THE HUMANE BODY

Wiener Tanzwochen (Vienna, Austria), Kaaitheater (Brussels, Belgium), Centre National de la Danse (Paris, France) and The Place (London, UK) will work together to develop a new audience for contemporary dance performance amongst blind/partially-sighted people by creating and touring dance works made specifically to include that community as spectators and participants.

We are aiming for a step-change in the way artist and dance organisations create work with an awareness of this audience. Our arts organisations will thus be better equipped as cultural businesses to connect with these citizens and the networks that support them. Through our status amongst European art networks we will be able to share both the developed artworks and our learning easily across the EU, providing a model for best practice and a pathway to sustain engagement with this underrepresented audience.

To do so, the work program will consist of:

• workshops, labs and symposia to research and develop the program with experts, artists and blind/partially-sighted people in Paris, London, Brussels and Vienna
• training and education of audio describers as well as hosts to implement the program in different languages
• taking an existing touring dance work and develop an innovative contextual programme to surround it that will elevate its accessibility and deepen the understanding of both blind/partially-sighted as well as sighted audiences
• working with 3 established international choreographers to create and tour new contemporary dance performances. Developed through residencies within communities of partner cities, this will specifically address equality of access in the very nature of the performance as well as through a bespoke, innovative contextual programme that surrounds it
• presenting and touring the performances, the technical equipment and the programs across Europe
• improving the network and partnership
• evaluating the project and publish the results