Hus is Norways’s national stage for dance. It presents productions covering a broad spectrum of dance, from productions for babies to appearances by major international artists, from new Norweigan choreographers to well established ones. Dansens Hus is located in the Vulkan area of Oslo, a former industrial district beside the Akerselva river, now a buzzing part of town…the building is a converted factory building, and is one f the finest and most modern theatres in Oslo” (EDN website) • It opened here in 2008.
Like the Dansehallerne, Dansens Hus Olso inhabits an old industrial building. And like Dansehallerne, Dansens Hus Olso provides the city of Olso with the ability to preserve this building while providing the city with art and thought.
Sweden | Dansens Hus Stockholm
Dansens Hus is "located in the new Folkets Hus building that was inaugurated in 1960. Sven Markelius is the architect of this modernistic building built it in functional style. The stage was initially planned to house a cinema. However, it became the home for the Stockhom City Theatre moved in 1960 until 1990 when the theatre moved into Kulturhuset. Formed in 1989, Dansen Hus moved into the premises in 1991. Although the building is not classified as a heritage building, it has been well-preserved (EDN website).”
We see a trend, don't we? In this case the building was built by a famous Swiss architect, with the intent of housing performance arts. The Dansen Hus Stockholm thus keeps Sven Markelius's work at the forefront of their work: art and history influencing each other.
Iceland | Dansverkstædid
In 2010, the Dancer Association in Iceland got its first studio space. It was "shitty, but somehow with the space some things really started to happen" one participant told me. It was a small space, only two practice studios and a small lounge, but it was the first space for freelance dancers to work and come together. Shortly before this, in 2002 the Reykjavik Dance Festival started, again as a way to ensure that the dancers trained in various countries under various techniques could create their freelance work, support each other, and get exposure.
This summer, the Dansverkstædid, a space rented out, was closed as the city moved forward with its "New Hversfigata" and other development plans. The building was knocked down to make room for new buildings, some of which are specifically for tourism.
Thus began the #rísidanshús, the fight within city hall for a new space. The dancers not only demanded a new space, but they demanded governmental support--modeled after other Nordic Dancehouses and artist salaries (Belgium for example, I won't get into that here but being an artists in Brussels ain't a bad gig).
On Thursday, October 12, the Dansverkstædid posted an update on Facebook:
“We are extremely happy to announce that we have a new space. We will be moving to the Westside of the centre to Hjardarhagi 47. It is going to take a few months to get out 3 new studios ready but the process will be open to follow here on facebook and other social media. We thank all the people that have helped us on the way and specially our supporters in the city council of Reykjavík.”
Despite this small success, this is not a dancehouse and could not qualify as one. There is no performance space. This was something one of my participants was well aware of:
"We need SPACE. Like we don’t need a lot—but it is specific. Like open, with spring floor and this space would be temporary, because the dream is to finally have our own place, like a venue because right now we have to rely on the National theatre or the city theatre or smaller ones, and that also used for theatre, … there’s no space specifically designed for dance."
They also desire light. For one workshop in Iceland we were dancing all weekend in a studio at the Academy of the Arts. It had white walls, big windows to the main street, and a skylight that could open + close. My participant, who was running the workshop, explained why this was her favorite studio:
"The light is so important. Especially in the winter. Most studios and the theatre we mostly use are black boxes. So you go to work in the dark. Dance all day in the dark. And you come home in the dark. It is depressing. We want more light spaces for dance. Also in blackboxes things are more theatrical. You have to rely on the fancy lights more. In this studio you can do more raw or honest performances."
In general, Reykjavík is in a time of a great deal of development. You cannot walk down the streets without having to cross over to avoid a closed sidewalk or without seeing a crane in the air. This is not all bad-- but there is concern that the "heart" of Reykjavík-- the classic colorful yet functional architecture will be lost.
