Acerca de
OPEN CALL
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4 day workshop in Aarhus, Denmark. Led by United Cowboys from Eindhoven (NL), hosted by Teater Fluks (DK). This workshop is part of a year-long collaboration between Teater Fluks and United Cowboys. It will lead to a durational performance-installation during Aarhus Festuge 2025 (25th of August - 7th of September).
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Discover the Biotope. Join a 4 day workshop, to develop tools for a radical presence on stage, unfold strategies for co-creation and ask questions such as: What does the manipulability of the body mean? What is individuality and what does humanity and the position of the creative person mean within an autocratic society?
We place truthfulness and (self-chosen) vulnerability against the one-dimensional nature of digital information and exposure; we believe that observation and experience are the right way to acquire, learn and develop knowledge. We also believe that in this day and age we should encourage moving towards each other instead of away from each other.
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Dates: 27th-30th of January, 2025 (workshop time approximately 10-18)
Open for 12-16 participants.
Application Deadline: Sunday the 5th of January 2025. All applicants can expect an answer no later than the 10th of January.
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The workshop is free of charge. There will be lunch, coffee, tea and snacks during the workshop. If needed Teater Fluks can help find and cover accommodation in Aarhus. Unfortunately we can not cover other expenses during the workshop.
We are looking for professional artists (any art form), with an eagerness to explore new approaches and expanding skills and/or affinity with physicality and movement.
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We are looking for a diverse group of participants in skills, age and background; going from the motto that we are a group of individuals.
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Context:
This workshop is part of a year-long collaboration between Teater Fluks and United Cowboys. It will lead to a durational performance-installation during Aarhus Festuge 2025 (25th of August - 7th of September). Performers for the performance will be required to have some experience with the Biotope method - from this workshop or from earlier collaborations with United Cowboys. A limited number of participants from the workshop will be invited to join the Biotope Performance.
Performers working in the Biotope performance-installation in September will be paid according to current standards.
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How to apply to participate in the Biotope workshop?
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Application by Motivation (maximum one page), Bio and if relevant: video material and SoMe-handles. Apply by clicking the button at the top of the page. Deadline on the 5th of January 2025.
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Teater Fluks will host the workshop in January, and co-produce as well as co-create the durational performance in September. Questions and comments will be most welcome. For practical questions please contact info@teaterfluks.dk. For artistic or content questions contact: info@united-c.nl
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More about the Biotope as a concept and a method.
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Biotope - Workshop:
In this January workshop in Aarhus, the artistic directors from United Cowboys Maarten van der Put and Pauline Roelants will continue their investigation on the mentality of performing, on physicality as language and means of dialogue, and presence in moments of improvisation.
Focus will be on the awareness of the body, in relation to space and energy.
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The structure for the workshop introducing the method of the Biotope will be somewhat like this:
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Day 1: This strongly physical co-creation starts by introducing tools for a radical presence on stage, related to the challenging balance between vulnerability and power.
Working on the individual skills in relation to presence are the basis for the first day – a getting to know each other and the space. Giving space and taking space.
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Day 2: From this introduction, all participants are invited to “defend” their individual territory. A body, space, and energy challenge. Hereafter will the individual profiles, as result of the introduction, be the fundament for a guided and structured improvisation at first. This day will be around finding freedom within limitations.
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Day 3: We put the moment between the decision to move and the actual movement as close together as possible. In this way, we add the performance state as attention to the improvisations. We work on putting out antennas to all sides and all signals.
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Day 4: We connect head, heart, body. The further we come, the more freedom and space will be conquered. The improvisation will be longer and working up to a sense of infinity.
Biotope - Performance:
Since 2014, United Cowboys have built Biotopes on location. Self-sufficient environments in which dancers, performers and musicians are present. Through the Biotope the space is being redefined. The audience can walk around to observe and absorb this world from all angles. They can stop to watch, move on, step out and come back again. Through improvisational and choreographed sequences the performers lead the audience along this seemingly free experience that is guided by an underlying direction composed of tight rules and dramaturgy. The performance is created through an ongoing set-up of dance, images, structures and flows; this will lead to a structured duration that will be performed for an audience. The duration of the Biotope is agreed on per location. There is no fixed time limit. Till now, The Biotope has lasted between 4 1⁄2 and 5 hours; the concept is infinite.
Link to narrative report Biotope in Gothenborg Sweden: https://vimeo.com/690456889
Link to narrative report Biotope in Sofia Bulgaria: https://vimeo.com/732031765
About us:
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United Cowboys is a collective of international artists under the guidance of a dedicated artistic team. Inspired by a variety of art forms, United Cowboys creates multidisciplinary performances,on the border of dance, performance music, video and installation art, that can be viewed around the globe.
Teater Fluks is a Danish theatre company based in the old industrial harbour area of Aarhus, where we run a laboratory space called Performance Atelier Fluks (PAF).
Established in 2011 by artistic co-directors Sara Fink Søndergaard and Rasmus Malling Lykke Skov, Teater Fluks produce original and intimate work. Driven by resonance, research and social sensibility we combine theatre, performance-art, installations and sound.