Writing Dance July 19 - July 23, 6hrs per day

Choreographer Jonathan Burrows leads a workshop focussing on discussion leading to practical work in the studio.  Emphasis will be towards investigating choreographic and compositional process, performance and philosophies, questioning how a dance can be made and what it can communicate to someone watching.  Practical work will concentrate on short task-based exercises looking at how to find material and work with time, to hold the attention of an audience and make them care what happens next.  Days will be punctuated also with viewpoints on other mediums and ways of working, asking all the time what dance can do and what it can't do.  

This workshop is for dance artists with experience of performing and making, who are interested in re-examining and extending their own process and practice.

Workshopfee: 175€

Jonathan Burrows is a former Royal Ballet soloist, but now tours widely internationally with his own work.  He has been commissioned by William Forsythe for Ballett Frankfurt as well as Sylvie Guillem for the film 'Blue yellow', and collaborated memorably with theatre director Jan Ritsema on 'Weak Dance Strong Questions' (2000) which was seen in 14 countries.  For the past six years he has been working on a series of duets with composer Matteo Fargion, beginning with 'Both Sitting Duet' (2002) and followed by 'The Quiet Dance' (2005), 'Speaking Dance' (2006) and 'Cheap Lecture' (2009), which have toured across 26 countries.  In 2002 Jonathan was given an award by the New York Foundation for Contemporary Arts in recognition of his contributions to contemporary dance, 'Both Sitting Duet' was the winner of a 2004 New York Dance and Performance "Bessie" Award and 'Cheap Lecture' was selected in 2009 for Belgium's prestigious Het Theaterfestival.  In 2008 he was Associate Director on Peter Handke's 'The Hour We Knew Nothing Of Each Other' at The National Theatre London.  Jonathan is a visiting member of faculty at P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels, and his Visiting Professorships include the Department of Drama and Theatre at Royal Holloway University of London, the Performance Studies Department at the University of Hamburg and the Institut Für Theaterwissenschaft at the Freie Universität Berlin. He currently lives in Brussels.