Keðja is an informal, international network of dance organisations. Together we aim to create open meeting places for those working in dance. Keðja facilitates events that gather individuals from dance communities to meet, share and learn together and empowers dance professionals to connect and collaborate.
The Keðja partner organisations are…
- Bora Bora (DK)
- Contemporary Dance Association (LT)
- Dansverkstædid (IS)
- Dance Info Finland (FI)
- Dansearena Nord (NO)
- Estonian Dance Art and Dance Education Union (EE)
- Förvaltningen för Kulturutveckling (SE)
- Latvian Dance Information Centre (LV)
- Norrlandsoperan (SE)
- PTL Dance Theater Ljubljana (SI)
- Regional Dance Centre of Western Finland (FI)
- The Work Room (Scotland)
Key objectives of Keðja :
- To create and facilitate opportunities for dance professionals and organisations in and between the partner countries to A) meet and network B) share knowledge, ideas and experience C) build capacities D) exchange and collaborate
- To strengthen and develop the professional dance community and sector in the partner countries in a more sustainable direction by empowering dance professionals and organisations at a grass-roots level
Key activities of Keðja:
- To organise larger international events/encounters (Stretch) that gather dance professionals from all partner countries to meet, share and learn together
- to organise smaller inter-/transnational events that serve one or several of the objectives and that are open for dance professionals in all partner countries
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keðja 2012-2015 – a platform for the Nordic-Baltic contemporary dance community
Object: to develop the concept of and possibilities for contemporary dance in the Nordic-Baltic region.
Method: encounters; from one mentee – one mentor relationships through Reading Dance Labs, Think Tanks and Wilderness residencies, to Encounters of several hundred people.
Ambition: to widen the concept and communication of the art form, as a mindset and an artistic practice, geographically as well as towards other sectors and audiences/citizens of the Nordic-Baltic region and beyond.
keðja is you!
- keðja is for anyone interested in taking a closer look at how contemporary dance is organized and works in the Nordic-Baltic countries
- keðja is for people who want to question, discuss and act
- keðja is for people who want to co-operate across boarders, creating better circumstances for the art of contemporary dance, and thereby stimulating and developing the art of dance.
Background:
The keðja project has since 2008 been the vastest meeting platform for dance artists as well as educators, producers, scholars and academics, artists from other sectors and dancing youth to meet and address important issues within the contemporary dance field in the Nordic-Baltic region. Artistic events, workshops, seminars and other kinds of exchange has taken place, empowering dance people from the whole Nordic-Baltic region. keðjas activities has taken place in 8 countries involving more than 1500 dance professionals.
Activities 2012-2015:
- Three Encounters: keðjaTallinn Sept. 2012. keðjaKlaipeda June 2013. keðja Mariehamn, August 2014.
- Wilderness Dance. Rural residency stays for dance artists, offered in 10 wild places in the Nordic and Baltic countries.
- A Mentoring Scheme for people working as managers, producers etc. of dance.
- Writing Movement. Labs on issues related to watching and writing about dance. Publishing of texts and network building for dance writers etc.
- Two Think Tanks “Sustainable strategies for the Nordic-Baltic dance field” and ”Touring network for the Nordic-Baltic region”.
keðja 2012-2015
The contemporary dance in the Nordic-Baltic region, regarded as a vivid and highly international art form that transgresses national, geographical as well as culturally defined borders, is developed through various ways of bringing people together, stimulating activity and creation. A process of knowledge enhancement, creation as well as development and execution of overall tactics and strategies relevant to the sector, is conducted through artistic and other kinds of dialogues and processes. Opportunities for dance professionals to meet, co-operate, share and move across borders in new ways are thus provided.
The word keðja
keðja is the Icelandic (and Old Norse) word for chain and is highly associated with the old Nordic chain dances that are still being danced. The name keðja symbolizes that the aim of the project is to connect, attach, encircle and move outwards as well as to strengthen the already existing chains/networks.
Various videos about keðja
Check our Vimeo Channel