Biennale College Danza 2024

In his fourth year as Director of Biennale Danza, Wayne McGregor will be leading the Biennale College – Dance in 2024. This unique learning and study programme is designed to equip 16 young dancers with new skills, knowledge and abilities in their chosen career path; nurtured by inspiring world-class teachers, coaches, choreographers and industry professionals. Through high quality technical, creative, improvisatory and performance experiences the 2024 cohort will immerse themselves in an intensive three-month programme that will include: in a special large scale, site-specific commission, Biennale Danza Director Wayne McGregor will create a collaborative work with the young artists alongside his Company Wayne McGregor (in residence for Biennale Danza 2024) for the monumental Sala Grande at Palazzo del Cinema. Continuing our ambition to have the greatest living dance artists working with Biennale College, we are thrilled that our students will have Cristina Caprioli working directly with them in Venice. In a bespoke immersion in Caprioli’s work, the young artists will have the opportunity to delve into this polymath’s process through experimentation, social connection and critically in the creating of a piece from her repertoire. Caprioli’s rigorous intellectual and theoretical focus will also be excavated in lecture demonstration, mentorship and discussion. 

Biennale College dancers will also collaborate with 2 emerging choreographers (see separate call out) who will each present their own short creations during the 18. International Festival of Contemporary Dance of La Biennale di Venezia.

Dancers selected for this programme will have access to individual mentoring, masterclasses and talks and will attend the international performances by companies invited to Biennale Danza 2024.

The project will take place from May 13th to August 3rd, 2024.

Each day will begin with a technique class in ballet or contemporary, led by world class teachers from McGregor’s network, followed by workshop sessions that will focus on repertoire, process, improvisation and the new commissions.

Interwoven into the programme will be opportunities for Biennale College dancers to focus on McGregor’s study of Physical Thinking through choreographic and performative practice. Building the group’s collaborative skills in making work together and sharing techniques for the generation of dance material and composition.

Performances
As part of the 18th International Festival of Contemporary Dance of La Biennale di Venezia the Biennale College will present work in a range of contexts, for example sharings on stage to site-specific events and open rehearsals.

Selection and announcement
The selection is open to participants from all over the world. We are looking for young dancers (+18 > 28) with at least three years vocational (or equivalent) training in dance at a high technical level and as importantly, who are creatively curious, daring and open-minded.

Attendance for the whole programme is mandatory for participation in the project.
The selected participants will be accomodated in shared apartments arranged and paid by La Biennale di Venezia.
Travel to/from Venice will be organized and paid for by La Biennale di Venezia.
Each participant will receive a Biennale fee for performances of € 1,000 gross.
Working day lunches will be organized and paid for by La Biennale di Venezia.

There are no fees for the application.

Selected dancers (only) 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.

The selection will be made at the complete discretion of the Director of the Dance Department of La Biennale di Venezia, Wayne McGregor.

NB: Applicants may ONLY apply for either the dancer project OR the choreographer project. Applications for both projects will not be accepted. 

Applicants must register by filling out the online form and submit the following material by the deadline of March 8^th 2024:

1. Recent CV in english (the video links indicated below must also be included in the CV)
2. Recent photo
3. Link to video of motivation in English (max five minutes)
4. Link to showreel/video clip of you dancing

La Biennale di Venezia reserves the right in any case to modify, cancel or interrupt the initiative described above, in that the announcement or the selection do not constitute a binding contract for the same, nor do they entail the right to the reimbursement of any expense other than those specified above.

The integral acceptance of the conditions of the Biennale College Danza call makes the application eligible.

INFO:
college-danza@labiennale.org