Carlsberg Copenhagen a unique centre for contemporary dance and body culture
Dansescenen and Dansens Hus together with Dansk Danseteater will create one of Europe s largest dance houses: at Carlsberg! 1. phase: from spring 2009 a temporary placement in Tap E 2. phase: from approx. summer 2014 a permanent placement in purposebuilt 7000 sq.m. dancehouse The following description deals with the fully unfolded vision of. In the temporary placement we will still just have one stage and six studios but we will have extra research facilities, major extra audience facilities plus a workshop stage for the luxury purpose of working on lights in a rehearsal and research set-up. The main idea of the temporary placement is to develop new audiences and liaisons, locally, nationally as well as internationally, broadening the concept of dance and start exploring and exploiting the new and numerous creative synergies brought to life by living together. We can hardly wait! Body culture and all forms of physical expression and experiences contribute to developing identity and new social communities. In a contemporary, creative and visionary part of town like Carlsberg, body culture will become a part of Copenhagen s identity and everyday life. The setting to facilitate and inspire this is Dansehallerne! 2 stages, 11 studios, a stage laboratory, an information centre, a shop, a café, an outdoor stage, pilates and physiotherapy, teaching, workshops, training, creative growth, performances...and room for free physical display! Dansehallerne at Carlsberg will set a new international standard of what dance as an art form and form of personal expression is able to do for its audience, the youth and for the surrounding community. Dansehallerne will be unparalleled and guests from near and far are expected to come and see how this unique configuration of physical resources will function together and indeed what the result will be from the union of the three organisations. AS A GENERATOR FOR A CREATIVE COMMUNITY The interplay between stage, company, workplace and immediate milieu gives phenomenal potential to this unique house. On a European level, in terms of its size, its unity of institutions, its magnitude of professional input and its consideration of city space and city life, Dansehallerne will be a truly exceptional institution. In
other words, Dansehallerne at Carlsberg will put Copenhagen on the map as an innovative bridge-builder between an art form and a community and thus be a magnet as a pioneering institution in the cultural arena. Dansehallerne at Carlsberg will be the focal point for numerous collaborations, Danish and international alike. In Dansehallerne, the contemporary dance milieu will have the opportunity to work in facilities that can accommodate everyone whilst also providing an environment for artists working with performance and physical theatre. A couple of Dansens Hus' studios will provide the height to rehearse in for New Circus artists, several of which are already in the process of working with choreographers. At the same time many non-professional children, young people and adults will have the opportunity to receive dancing tuition and attend workshops and lectures. Having Danske Danseteater as an integral part of the house means that the 'dance milieu' will be unified in Dansens Hus which will be a great benefit and inspiration for everyone. Dansescenen, together with the varying dancers and choreographers will benefit greatly from having training, rehearsals and performances in the same building. FOR EVERYONE The building itself together with the outdoor spaces will be considered the new neighbourhood s beating, dynamic heart. The square will become the new neighbourhood s meeting point by integrating activities across the board, appealing to children and young people, families and the elderly, open both during and outside the house's opening hours. The house will be a living building, from which music, lights, movement and a flow of people in and out, will act like a magnet drawing the locals in. Carlsberg has, in itself, enormous potential to become a significant attraction in Copenhagen and there are great expectations for the neighbourhood. This positive attention and interest in the neighbourhood can only increase with the creation of Dansehallerne and in turn the house will give the place a pulse by attracting people into the area even before the neighbourhood has been finished. CITY LIFE, WORKSHOPS AND BREATHING SPACE Dansehallerne is a house for dancers, but equally a meeting place for the locals. Professionals and amateurs alike will meet in the studios and around the house, making it a lively and dynamic place to be. On a typical day, for example, you might find school classes and institutions invited in the mornings to performances,
workshops and tuition. The afternoons might offer lectures, film previews, lecture demos, study groups, pilates and other exercise classes. In the evenings an impressive array of performances and performance-related activites may be found, from renowned international guest performers to dance-it-yourself tango or hip-hop battles. The Dance Information Centre will be open all day, where you can see film clips, look up newspaper articles, get help to find historical dance material or get information about festivals and courses abroad. In the evenings The Shop will be open, where you can buy dance-related merchandise, books, films and other items related to both the big and the not so big names in dance. The café will be open all day and evenings too with an outdoor café in the summer months. It will be possible to arrange group bookings offering package deals for companies and total theatre events. There will also be plenty going on outside the dance house: a covered outdoor stage could be used for festivals, advertising stunts and showings. The large open windows into the rehearsal rooms will give a glimpse of the ongoing professional work and a dynamic and living picture of the new dancing world a world that will attract people, draw them into the building and invite them to try new experiences. The open expanses will be an open invitation to street dance and other physical performance. Screens will tell the story of dance and the dance house will be open all day long for people to enjoy, both in and out of doors. In the summer there will be people on the outdoor stage, in the square and at the outdoor café. On the dark, winter days the building will be lit by the light shining through its large window panes and the facade will become a living display thanks to the dancing forms within. DANSESCENEN Dansescenen opened its doors as a theatre in Østerbro in 1993. Dansescenen was Denmark s first stage created solely for contemporary dance. With its location in the capital city and its huge commitment to the development of the art form as well as its close involvement in the Danish dance milieu, Dansescenen has a central role in Danish Dance. With Dansehallerne, the great breakthrough for Dansescenen will be the possibility to open up the idea of dance to a much wider contact group through the users, the artists and interactively. It will be able to offer a larger
