Tanzrecherche NRW: Classical Tradition / Modern Society by Mirjam Otten

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PUBLIC PARTICIPATION The social roots of dance lie in community culture, and and used to serve an experience rather than an entertainment purpose. The Rennaissance changed the function of dance in society, separating performer and audience so that dance became something be experienced by viewing rather than participating (Johnson and Snyder, 1999). However, innovative projects today are reversing those dynamics, acknowledging that participation and dance play an important part in community formation and social cohesion (McNeill, 1995). Classical Tradition // Modern Society 36
PARTICIPATION CASE STUDY Brecon Festival Ballet Katy Sinnadurai’s Brecon Festival Ballet is such a public participation initiative: Her The Nutcracker is a full-scale professional production based on a communityparticipation approach. Whilst it features a professional orchestra and professional dancers in the lead roles, erything else is done by people from outside the industry on a volunteer basis. This begins on stage, where local children and adults assume character roles. In the party scene, real local granddads are on stage portraying the grandfathers, whilst the corps de ballet is formed by dance students. Sinnadurai found that this variety brought liveliness and realistic human interaction to the production. She also points out that ‘by having 99 people on stage in total, 15 of who were professionals, 20 of who were students and the rest were local, that massively increased our audience because everybody wanted come to see the person they know.’ Even though not every production lends itself to this participation-based approach, ‘Nutcracker has roles that you could put non-dancers into as long as they can walk in time with the music and do a basic partner dance. We did have auditions to make sure that they could do that’, explains Sinnadurai. She does however concede that it remains important to her to have professional dancers in the lead roles to maintain a high standard. Beyond stage appearances, about 150 members of the local community made costumes, painted scenery and did fundraising. Sinnadurai herself stands behind Brecon Festival Ballet on a voluntary basis out of a profound belief in its value for the local community. Throughout the production process, she received exceptional feedback from participants. The process of coming in every week and rehearsing helped people meet each other, explore new talents, and find new passions. She testifies to great social and even mental health benefits for the community springing from this mode of involvement. How can we reconstruct this format elsewhere? Sinnadurai credits the unique characteristics of an already tight-knit local commmunity in a small town, which she is a longstanding part of, with the exceptional local effort and success of her vision. Therein lies a great encouragement for talent rooted in other similar communities to think of setting local impulses through artistic initiatives. Classical Tradition // Modern Society 37
Page 1 and 2: C L A S S I C A L T R A D I T I O N
Page 3 and 4: Contents SECTION I Background Intro
Page 5 and 6: SECTION I Classical Tradition // Mo
Page 7 and 8: METHODOLOGY Primary data collection
Page 9 and 10: OBJECTIVES & HOW TO USE THIS REPORT
Page 11 and 12: MAśDELEINE oNNE dominic antonucci
Page 13 and 14: Even though the ballet industry’s
Page 15 and 16: HERITAGE PRESERVATION It is impossi
Page 17 and 18: SECTION II Classical Tradition // M
Page 19 and 20: THE NATURE OF BALLET Classical Trad
Page 21 and 22: VALUE SYSTEM Peter Anastos, former
Page 23 and 24: WORKMANSHIP William Forsythe famous
Page 25 and 26: If you can play classical guitar, y
Page 27 and 28: Howw does the social standing of da
Page 29 and 30: CURRENT AFFAIRS Beyond wider social
Page 31 and 32: Through wwhich structural channels
Page 33 and 34: INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE Intercultura
Page 35 and 36: AUDIENCE - BUILDING Audiences are n
Page 37: OUTREACH & ENGAGEMENT Engaging in d
Page 41 and 42: Howw can wwe structure an artistic
Page 43 and 44: CLASSICAL COMMISSIONS / RE-WORKING
Page 45 and 46: NEW COMMISSIONS Choreographer Chris
Page 47 and 48: Does the idea of relevance play} a
Page 49 and 50: COMMUNICATION Richard Bermange sugg
Page 51 and 52: Choreography is dialogue with livin
Page 53 and 54: PRODUCTION CHARACTERISTICS Classica
Page 55 and 56: CONTENTS The contents of a ballet p
Page 57 and 58: STORYTELLING It is not only the con
Page 59 and 60: MOOD The tone of a ballet greatly i
Page 61 and 62: INTEGRATED PRODUCTION ELEMENTS Ever
Page 63 and 64: FORMAT Andrew McNicol believes that
Page 65 and 66: people Classical Tradition // Moder
Page 67 and 68: COLLABORATORS Whilst it is widely a
Page 69 and 70: ARTISTIC DIRECTORS The Artistic Dir
Page 71 and 72: Can the dance industry} be structur
Page 73 and 74: INSTITUTIONS CASE STUDY McNicol Bal
Page 75 and 76: EQUALITY & DIVERSITY Relevance fund
Page 77 and 78: CHAśLLENGES It is hoped that the a
Page 79 and 80: In spite of many remaining challeng
Page 81 and 82: I would like to say thank you to ev
Page 83 and 84: Schnell, A. (2014) Ballet’s Cultu
Page 85 and 86: APPENDIX B INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 1. I

Tanzrecherche NRW: Classical Tradition / Modern Society by Mirjam Otten

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