Toilet wall writings.....

Before we went onto the streets we wrote on a large piece of paper comments that we have heard from people in our classes and also things we imagined people thought about contemporary dance. We then responded to those comments with writing. You can see some of the things we wrote there on the photos below....

In this project we wanted to collect information from as many different age groups as possible. We include general age group, gender and nationality of the people who answered the questions. Gratitude and thanks goes to all the people who shared their time with us on a sunny afternoon in Joensuu.

Impressions of contemporary dance

I don’t understand it, I can’t relate to it, feeling stupid because I don’t understand, art, giving a lot for the performers but not for me, weird, not my thing, I tried to understand it but couldn’t.

Impressions of dance

Expression, emotions, rhythm, connection, socializing, feeling good, joy.

What would make you come to dance classes/marketing?

Dance class for dummies, beginner class for adults, music, rhythm, fun, joy, no pressure, beautiful women/men, trying out and finding new things, emotions, entertainment of the heart, self-expression, and fun way to exercise.

Perceptions on dance

What comes to your mind about the word dance?

• Performances at the market place, being together with friends in a club, relaxing, professional ballet dancers, costumes and music.

Have you seen dance performances?

• Amateur dancers mostly

Have you danced yourself?

•   Hip hop as a teenager

Which words would get you to come to a dance class?

•  Clearly for beginners, no previous experience needed, a beginners class for adults, something different and new, having fun together and learning something new, time and freedom to try out new things and styles of dancing without the fear of failure
•  Different kinds of music and simple movements

What if there would be some sort of free movement?

• Yeah, it could be good to try out how the movement feels.

What comes to your mind about contemporary dance?

• We don’t understand anything about contemporary dance. I think it’s more for the dancer herself then for the audience. It’s the dancer’s self-expression, but it doesn’t come through to me. We should get some more information what it’s about, and then we could understand. We would need more than a headline. Maybe we would need a story to be able to follow. Something like a clue on the mindset of the dancer when they were creating the piece?                                                                                                                  

                                                                                                                                           2 Young Women, Finnish.

What comes to your mind about dance? What is dance?

•  It’s a kind of art, different people like different things. For example I like to be in the field, I like sport and some people are more cultural minded. But it’s an art and I like it.

Do you have experience of dance? Do you dance?

• No, I never tried.

Have you seen any dance performances?

• Yes, last summer there was salsa outside, and I was watching.

If there was an advertisement of dance classes, what could make you interested to go?

• It’s an entertainment of your heart. You go and do something, express something, to make it emotional, because it’s a recreation of your heart. Something for your heart.

                                                                                                                                            Young man, Bangladesh.

What comes to your mind about dance?

• Well I’ve done some dance, Latinos and jazz when I was younger.

What has dance given you?

•  Exercise and good mood. And music is important.

What is contemporary dance?

• Something creative and artistic. It’s not my thing.

                                                                                                                                        Middle aged woman, Finnish

What is dance?

• Body language is the point through which you can express things and emotions and that has a great meaning to the target group that I am working with.

                                                                                                                                            Middle aged man, Finnish

What comes to your mind about dance?

• I worked as a pianist in a dance school for two years. On one hand there were superficial arts but on the other hand very valuable and good things. (pianist)

                                                                                                                                                    Young man, Finnish

What would make you come to a dance class if there was an advertisement?

•   Rhythm and exercise. It should be something with street-credibility. Black guys who can control their bodies are cool and I would like to become like them. (older male).

                                                                                                                                            Middle aged man, Finnish

• Dancing is expression and art. What would make me go to a class is music and beautiful women.                                                          

                                                                                                                                                              Man, Finnish

• Dance is exercise and socializing. I used to do tango etc. when I was young. We went with my friends to meet young men.  Now the dancing days are over, partly because my husband will not go dancing with me.

                                                                                                                                                Elderly woman, Finnish

•  Because you are dance teachers modern dance is what comes to my mind first. I don’t understand it at all. It is too difficult to know what the pieces are about even if I try. I don’t find the connections and I’ve even spoken to a choreographer about this. The meanings that they have are not transmitted to me. And I don’t have enough ways to understand.
•  It’s great to see people do something with their bodies that I could never do but from the conversations I understand that that’s not the point and that the point is something emotional but it’s not coming through.  An emotional story which I can’t find.
•  I can’t think of any words that would make me come to a dance class.
• An interesting performance does not need to be easy to understand but it needs to have a subject that I can relate to.

                                                                                                                                                    Young man, Finnish

• Dance is my whole life. I’ve danced for more than 10 years and taught for four years. I like teaching hip hop and show dance. Everybody can be themselves in dancing and express what they want. I would be interested in contemporary dance but the school that I work for does not offer classes in it.
• As a teacher I’m trying to make it clear that people should try to find their own way of dancing. I try to encourage that.
• What I think would make people come to a contemporary dance class would be self-expression trying out new things.

                                                                                                                                                Young woman, Finnish

• I only dance in a bar when I’m drunk. I wouldn’t dance when I’m sober.   

                                                                                                                                                    Young man, Finnish

•  Dance is music and joy. Something colorful and joyful would make me go to a class.
•  I don’t understand what contemporary dance is. I think it’s weird and I can’t relate to it when I go to a performance.    I think they are trying to express a feeling but I don’t get it. This makes me feel excluded and stupid.

                                                                                                                                                Young woman, Finnish

• Dancing looks really nice and people look happy when they dance so they must be very happy when dancing. My understanding is that you need to have a particular type of body in order to dance. I would go to a class that was meant for the elderly but I would like it to be taught by an elderly person, too.

                                                                                                                                                Elderly woman, Finnish