Call for dancers and choreographers
The second edition of Biennale College Danza in Venice, under the direction of Wayne McGregor, is seeking the “visionaries of tomorrow”. Sixteen dancers (between the ages of 18 and 30) and two choreographers (aged 18 and over) are being sought.
Biennale College Danza will conclude, at the end of three-month program, with the presentation on the stages of the 16th International Festival of Contemporary Dance (22 to 31 July), of:
- the new creation developed exclusively by Saburo Teshigawara, the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement 2022, for the group of dancers and choreographers, on commission by La Biennale di Venezia
- the staging of a Merce Cunningham Event, with mentors Daniel Squire, who has staged many of his works, and Jeannie Steele, who was with the company for sixteen years as a dancer and rehearsal assistant
- two short original compositions created by the two choreographers in collaboration with the 16 dancers, mentored by Wayne McGregor
Structured as an intensive theoretical and practical three-month program (May 9 - July 31), Biennale College Danza aims to broaden the skills, capacities, knowledge and awareness of the 18 young artists who will be selected, providing them the tools they need to become well-rounded professionals. The young artists will work side by side with leading masters, choreographers, teachers and instructors, as well as important market professionals, for an integrated global vision of the dancer/choreographer today.
Along with preliminary session held by Wayne McGregor on Physical Thinking, which has always been the subject of his research on the generation of dance material and choreographic composition, Biennale College will introduce a new session this year dedicated to the interaction between dance and new technologies, giving dancers and choreographers the opportunity to experiment with the generative applications of artificial intelligence through the use of Living Archive, the choreographic composition tool developed in the collaboration between Google and McGregor. Starting with the dancers themselves, and borrowing from McGregor’s repertoire, the Living Archive exploits machine learning to generate new movements in the dancer’s style, multiplying the potential of the choreographic process.
The Biennale College programme also includes daily sessions on classical and contemporary dance technique, workshops centred on the Cunningham repertoire, improvisation practices, exploration of personal creativity, individual mentoring as well as lectures and seminars focused on the more practical aspects of professional life. A programme largely shared by the dancers and choreographers, with specific sections envisioned for each of the two categories.
During the Festival, finally, the 18 participants in the College will be invited to attend all the activities in the programme: performances, meetings, installations, lectures.
Applications close March 21.
For more information, go here.