Biennale College Dance 2019

Biennale College –  Dance offers a maximum of 15 young dancers, from the ages of 18 to 25, with solid training and previous qualifying experience, to participate in a 13-week-intensive programme (April 1st  > June 30th 2019) with daily training sessions to develop awareness of the body (somatic approach) and to study the contemporary techniques and repertory of Trisha Brown, focusing specifically on the production of the project Set and Reset/Reset with internationally renowned teachers.

In the final phase of the programme, the dancers will be involved in a new creation developed for them by choreographer Alessandro Sciarroni which, together with the final results of the project Set and Reset/Reset of the Trisha Brown Dance Company, will be presented to the public in a single event of the 13th International Festival of Contemporary Dance of La Biennale di Venezia.

The project will take place from April 1st to June 30th 2019 and will be structured as daily training sessions, for a total of 6/8 hours a day, for five days each week.
La Biennale di Venezia reserves the right to change the work schedule at any time during the project.

The programme is structured as follows:

Techniques
1) SOMATIC APPROACH
a programme focused on the awareness of the body (somatic approach) with two intensive one-week sessions (6 hours per day) and with weekly sessions of daily practice (2 hours a day) with:
• Judith Koltai (Authentic Movement) – 1 intensive one-week course and 1 week of daily practice
• Gaby Agis (Skinner Releasing Technique) – 1 week of daily practice
• Shelley Senter (Alexander Technique) – 2 weeks of daily practice
• Linda Rabin (Continuum) - 2 weeks of daily practice
• Ami Shulman (Feldenkrais) – 2 weeks of daily practice
• Tika Bowrin (Postural Pilates, Yoga, Somatic and Meditative Training) – 1 intensive one-week course.

2) CONTEMPORARY TECHNIQUE
A programme for the study of contemporary techniques with daily sessions held by Amanda Kmett' Pendry, Cecily Campbell, Marc Crousillat, Leah Ives, all dancers from the Trisha Brown Dance Company.

3) MOVEMENT RESEARCH
A programme dedicated to movement research, which in this edition will focus on Trisha Brown's composition methods, with daily sessions with the dancers of the Trisha Brown Dance Company.

Interpretation
1) With regard to the interpretation of the Contemporary Repertoire, the project Set and Reset/Reset will be developed with the dancers of the Trisha Brown Dance Company, following a unique protocol that Trisha Brown used with her dancers during the construction of the original choreography in 1983. The young dancers, after learning the basic material of the original piece, will generate their own movement which will be shaped into the final performance of Set and Reset/Reset, a variation on the original choreography. As Trisha Brown's company in 1983, the young dancers will be an integral part of both the creative process and the end result.
2) In the area of interpretation, the dancers will also work with Alessandro Sciarroni on a new creation.

Tutoring
The dancers will have individual meetings with each of the tutors.

Performances
During the programme, the 15 selected dancers will participate in two OPEN days presenting the works-in-progress and in an outdoor performance.
At the end of the process, the 15 dancers will present a public performance of the end result of the project Set and Reset/Reset of the Trisha Brown Dance Company and a new creation by Alessandro Sciarroni as part of the 13th International Festival of Contemporary Dance of La Biennale di Venezia.

Selection and announcement
Deadline for registration: January 16th, 2019

The selection is open to participants from all over the world.
The selection will be made at the complete discretion of the Director of the Dance Department of La Biennale di Venezia Marie Chouinard, and will be tentatively announced at the end of January/early February 2019.

Attendance is mandatory for participation in the project.
The selected participants may stay in a shared apartment arranged for them by La Biennale di Venezia.
The participants must pay for their own travel, food and local transportation expenses.

Each selected applicant will be required to pay a registration fee in the amount of € 80.00 (VAT included, non-refundable) to be paid exclusively by credit card following the announcement of their acceptance, and no later than the date that will be specified in due time.

PARTICIPATION PROCEDURES
Documentation
Participants must register by filling in the online form and submitting the following material:
1. Curriculum Vitae (specifying nationality) (max. 1000 characters) and two photographs (half bust and full figure in motion)
2. A letter of motivation
3. Two reference letters
4. A video (with a link for viewing): the only video considered valid for the selection will be a video with an improvised “solo” that documents the dancer's technical and expressive capacities (lasting no more than 2 min.).

Application deadline: January 16th, 2019.