THEMES

1. SOUNDDANCE
2. WHATEVER

1. 1. SOUNDDANCE

I have read online that 2020 was declared to be the year of sound, which made it quite natural that the interaction between sound and movement would become the focus of this year’s theme. The title of the theme comes from a choreography by Merce Cunningham, who used the same methods in creating his choreographies as composer John Cage did in writing his music. Cage claimed that all sounds can make music and Cunningham likewise included everyday motions and movements into his pieces. And both of them furthermore claimed that music and dance must co-exist instead of being intentionally coordinated, because their sole common denominators are time and space.

Sound is a wave, whose forms we separate into the following four main groups: tone, ring, hum and pop. It is a basic building block of music. And as we shape waveforms to create music, so we shape motions to create dance.

We can embark on researching movement and sound in many ways:
can, for example, choose to study the interaction of sounds, words, sentences, songs and texts with the movement of body parts and the body as a whole; create movement with sounds that result from manipulating various objects; create different sounds that come from breathing, using voice, body percussion; or create movements with different musical stimuli etc.

This year's theme encourages the participants to explore ‘dance’, or structured human movement, and ‘music’, or socially accepted patterns of sound.
When, and in what contexts do music and dance interact? What is the nature of their relationship? Do dancers follow the sound, or does sound support the movements of the dancers? Do there exist contexts where music and dance or sound and movement merge to form a single entity? And, finally, how do movements and sounds merge and resound within each other?

1. 2. WHATEVER

But if the theme above does not inspire you, you are free to do, well, whatever. Whatever is in you, whatever is around you, whatever you are looking for, whatever you are wondering about, whatever you doubt, whatever you are interested in…we are interested as well!

Guidelines for mentors and creators:

The obligatory part of the creative process should include translating your ideas and procedures into words. The same as every year, you have to attach a description of your creative process to your application (literary origins, thoughts, procedures, decisions…). Think about it and work on it so as to genuinely delve into the depths of your short dance piece.
The theme is expected to offer a wide scope of possibilities to all artists, regardless of their age. Mentors should discuss it with young creators, while the later should be autonomous and creative in shaping their ideas and pieces.
The role of mentors in creating the short dance piece is to counsel, lead and guide the young creators in creating their own ideas, dance expressions and autonomous choreographies.
Approach the theme with exploratory zeal and creative inspiration.
Think and work on it to really delve into the creation and formation of the short dance piece, thus meaningfully conceptualizing the concept, process and results of your work.