Yearbook of the Independent Performing Arts Scene in Serbia - TkH

at the level of critical re-thinking of the dispositif of the institution of dance,or the historical legacy of ballet or mainstream modern dance (as was thecase in the West). This can also help explain why contemporary Europeandance paradigms – pioneered by Jérôme Bel, Xavier Le Roy and other conceptualchoreographers focused on performed self-reflection – exerted noinfluence over the local performing arts scene until the last couple of years.The Early Days of local ContemporaryDance as Contemporary DanceIn the last few years, we have witnessed an emergence of a contemporarydance scene, eventually recognized and establishing itself as ‘THE’ contemporarydance scene. Merely two years ago, I claimed that there was nosuch thing as a contemporary dance scene in Serbia. However, in spite ofthe scarcity of contemporary dance productions, the situation is changingon a macro-level.A number of choreographers and dancers from the younger generationhave been in business since the early 2000s – Bojana Mladenović, DalijaAćin, Isidora Stanišić, Dragana Alfirević, Dušan Murić, Olivera Kovačević,Saša Asentić etc. – however, a crucial necessity for constitution of a properdance scene was missing. That necessity being an organizational infrastructure– forming an art institution or, more specifically, “Artworld”. 7Ultimately, there were no institutions or organizations that would beresponsible for the ‘dance scene’ as a wider organizational, academic, andartistic context for particular productions. Thus, dance productions appearedas rare events, released by only a few of the most active choreographers,in almost empty premises. This could not count as a dance scene,however important the artists might be. At this point, I should mention one“lost opportunity”. The early 2000s saw the non-governmental organizationCentre for New Theatre and Dance (CENPI), carrying out researchand archives on the current local theatre and dance productions, and hostingdance performances by Bad.co, Performingunit etc, and other presentationsand workshops. But CENPI was dismissed after a few years, failing toestablish closer contacts with the dance community. (Perhaps it was tooearly?)To a certain extent, the contemporary dance scene in Serbia presentlycomprises a variety of contributors. In addition to the already mentionedchoreographers and performers, there are two specialized organizations:7 In terms employed by George Dickie and, respectively, Arthur Danto.