Biennale College Dance 2018

Biennale College - Dance offers a maximum of 15 young dancers, aged 18 to 23 years, with solid training and previous qualifying experience, to participate in a 13-week-intensive programme (4 April > 1 July 2018) with daily training sessions to develop awareness of the body (somatic approach) and to study the contemporary techniques and repertory of Marie Chouinard, focusing specifically on the piece titled 24 Préludes de Chopin with internationally renowned teachers.

In the final phase of the programme, the dancers will be involved in a new creation developed for them by choreographer Daina Ashbee which, together with the 24 Préludes de Chopin by Marie Chouinard, will be presented to the public in a final performance as part of the 12th International Festival of Contemporary Dance of the Biennale di Venezia.

The project will take place from April 4th to July 1st 2018 and will be structured as daily training sessions, for a total of 6/8 hours a day, for five/six days each week.
The Biennale di Venezia reserves the right to change the work schedule at any time during the project.
The programme is structured as follows:

Techniques
1) SOMATIC APPROACH
A programme focused on the awareness of the body (somatic approach) with two intensive one-week sessions (6 hours per day) and with weekly sessions of daily practice (2 hours a day) with:
• Judith Koltai (Authentic Movement) – an intensive one-week course and a week of daily practice
• Gaby Agis (Skinner Releasing Technique) – 1 week of daily practice
• Ami Shulman (Feldenkrais) – 2 weeks of daily practice
• Tom Koch (Alexander Technique) – 2 weeks of daily practice
• Linda Rabin (Continuum) - 1 one-week intensive course and one week of daily practice.

2) CONTEMPORARY TECHNIQUE
A programme for the study of contemporary techniques with daily sessions held with the dancers of the Compagnie Chouinard.

3) EXPERIMENTATION IN MOVEMENT
A programme dedicated to experimentation with movement, which in this edition will focus on Marie Chouinard's composition methods, with daily sessions held with the dancers of the Compagnie Chouinard.

Interpretation
1) With regard to the interpretation of the contemporary repertoire, an intensive workshop will be held with the dancers of the Compagnie Chouinard on the 24 Préludes de Chopin, choreographed by Marie Chouinard in 1999.
2) In the area of interpretation, the dancers will work for three weeks with Daina Ashbee on a new creation.

Tutoring
The dancers will have individual meetings with each of the tutors.

Performances
1) During the programme, the 15 selected dancers will participate in three OPEN days to present their works-in-progress as part of the 16th International Architecture Exhibition.
2) During the final phase, the 15 dancers will participate in an event at Campo Sant'Agnese coordinated by Daina Ashbee.
3) At the end of the process, the 15 dancers will present a public performance of the 24 Préludes de Chopin by Marie Chouinard and a new creation by Daina Ashbee as part of the 12th International Festival of Contemporary Dance of the Biennale di Venezia.

Selection and announcement
Deadline for registration for the selection: January 25th, 2018

The selection is open to participants from all over the world.
The selection will be made at the complete discretion of the Director of the Dance Department of the Biennale di Venezia, and will be tentatively announced at the end of January/early February 2018.

Attendance is mandatory for participation in the project.
The selected participants may stay in an apartment arranged for them by the Biennale di Venezia.
The participants must pay for their own travel, food and local transportation expenses.

Each selected applicant will be required to pay a registration fee in the amount of € 80.00 (VAT included, non-refundable) to be settled by credit card only following the announcement of their acceptance, and no later than the date that will be specified in due time.

PARTICIPATION PROCEDURES
Documentation
You must first register on the Biennale website www.labiennale.org/en/biennale-college, and submit the following material:
1. Curriculum Vitae (specifying nationality) (max. 1000 characters) and two photographs (half bust and full figure in motion)
2. Letter of motivation
3. Two letters of reference
4. A video (with a link for viewing): the only video considered valid for the selection will be a video with an improvised “solo” that documents the dancer's technical and expressive capacities (lasting no more than 2 min.).

Application deadline: January 25th, 2018.