In Reykjavík areas like the "New Hverfisgata" and tourist hotel areas threaten the city --
With this development comes the real concern that art will be driven out of this art-centric capitol. The new dance space is on the West-side, which despite it being my favorite part of the city-- but it is secluded from the centre. More than art is being driven out, residents are too. A dancehouse, a space that will be sustainable and purely for dance, could be a type of anchor. The type of anchor we see in the three other Nordic examples: preserving important architectural heritage and ensuring that Icelandic art is produced and shared.
The sweet spot: Intangible + Tangible Heritage Management |
Tangible Heritage: buildings, sites, landscapes, artifacts, etc.
Intangible Heritage: According to UNESCO this includes, "oral traditions and expressions; performing arts; social practices; rituals and festive event; knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe; and traditional craftsmanship" (King 2013, 295). In other words, the things that are past to people through interaction and cannot be put in a case in a museum or preserved on a list + protected.
The tangible + intangible cannot exist without the other. Afterall, it is the intangible culture: the stories told, songs sung, dances danced, meals cooked, and so on that make important heritage buildings valued in the first place! To me there are two main ways in which these dancehouses manage a blend on intangible and tangible heritage.
First, and probably most obvious, the dancehouses are in buildings that are central to neighborhoods or areas of these cities. This was pretty clear in the three Nordic examples above: the dancehouses were in historic buildings or buildings that were created by important architects. The use of the buildings as centers for the intangible art of dance is both a way of ensuring that these artists have a space to create and share, but also a way of ensuring that the buildings remain in use and in care.
This goes right into the second way that the dancehouses preserve and manage heritage. In a letter published through EDN, Efva Lilja (representative in Stockholm) wrote,
“Now I’m more than ever convinced about the importance of art for the open society. Art generates alternative images and events that make us think further, break up whatever seems given; over and over again it takes a stand for the contemporary. We have to go on” (Right Now / April 2017 / Efva Lilja / Newsletter no 4).
Contemporary dance as an art form is a part of culture, but not necessarily defined as heritage itself. However, the conversations held and the stories told on stage are often seeped in the oral traditions and other local heritage. Take for example last year's Nutcracker at the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago. Instead of placing it in its usual setting, the Chicago-based ballet company decided to place the winter tradition at during the construction of the 1892 Chicago World's Fair. The change in storyline resulted in a Chicago set and a switch from elitist court dances (Christmas Party scene) to American folkdance that the immigrants and working class people of Chicago who helped build the World's Fair would have done. This nod to the history and lore of Chicago was received extremely well by the citizens of Chicago. This is because that World's Fair is so integrated into everything the Chicagoen knows: the Field Museum, the architecture, the immigrant communties, and yes, The Devil in the White City.
Contemporary dance thus, can take on the burden of preserving heritage and often does.
All in all, these European dancehouses serve as a model for hertiage management: one that combines modern art and progessive community building. These dancehouses have not only helped to preserve historic buildings,+ preserve intangible heritage such as oral lore, but they are sustainable. They teach, they share, and they provide artists to produce the work they desire: which often stems from their own positionality and identity.
To conclude | (You almost made it to the end of my longest post, thanks!)
If the Icelandic government were to work with the Dancer Association and help them to refurbish a building in the downtown to be a practice, teaching, and performance dancehouse in the EDN model, a stable and steady flow of art would be pumped into the downtown, the dancers would have more consistant work-- and thus would be able to stay and work in Iceland more frequently than abroad. Building up the local art scene would would help ensure that the things that make Reykavik such an important historical and contemprary city do not get lost. It is not the end all be all. But by preserving the current downtown and supporting artists, opportunites, employment, and people remain centric to Iceland.
Works Cited
Creek, Emily. 2017. Field notes.
European Dance Network. http://ednetwork.eu. Accessed October 28, 2017.
King, Thomas F. 2013. Cultural Resource Laws and Practice. Fourth edition. Heritage Resources Management Series. Lanham, Maryland: AltaMira Press.
Three EDN dancehouse images and EDN logo are curtesy of EDN website
All other images are the property of Emily Creek.
