I was hesitating a bit which program I should choose next. Unfortunately this big book presentation was at the same time with another work of Stormy Budwig (I guess just few people could visit that one). I needed electricity for my laptop to be able to recharge it but in the rooms it was hard to find plugs. Finally I found a table and plug for myself and sat into the Performative bookbinding of the Mind the Dance publication.
We were invited to join this informative and performative act where we could select our favorite essays, striking scores, most useful tools from Mind The Dance and create our own book format. Following the introduction into the e-publication and having time to get to know its content and contributors, we were invited to make our own selection and create our own printed version. The session was guided by the researchers of the REFLEX Europe project. It was facilitated by Friederike Lampert and Sabina Holzer.

The book project was introduced by Friederike and the single chapters by Anouk Llaurens, Bertha Bermudes, Defne Erdur (interview with Nancy Stark Smith), Andrea Keiz, Ulla Makinen, Kerstin Kussmaul, Gál Eszter, Martin Streit, Sabina Holzer. Titles of the chapters: Towards documentation; Weaving the formal & informal; Coaching; On artistic practice; Writing, moving & the body.

[Defne had a good practice to always address someone from the audience, who was also involved at a stage of the project – so the participants could feel their responsibilities in this as well, building a strong connection to this community.]

[Although the presentation is a good way to talk about that long process/work they did, in general I felt that opening a website and to surf on the internet would have been a better idea than to kill trees and print out papers…
The whole presentation and work behind looked like a group DLA/PhD work. But is it an open circle?]

After that the lights were switched on, the contributors stepped to their material and conversed a little in the space – just if they were doing a little performance. They were 9 women and 1 man (is it mainly women who are holding up dance teaching and theory as well?). They took a walk between the printouts and then the audience could step in to compose their own copy (printed out in colour)…

The last 30 minutes were provided for Q&A. My main question would be why concentrate on printouts instead of protecting the environment?
Everyone was invited to use this material for future studies and reference points.
Kerstin also introduced their next step as they planned to organize in each country a so called “guiding into the web-use and actual use”, so in the next year these labs would appear at each partner’s activities… (Publicity is in general a need of a EU supported project as this was.)

But let me remind you, to "MIND THE DANCE"!
… and mind the environment as well, so use these essays online rather than printing them out…
DEVELOPE AND CONTINUE!
http://mindthedance.com/#foreword


The closing event, scheduled this year earlier in the day than before, was a lecture by Christian Felber, followed by a video work comprised of the material collected the day before in the installation by Sybrig Dokter.

Economy of the Common Good - lecture by Christian Felber (AT)
Christian, who was busy with economy, was introduced by Kerstin. He took over the word and mentioned as an introduction following video sumup available online:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kw4QZKxeaZ0
He promoted his books (available in several languages) as well – hmmm… He used to study with Kerstin and became sort of a scientist.

[Crazy what careers people can have :-o]

capitalism = whatever-ism was, the first part of the -ism was something which became the goal = capital…
In general his issue was “questionize Western culture”.
www.christian-felber.at / www.mitgruenden.at / www.ecogood.org

Then we switched to Compromised Position by Sybrig Dokter (NL/SE)
 a video-work comprised of the material collected the day before in the installation by Sybrig Dokter.

We were watching the results of the video-selfie from the day before in silence. We were listening to the contributions of the 12 participants to the topic of COMPROMISE… The thoughts were not too heavy, there was a simple proposal and unfortunately there were just a few participants who could have added something great. I found Sybrig’s proposal fine, but space and time were not too kind for exploring it.

At the end of the closing Eszter took over the mic and closed the symposium in form of a final speech (unfortunately my laptop’s battery got drained so I was closing just as well and just like that)…

SPEND A MINUTE TO REFLECT ON THESE DAYS AND ACTIVITIES – so the instruction. The participants wrote their feedback on post-its. Eszter asked them to put those on the wall because the organizers were interested in their thoughts but they also had to report to EU in the frame of the Reflex program. Expectations / what happened / wish for the future were the 3 groups the participants could stick their papers in SILENCE.

As a closing Eszter proposed a usual way namely to stand holding hands in a circle while she was humming in our ears through the PA. Next she asked the main organizers to step into the circle followed by the lecturers and then the participants. This way almost everybody stood in the circle. Then came 3x silent clapping and 3x fast and loud one, the circle dissolved and everyone was walking away with their own thoughts.


Later on (after the symposium was closed) we received the sumup of the post-it feedbacks. By reading the lists (especially about “What would you wish for the future symposia?” there were some which resonated in me as well like:
“– more time in teaching presentations for class talk about methods + approaches
– I would like to go into a deeper research of dance knowledge/methods in relationship to other sectors/fields/disciplines/populations
– library – books/resources to share – space for reflection + writing / thinking
– hearing everyone's names + where they come from (not just presenters)
– more brief introductions to people's work
– EMPTY space (this seems for me the same as: It would be nice to have moment sin the day where nothing is happening... giving an opportunity for a pause, digestion + exchange)
– place for people's cards / books / materials
– how to bring the theoretical into movement (and vice versa)?
– what is the place of language in a Symposium about dance?
– how can we name what we're learning without using verbal language?
– scheduled lunch breaks for everyone, please!”

But most of all I liked this:
“a week / to get there” :-)


[Last but not least I felt the same need with Susanne Bentley, who sent a message earlier on idocde web-site: “a need to share/express/be seen & recognised” (Susanne Bentley inner post at http://www.idocde.net/messages/do:show/type:inbox/id:40882). Those who happened to have the chance to lead a class, lecture or presentation for sure got the chance to feel it personally.]

… to be continued :-) next year