Our Co-Founder Marie Proffit got together with Koshik Zaman from C-Print to talk about the festival this year prior to its opening.
‘The idea of creating a new dance festival in Stockholm was a shared dream with my STHLM DANS co-founders Eva Broberg and Jonas Robin. Eva currently runs European Dancehouse Network, and was previously a programmer at Dansens Hus and Kulturhuset Stadsteatern, and also has experience in the visual arts sector. Jonas is a producer with years of experience for dance theaters, festivals and companies, and has a great knowledge of works for young audiences. I have a mixed background as a producer and a curator in performing arts, digital arts and cultural diplomacy at European level. So in a way our fields of expertise are very complementary.
Eva and I were introduced while ago and we have not stopped talking and meeting since. In a funny way, I think that Covid-19 really helped us. For our sector, the pandemics meant less networking events, and more one-to-one meetings, but also some space to think and challenge existing models. From January 2021, we met and talked regularly with Eva, starting to shape our common vision of what a new dance festival in Stockholm could and should be, and contacting partners we felt would understand our idea. Amy Fee from Danscentrum later introduced us to Jonas and he joined the team.
Our common vision was around the development of new audiences for contemporary dance in all its diversity, from experimental performances to family shows. Our programme overall should be diverse enough to enable artists to meet new audiences in different contexts. So our role is to constantly helicopter up to make sure that many different aesthetics and genres are represented in the curation. And of course also by placing dance in new contexts, all over Stockholm and its region, by presenting dance in museums, on the street, in forests, as well as on stage. I don’t think we can thank enough the artists and the partners who trusted us from year 1 to be part of this collective adventure.’
Read the full interview on C-Print: https://www.c-print.se/post/sthlm-dans
Credit: If Only I Knew, Norrdans & Ioannis Mandafounis, ph: Lia Jacobi/Norrdans
