***This event has been postponed, we will be announcing the new date soon.***

Exploring dance as a method of Civic Education - Dance can be a form of political expression or even a political tool, but dance is also disputed in itself. Within the broad field of dance there are ongoing fights about questions such as cultural ownership and exotization, corporality and gender. Dance is an expression of community and class cultures. It is part of decolonial movements and within the dance scene choreographers and dancers are opposing the colonization and racialization of their cultures and bodies. And not least, dance is a method in the fields of pedagogy and social work.

We want to take time on this weekend to explore some of these dimensions of Dance & Politics and to fathom how dance can be used as a method in civic education. In the Workshop Dance & Politics we make our bodies our starting point. We are thereby supported by choreographer and dancer Ewelina Zielonka. In her understanding every body can dance and in doing so express their own thoughts and history in their own ways.

On the on hand, we are going to look into examples such as certain trends in contemporary dance, the Zulu Nation movement and the pedagogical significance of break dance, anticolonial dances such as Senegalese ballet or the approach of the Afrotudedancers, the role of Swing within resistance against the Nazi Regime and the dances of the Ni una menos movement or pink and silver formations in demonstrations etc.

On the other hand, those examples are going to serve us as an impulse. In subsequent dance sessions we are going feel into our bodies if we can find a change in our body attitude – if we can sense power but also vulnerability.

The precise content of the workshop will not be strictly imposed, but should be developed during the weekend together with the participants. While we will provide you with some incentive material, the participants will ultimately decide on the focal points. Without imposing any preconceived goals we want to explore the relationship(s) between dance and the political.  

The workshop addresses multipliers and civic educators, but also everybody interested from the age of 18 up. We are going to speak German and English. We invite people of all gender to participate, but we ask cis-men to use the space and opportunity to reflect on their (corporal) position and privileges. basa e.V. is trying to provide with this workshop a space sensible for diversity and critical against discrimination. The premises are wheelchair-accessible. If you have further questions or needs, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.