This is the first edition of Practicing Performance: a 2-week dance festival at The Ohio State University that aims at bringing European based and American artists together to share, exchange, perform and play in a safe and creative environment.
PP wants to create an environment where conversation is at the fulcrum of each and every practice. The exchange of knowledge through classes, workshops, practices, and performances begins with discourse about the what, why, and how of what we do in our field.
This 2-week course is aimed for 18 and up, professional dancers, makers, choreographers, artists, and performers to develop their stage and creative skills. We offer training with international active choreographers and teachers.
- Days will include various classes and workshops.
- Nights will include Performances + Wednesday Skillperts nights + Nobody’s Business + Mental Gardening.
- Visit the website to find more information! www.practicingperformance.com
![]()
We Albert Quesada (ZOO/Thomas Hauert) and Katie Vickers (Martin Nachbar, Deborah Hay, Cullberg Ballet) are two dancers/choreographers/teachers living and working in between the U.S. and Brussels, Belgium. Traveling back and forth, we wanted to see more of a dialogue between these two dance communities, thus the birth of Practicing Performance. We hope this platform can be a start into bringing people together to ask questions within two very different contexts, share experiences, and enrich the field at large.
So, we invited a group of very talented artists:
Andrew Robinson Champlin (Miguel Gutierrez, Xavier le Roy, Pam Tanowitz)
Eleanor Bauer (Rosas, Trisha Brown, Matthew Barney, Boris Charmatz)
Tale Dolven (Rosas)
Gabel Eiben (Nature Theatre of Oklahoma, SITI Company)
WHAT WE NEED: We can't do this without your help!
We have an ambitious sum of money to reach but are confident that these two communities can come together to make this happen! We are looking for $8.000 to be able to cover:
- travel costs
- accommodation
- teachers fees
- promotion + marketing
- studio rentals
- tech [sound|lighting| for the performances
Please know that whether you donate* $5 or $3,000 every penny counts and it really does make a difference!
We are so passionate that no matter how the funds go, we will push forward with this first year's festival edition. We are engaged with our artists and believe the community will benefit tremendously from it.
THE IMPACT
We believe art is necessary for a society where new points of view, reflection, and communication are essential for a better living. With this festival, we want to practice sharing and exchanging, a place where people can meet on equal grounds to share tools, knowledge, and to foster a sense of togetherness. We hope that by gathering artists from different backgrounds and contexts sparks an environment where we can support different ways of working and thinking.
A festival is a space.
This space is supportive and caring.
This space is working towards the development of art practices.
This space is an exchange of ideas.
This space is critically thinking about dance and its place today.
This space is for training skills (for performance, for creation).
![]()
RISKS & CHALLENGES
This is our first year starting PP and with that, there are always challenges and huge risks to face.
We foresee three major challenges:
- Organizing the 2-week festival to our vision
- Getting the needed funding
- Attracting artists and participants to the festival.
We hope to overcome these challenges with our experience:
-
As directors: (we have directed a summer program, Performing Arts Intensive, for over 5 years at Mercersburg Academy. As directors, we’ve organized the festival from start to finish from newsletters and marketing to the final performances at the end of two weeks.)
-
As creators: we have created over 12 dance performances over the last 10 years, including looking for funding, employing other artists, and managing the company's touring.
-
As teachers: we have taught in many countries, in academies, private studios, and universities.
With this experience and the help of the other artists, we are confident that Practicing Performance in any shape or form will be a success.
Can't donate but still want to help?
Some people can't contribute, but that doesn't mean they can't help:
- Ask folks to get the word out and make some noise about this campaign.
- Reach out to us as we get closer to find out if there are organizational ways in which you can be involved with the festival.
- Use the Indiegogo share tools!
Video credits:
Video footage: used with permission by Andrew Champlin, Eleanor Bauer, Tale Dolven, Gabel Eiben, Albert Quesada, Katie Vickers Video editing: Albert Quesada