BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and Siobhan Davies Dance have just announced a new four year partnership CONTINUOUS. The ambitious collaboration initiates a step-change in the commissioning, creation and presentation of experimental independent contemporary dance within visual arts contexts.
Material rearranged to be by Siobhan Davies Dance at Tramway,_performer_Matthias_Sperling_photo_Tim_Nunn
The partnership begins today with an open call to dance artists and choreographers to apply for two CONTINUOUS Commission opportunities. Developed through working at both venues for up to seven weeks, these first commissions will premiere at BALTIC in autumn 2019. Additional activities, and national and international partnerships will be developed over the coming months and years.
CONTINUOUS will be the first collaboration of its kind in the UK. The partnership has developed in recognition of the need to further grow the dialogue between contemporary dance and visual arts.
Siobhan Davies, comments:
“I’m hugely enthusiastic about this new partnership between BALTIC and Siobhan Davies Dance, and between the visual arts and dance. As well as creating new live choreographic works for galleries, a vital part of this activity will be to scrutinise and document the whole process from beginning to end. We wish to use this opportunity to discover together a learning and appreciation of each other’s histories, interests and skills, and generate richer and more sustainable foundations for future artists, venues and audiences.”
As leaders within their respective fields, BALTIC and Siobhan Davies Dance bring together skills and experience of working locally, nationally and internationally to expand the ambition and reach of contemporary visual arts and dance.
Sarah Munro, Director at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art comments:
“I am incredibly excited by our new collaboration between BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and Siobhan Davies Dance. We have committed to a long term partnership together – a journey that unites our practice, knowledge, and organisational resources to create something more powerful and full of potential for our community of dancers and our audiences than either of us could have done alone. Since introducing experimental dance to BALTIC two years ago we have seen a real passion from our audiences to engage. This partnership will provide significant support to enable the production of new work to support both artists and audiences in a deeply strategic framework.”
The partnership will combine expertise from dance and visual art to build capacity within each organisation. Working together offers opportunities to support skills development in curating, producing, presentation and audience engagement, supporting the future development of ambitious new dance works and touring opportunities. Shared learning will be made available to professionals in the dance and visual art fields and further support critical dialogue at the intersection of both art forms. Opening up the processes of making will engage new audiences for dance in gallery spaces.
Open Call for Dance Artists / Choreographers:
The partnership begins with two CONTINUOUS Commissions for new dance works to be made at BALTIC and SDD,
performed at BALTIC and tour to other venues across the UK. This is an opportunity for a commission to create an ambitious new work and to exchange knowledge with the staff of SDD and BALTIC. This supports our aim for artists and organisations to learn from one another about how to create the best conditions for making and presenting dance in a gallery context, and for engaging audiences. We also wish to
share that knowledge with colleagues and the public. They are looking for artists with at least 3 years professional experience. Our primary concern is with the rigour of the artist’s practice and the artist’s interest and enthusiasm for working in a visual art context, evidenced by expression of interest. Previous experience of working in galleries as a performer or choreographer is not required. They are committed to recognising the value of practices reflecting a range of backgrounds. They are inviting artists with different skills, experiences and voices to join us. Applications are encouraged from those who consider themselves as having a minority representation in this field.
Deadline for submitting Expressions of Interest is STRICTLY 23:59 on Wednesday 20th June 2018.
All application must be submitted electronically: balticcentreforcontemporaryart.submittable.com