and more facetted dance programme and be able to plan specially formatted arrangements and events for selected interest groups. With three spaces to work in, there will be a wealth of offers for all kinds of audiences imaginable. The big stage With up to 500 seats and a purpose-built stage, Dansescenen s big stage will be one of the most attractive dance theatre stages in Europe. It will be a multifunctional space, able to accommodate a traditional black-box stage as well as any number of alternative staging with or without an ordinary auditorium. Here we will offer international guests artists, festivals, competitions, large-scale dance productions, substantial in-house productions, and The Junior Company s performances. The small stage The small stage will be ideal for the smaller Danish guest performances, for Dansescenen s own small-scale inhouse productions, and not least as a serious proposition in the work with children and youth, as a space for performances, school dance days, dance fun, do-it-yourself shows, etc. This will be the space for strange experiments, film shows, debate evenings, lecture-demos and lectures. Even the difficult and technical arts of tango, flamenco or street dance can be tried and participants can give it their best shot in Dance-it-yourself evenings. Plus Carl Plus Carl will potentially have something to offer from the morning hours until the evening. Workshops will be arranged to take place here for many target groups from many dance styles along with special events such as seminars, meetings, courses and meet the public sessions. Plus Carl will be an open and transparent space within its surroundings, which will signal an accessible and inviting place to be. DANSK DANSETEATER Dansk Danseteater is Denmark s largest contemporary dance company, established in 1981. Through the years the company has developed into being the most influencial and eminent company here with a firm anchoring in the whole of Denmark and an international reputation that is unrivalled at home. With its high technical level of dance, its critically acclaimed performances and its wide recognition in the whole of Denmark and the rest of the world, Dansk Danseteater will bring prestige to Dansehallerne. It will contribute to the house s profile as a focal
point for contemporary dance and a catalyst for further development of the art, the performers and the audience. Dansk Danseteater s large, international and handpicked ensemble train everyday in the and there are always new choreographic works underway. As a part of Dansehallerne, the company will offer open rehearsals for colleagues, dancers in education and other curious souls. In the same way, Dansk Danseteater will draw on it's international network and make invitations to master classes and workshops. The new setting will also give Dansk Danseteater the opportunity to extend its activities with schools and enable them to create workshops during school time in connection with the performances. Dansk Danseteater have experienced that a meeting with dance as an activity can open up people s understanding and receptiveness to dance as an art form. Of course, it will be natural for the company to perform at Dansehallerne, likewise it would be fantastic to establish an outdoors dance event in Jacob s Have along the same lines as the annual event the company has held in Copenhagen s Police Headquarters since 2004. Danske Danseteater gives up to 90 performances a year in Copenhagen, on national and international tours. The company performs for close on 30,000 people every year. Under the present Artistic Director and Head Choreographer, Tim Rushton, the company is now in full bloom and has achieved significant international recognition and attention. Since Tim Rushton took over the position in 2001, the company has increased its audience numbers fourfold. A success that is rather unique in the Danish theatre world. Tim Rushton has been nominated 6 times for a Danish Theatre Award, the Reumert prize and received the award for Best Dance Performance of the Year in 1999 for Busy Being Blue, in 2005 for Kridt and in 2006 for Requiem. In addition, Tim Rushton has been awarded the Teaterkatten prize for Best Director, an award that is given each year by the Danish Union of Theatre Journalists. DANSENS HUS Dansens Hus has existed since 1986 and is the work place for the contemporary dance milieu. It houses a number of activities to support choreographers and dancers, such as the administration of performance projects
and national tours, the introduction of dance to children and young people in Copenhagen and Århus, a talent development programme and The Danish Dance Information Centre. In addition, Dansens Hus provides daily classes for professional dancers, hosts workshops and seminars and administers the rehearsal studios for numerous dance performances. Finally, a number of dance schools use the facilities for evening and weekend training, which means that the present 6 studios are used by professional and amateur dancers for more than 18 000 hours per year, and around 150 people of all ages use the facilities every day. For the children and youth, Dansehallerne will be of great advantage, as the young people in Dance Hothouse and The Junior Company will be able to make the most of having just one place to train, rehearse and perform in. With the dance milieu centred in just one setting, the young talents will get a feeling of belonging to the art, which has not been possible to give to them before. Likewise, the Dance consultants who work with school and kindergarten children, will be able to host some of their activities in the house, and thus give the children the opportunity to experience dance in the art form s own base and outside the confines of the children s usual institutions. In it's official location, The Danish Dance Information Centre will be useful not only to the obvious users, but also to the general public and to ordinary passers-by, who will be able to read periodicals and books, see films of various performances and obtain information on all aspects connected to dance. With Dansehallerne at Carlsberg, Dansens Hus can provide an optimal service to all of its users. The 10 studios and the Scene Laboratory will give the contemporary dance milieu unique facilities for morning classes, workshops, rehearsals for performances and research, all benefiting the development of dance. There will also be space for the possibility to open up to related art forms such as performance art and new circus, so that artists can gain the advantage of mutual inspiration. Contact info: Benedikte Paaske benedikte@dansenshus.dk or Louise Seibaek louise@dansescenen.dk