Our values:
# Cultural and artistic excellence
# Fairness, inclusivity and diversity in art and culture – not just on moral and legal grounds, but because diversity leads to greater creativity
# Respect for and interest in our shared European dance heritage
# Access to life-enhancing cultural and artistic experiences for all, especially older people and people in care
# Cross-border cooperation, intercultural dialogue, celebrating differences as well as our common heritage, and championing neglected artistic voices
# Fighting against discrimination and prejudice
Our aims and objectives are organised around 3 strands:
1) Dance On – A Europe of ageless movement
# Create access to the European dance market and sustain careers for dancers over 40 in all 13 participating countries by providing meaningful professional and employment opportunities.
# Work with educational institutions to create long-term, sustainable strategies for strengthening the potentials of young artists and extending their career options.
# Transform preconceptions and clichéd ideas of dancers as eternally youthful beings and extend the age range of the Dance On Ensemble from 40 to over 70.
# Achieve a wide European diffusion of the project’s new and existing repertoire for mature dancers with outstanding choreographers and directors, promoting talent and artistic excellence.
# Expand the partnership’s touring capabilities by incorporating a growing network of 14 associate partners in 9 countries to enhance mobility.
# Cooperate transnationally on cross-border creations, joint programming, artistic residencies and regular networking activities to facilitate knowledge sharing.
# Attract a larger global audience by presenting the project’s productions and other outputs at 15 international festivals in 7 countries.
# Communicate and disseminate the project’s values and achievements in the press, through online and offline communication channels, via social media, and on a regional, national and European political level.
2) Pass On – A Europe that values its dance heritage
# Raise awareness of the fragility and intangible nature of our shared European heritage of dance history and practice, which has not yet been included in any national or supra-national lists of cultural heritage deserving protection.
# Create and improve digital access to culturally and geographically diverse dance archives, so that they can serve as resources and sources of inspiration for artists and dance makers.
# Uncover lost or marginalised voices and engage in a critical discourse on the dominant Western-centric view of European dance history.
# Create a sense of belonging to a common European space by making our shared European dance heritage more visible – on stage, digitally, and in cultural spaces where dance has traditionally not been present, such as museums or galleries.
# Stage reconstructions of lost dance works and understand the important role of older dancers as carriers and guardians of intangible cultural and embodied knowledge.
# Commission cross-border “Reply Projects”, in which contemporary artists from different countries engage with historical dance works to create innovative and tourable new works.
# Pass on the intangible heritage of dance from one generation to the next by re-staging seminal pieces from dance history on dance students from different European countries.
# Build capacities and skills through workshops and international sharings on archiving, oral history, digital documentation and copyright issues.
# Create unrestricted access to the project’s outputs and documentations of artistic processes.
3) Dream On – A Europe where every body matters
# Reveal the wealth of experience and competence of older people to evoke a reorientation in the way society thinks about age.
# Build on and expand the participatory dance projects and creative ageing initiatives for senior citizens developed during DOPODO’s 1st phase to widen access to culture.
# Support the transnational mobility of older people involved in participatory dance projects.
# Build the skills and capacities of artists and teachers who work with older adults and frail people through regular “Dream On Labs”, international workshops and cross border sharing platforms.
# Broaden awareness of the health and wellbeing benefits of dancing in an ageing society and understand that dancing together helps build social bonds.
# Undertake political lobbying and advocacy work to scale up the project’s reach and build networks of national and international stakeholders, supporters and decision-makers.”
