The Theaterschool residency spawned two publications: Company in the School: between experiment and heritage, Eds. Jeroen Fabius and Ingrid van Schijndel. Research group Art Practice and Development & Emio Greco | PC. 2007; and Transfer Eds. Marijke Hoogenboom, Pol Eggermont and Nienke Rooijakkers. Amsterdam School of the Arts. 2007.
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'Company in the School' publication
From the Introduction to Company in the School pp. 4-7:
by Ingrid van Schijndel and Jeroen Fabius — Emio Greco | PC / Theaterschool, Amsterdam School of the Arts
From March 2005 until April 2006, dance company Emio Greco | PC were artists in residence at the department of dance of the Theaterschool Amsterdam, at the initiative of the research group Art Practice and Development of the Amsterdam School of the Arts. (1)
At the very moment the company were approached with the question whether they would want to be guests at the school, there was a lively discussion going on within the company on strategies of transfer. Transfer became the chosen term, an umbrella for sheltering many questions like: How do we pass on a precise and meticulous vocabulary when it has never before been defined? How do we safeguard existing work, when a small company doesn’t have the physical or financial means to perform different repertoire pieces? Can we actually build a repertoire, when the meaning of the work is very much based on its innovative and controversial ethics? Can this work stand the test of time? How do we even begin to know the value of a piece? And if we attribute a particular value to it, what, then, is the core quality and how is it to be passed on to others when so far it has been a purely practice based non-verbal process between people who have had the opportunity of intensively working together for an extensive period of time?
The invitation by the Theaterschool presented a welcome opportunity to look further into these matters. At the same time it was clear that if there was anything to be gained, the structure of the best bridging loan
educational institute had to be challenged. Ambitious plans were made. Performances, workshops, research groups, debates, laboratory sessions and talks soon filled up the agenda. The Theaterschool gave a generous carte blanche as to what the program could be.
The Theaterschool was motivated in part by the consideration that Emio Greco | PC is one of few companies that actively engage in the dialogue on dance. Formulating questions about the practice of dance making and the context of dance offered a guarantee that the educational curriculum of the Theaterschool would be exposed to a pronounced view on a contemporary dance practice. The request made by the company was significant: the program would have to be pursued on an interdisciplinary basis, with participation by all the different dance disciplines that are taught at the school. After all, pitting it against the various disciplines might reveal its particular value.
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the residency this ambitious program had to be revised several times. Hectic touring agendas on the part of the company and busy schedules on the part of teachers and students left little time to spare. This formed a serious practical obstacle for carrying out the original plan.
Apart from the practicality of time, there were also other matters of a more fundamental nature that would at times get in the way. As a conscientious ballet student phrased it: “Why do we have to waste our precious time on something that is far from me and that’s eating time and energy out of me while I should be training my technique?” And what is that alleged joint interest between a jazz dance teacher and the way Emio Greco | PC approach the body? Why should a choreography student at the School for New Dance Development who is trying to find his own voice, surrender or even submit to a precise and strict way of working with another choreographer? Questions were added to the questions already there.
On the pages that follow, some of the fruits that were harvested from trying to answer these questions are presented. This collection of writings does not give the reader an overview or an evaluation of the residency, but rather an insight into the ongoing discussions around notions of contemporary dance making, transfer, repertoire and reconstruction. As such, these articles provide a witness account of the discussions themselves. In order to provide an overview of past discussions that have prompted the questions that formed the starting point for this residency, Ingrid van Schijndel summarizes the history of the Salons on Dance & Discourse that were initiated by the company. The expanding issues are continued in this publication. The article by Jeroen Fabius looks at the ways in which the company have created a fan of activities that contribute to their own particular artistic practice, and at the way the outside world is invited to ‘ride’ with them.
Maaike Bleeker was involved in the salon discussions before and was invited by the company to give her personal vision on the position of contemporary dance. In her contribution, she proposes a way of thinking, based on the value of what dance has to offer within contemporary culture. In doing so she does not shy away from giving dance a specific role in the process, nor does she restrict dance to its disciplinary boundaries. Emio Greco and Pieter C. Scholten revisit the form of 7 statements, this time considering why it is important to think about education within an artistic practice. What are the possible dangers of a naive conception of the transfer of ideas using only dance and the body as materials, in contemporary culture?
In between, there are the voices of the students who participated in the various workshops and research groups during the residency. They were generous in their contributions and more of their writings can be browsed at: www.emiogrecopc.nl, see ‘forum’. So as not to let the outcome of this collaboration evaporate, this selection of our findings was committed to paper. Not as a definitive conclusion, not as a final judgment, but as a basis for further dialogue.
(1) The research cialis 5
group Art Practice and Development was established in 2003 and is headed by professor Marijke Hoogenboom. The Artist in Residence programme was fundamental for this research, enabling four creative faculties of the AHK to annually invite an artist to become attached as Guest Professor.
