Prologue This project is the result of our meeting at the 1997 American Dance Festival ADF held in Durham, North Carolina. We had all been invited to participate on the ADF's International Choreographer's Residency Programme ICR, which invited 18 choreographers from 14 different countries over 4 continents to live, create and train together for 7 weeks.
   
During this time we were able to exchange and share our varied experiences not only as artists, but from a cultural point of view. What developed was a strong connection between the four of us and a desire to initiate a project that allowed us to explore the diversity of our backgrounds through our mutual passion and chosen form of dance. We found the opportunity to meet again several times in order further this dialogue, explore our dance together, discover our priorities and, last but not least, to integrate Zoltán Nagy from Budapest into the group.
   

 

 

The exploration of the contrasts in our living situations and cultures (particularly Eastern and Western Europe), the celebration of what these differences lend to each individuals creative processes, set within our common artistic interests is the basis of this project.

 
   

The project consists of three different parts:

 

- Solo created individually by the five choreographers in their home country.

- Group piece set around specific themes created during the residencies in each venue and different for each country.

- Documentation of each residency using a range of different forms: photographer, artist, video by an artist resident in the visited city. This documentation is taken on to each following city to be presented as an exhibition alongside the performances.
   
   

In each working phase of the project the five choreogaphers meet in one of their home cities (Sofia, London, Riga, Zurich and Budapest) to teach, improvise, share and create for 14 days. The result of this collaboration will then be showed 2-3 times as a work in progress performance in the respective city.

To support the work created and performed, there will be classes, work- shops, open rehearsals and other activities open to the public. This serves to involve the residents of each city into our working processes and allows for an intense and mutual level of input, debate and exchange between the participants and potential audience.