Conversations on Moving and Being Moved
The aim of this symposium is to give people with an interest in dance and related fields the chance to gain a better understanding of the unifying principles and ideas behind the broad range of the company’s practice in producing, touring, research, education and training, mentoring and programming. The symposium will have practical studio elements, a presentation and the opportunity for questions, sharing and discussion. The hope is that the symposium will help participants to identify points of similarity and difference with our approach and to imagine ways that they might propose future engagement and collaboration. We also hope that it may stimulate interesting debate and exchange around fundamental principles in relation to dance, theatre and performance and participatory-community arts practice.
The symposium is free and open to anyone who is interested. We imagine that it will be of interest to people who participate in dance or other arts non-professionally as much as to professional dancers, choreographers and people working in other areas of the arts.
The focus will be on a practical and theoretical exploration of the concept of “Poetic Movement”. The idea of Poetic Movement acts as a way to re-focus dance away from attention to the body and its sculptural and/or private experiential aspects towards an interest in people, movement, grammar, syntax and the processes by which we can create and understand meaning. It moves the attention away from the strong dichotomy of dancers as objects or subjects towards seeing dance as a medium of deep communication. This is a core idea, reference point and theme in Echo Echo’s practice. Exploring dancing through the lens of “Poetic Movement” can offer an interesting challenge to mainstream ways of learning to dance, making dances and talking about dance. It can help us to understand the way that the assumptions we make about what dance is and can be, and our habitual ways of thinking and talking about it are often very limiting both at the level of individuals engagement as audiences and participants but also for the development of the art form itself.
SYMPOSIUM PROGRAMME FRIDAY 25th NOVEMBER
- 14.00 – 15.30 Practical movement exploration session introducing some of the basic ideas and practices of “Poetic Movement”
- 15.45 – 17.30 Presentation by Artistic Director of Echo Echo Dance Theatre Company, Steve Batts, giving an overview of Echo Echo’s history, the range of its current work and the way that it is framed by and sustained by sustained by of the concept of “Poetic Movement”, and followed by questions and open discussion.
SYMPOSIUM PROGRAMME SATURDAY 26th NOVEMBER
- 10.30 – 12.00 Practical movement session further exploring some of the basic ideas and practices of “Poetic Movement”.
- 12.15 – 13.30 Discussion session. Contributions from participants.
- 18.30 – 19.30 Open Studio “Laboratory”: Discussion, sharing, exploration and practice.
- 19.30 – 20.30 Soup and Sandwiches. Feedback and reflection.
N.B. There are Festival performances on Friday 25th and Saturday 26th November. There is a charge to attend these shows:
- Friday 25th Nov 7pm Ockham’s Razor presents TIPPING POINT.
- Saturday 26th Nov 4pm Ockham’s Razor presents TIPPING POINT.
- Saturday 26th Nov 9pm Festival Party dance the night away with Funk-Soul band Velvet Alibi.
- The video installation LIQUID GOLD IS THE AIR by Rosemary Lee will be open throughout these days, entry free.
Further information and booking details
You can book a place by emailing us at info@echoehodance.com.
A number of Festival Symposium artist bursaries are available. Please visit this page for further details about outreach workshop programme.
Please contact Ailbe Beirne, Echo Echo Company Manager on 02871308883 (NI), 04871308883 (ROI), or email info@echoechodance.com with any queries related to the Festival Symposium and if you need any advice on travel and accommodation.
Thanks
Echo Echo Festival Symposium and Artist Bursaries kindly supported by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht ‘2016 Co-operation with Northern Ireland’ funding scheme.
Echo Echo Festival is supported by Arts Council of Northern Ireland and Derry City and Strabane District Council.
