Archive for category: News

18th September  

3 – 4pm

An Lanntair, Stornoway 

Would you like to participate in a creative workshop around the global, yet secret, art project Invisible Dances?

Since September 2020, the ‘Invisible Dances have quietly been creating a storm’ (Arts UK, 2021), with over 50 performances in 14 countries – and now it’s time to bring them to Stornoway! But what lies behind the mysterious concept? Elisabeth Schilling, the initiator of this international undertaking, which is inspired by and respects all local sanitary guidelines, is delighted to offer you the opportunity to take part in an inter-generational and interdisciplinary art workshop to introduce this unusual art project. Designed and developed by Elisabeth herself and led by local artist Catriona Hill, the workshop will fuse dance, visual art, individual creativity and collective reflection in a playful and accessible manner.

The workshop aims to introduce diverse creative ways to interact with the dance piece Invisible Dances: through drawings, through a guided walk and even dancing on the lines remaining from the performance; also through discussion, reflection and exchange. A special highlight of  this playful and creative workshop would be the chance to choreograph, dance and trace your very own Invisible Dance with another member of the community. Whilst you would be guided around the Invisible Dance’s art work in your respective locality, the workshop will also give you a glimpse into the diverse artistic expressions of the score, and how it has been interpreted across the world during the Covid pandemic. We hope this will connect local audiences to each other, as well as to the global community of Invisible Dancers. 

The Invisible Dances Workshop will take place on 18th September at 3pm – 4pm at An Lanntair arts centre, Kenneth Street, Stornoway, HS1  2DS. It will be free of charge. Ages 6-99+ are welcome. Children under 12 have to be accompanied by an adult. While dance experience is not necessary, the workshop does include an invitation to move physically, so a willingness to do so would be  preferable. Participants should also bring a pen and paper to the workshop. Enrolment required as limited places are available. Please send an e-mail with name and contact details to David Lawson – production@elisabethschilling.com by 17th September 2021.

The Invisible Dances is a global initiative inspired by the restrictions put upon theatres and cultural workers during the Covid-19 crisis. Respecting all local sanitary guidelines, the concept invites dance artists to meet for an unannounced performance at night. They make their way dancing through the city followed by so-called tracers who visualise the dance with natural materials or environmentally friendly and biodegradable chalk spray that washes away with the next rain. 

In the morning after the dance has taken place, the cities and streets are clad in colour for the public to enjoy, to dance along and imagine the dances no-one has seen. A workshop or “spontaneous encounter” will take place while the traces of the performance are still clearly visible, yet at a time of your choosing.

However, when will the traces appear? Where will they manifest themselves close to your community? If you look hard enough, you might just find an Invisible Dance near you. To find out more about the Invisible Dances, please click here: 

Images: Joshua Sailo / Matthew Sailo

With 55 Performances in 14 Countries around the Globe and 200 Participants involved to date, we are excited to publish the upcoming tour of the Invisible Dances in Scotland.

Funded by Creative Scotland and in partnership with 9 arts venues & institutions, we are thrilled to announce our consciously unannounced performances across the country.

Keep an eye on our or our partner’s social media accounts and / or websites to follow this unusual concept come to live over the next months.

Click here to see the trailer of the Invisible Dances across the globe.

CALL OUT FOR SCOTLAND – BASED DANCE ARTISTS & FILM MAKERS

We are looking for a diverse range of independent Dancers and film makers across Scotland: dance artists in the areas of St Andrews, Aberdeen, Inverness, Wick and Lewis, and film makers in the areas of Aberdeen, Inverness, Wick and Lewis to take part in Elisabeth Schilling’s Invisible Dances: Art in and around Lockdown.

Description
While in “lockdown”, dancer and choreographer Elisabeth Schilling searched for a way to promote participatory, yet safe, art to inspire and connect people all over the world who found themselves in mutual solitude. As such, “Invisible Dances – Art in and around Lockdown” was created to join artists and audiences without them necessarily meeting.

“Invisible Dances – Art in and around Lockdown” is a dance piece that invites the audience to experience art in a new and creative way. Appropriate to individual local social distancing regulations, it seeks its place in public space and transforms streets and squares into stages. The unannounced performance takes place at night, when people are asleep, to surprise, stimulate and guide them the next morning with its colourful traces left behind. This new piece combines dance and visual art in a poetic, playful and hopefully inspiring way for many people. The aim of this work is to bring dance and culture directly back to city centres.

Role
Teams consist of a dancer, a ‘tracer’ tracing the dancer’s lines with environmentally friendly and degradable chalk spray, and a documenter or filmmaker, who documents the performance. Performances will take place across the summer, with a flexible schedule. We are looking for a total of 5 teams across Scotland with 2 dance artists and one film maker per location. This is a paid role in line with Scottish Artist Union rates. The time commitment is approximately 1 working day. For further audience engagement, we have developed a framing programme for our partner venues, including brief public workshops and would be looking for one of the dance artists to lead these workshops in some of the aforementioned locations, which would be reflected in the fee, so previous experience in leading workshops and working with the public is desired.

Application
All expressions of interest should be sent with a CV and video footage of a performance or rehearsal to dance@elisabethschilling.com and producer@elisabethschilling.com until 22nd July 23:59 latest. We particularly encourage applications from dancers and film makers with diverse backgrounds, across all age ranges, those who identify as disabled, across gender identities and ethnicities. We will seek to make this process as accessible as possible according to our applicants’ needs.

Please contact Producer Jana Robert producer@elisabethschilling.com or Elisabeth Schilling dance@elisabethschilling.com with any questions you may have.

Image: Joshua & Matthew Sailo

The dancer and choreographer Elisabeth Schilling is artist in residence at TRIFOLION Echternach from 2021 to 2023. The theme of the residency is “Dancing the City”.
The aim of Elisabeth Schilling’s residency is to strengthen the role of contemporary dance in the city of Echternach, to make this art form accessible to a broad audience and to pass on her own enthusiasm for it to people who may have had little contact with this art form until now. To this end, she develops smaller and larger stage plays, but above all formats that combine ideas and actions that take place in urban space, in public, everyday places, with the classical theatre stage.

Next project: Elisabeth Schilling: TRIOLOGUE | 12 – 18.07.2021 | with Pit Dahm & Mélanie Planchard

Conventionné avec le Ministère de la Culture, Luxembourg
Avec le soutien de Oeuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte

Elisabeth Schilling supports the choreographer Sylvia Camarda as an assistant in the European project “Mit Beethoven durch Europa: 9 Symphonien, 9 Städte“.

From Luxembourg, the 4th Symphony in B flat major will be broadcast by the Orchestra Philharmonique du Luxembourg from the Grand Auditorium, conducted by Gustavo Gimeno. In the square in front of the building there will be the dance performance created by Sylvia Camarda and worked out together with young refugees.

The performance was broadcast live on ARTE on 6 June and can be accessed in the media library until 1st January 2022.