You are here – I am here

You are here – I am here : Providing Space for Experimenting, Specializing, and Exchange Knowledge

At the moment I am busy with designing the program for a new Master Degree Course in Dance, which provides the profiles Teaching and Coaching Dance Professionals or Choreography at Zurich University of the Arts. www.zhdk.ch/tanz

Starting in the fall semester of 2018, the program aims to encourage students to develop the choreographic and teaching skills needed to work with dance professionals and to qualify for the relevant professions. Coursework includes choreographic methods, teaching skills, and artistic research with a strong emphasis in developing individual artistic or teaching practices. The program also promotes interdisciplinary collaboration and helps students to establish a network within the international field of dance. Besides me, the team consists of Samuel Wuersten (Artistic Director), Gianni Malfer (Operative Director), Docents of the Faculty Dance of ZHdK, Guest Teachers such as Emanuel Gat, Jochen Roller, Jason A. Jacobs, Guido Markowitz, Dr. Liane Simmel, Dr. Gitta Barthel, and many more valuable colleagues.

Within the Professorship for Choreography I am responsible for shaping the course program, mentoring the students, facilitating exchange and research. My interest is making connections between different disciplines, widening the concept of choreography and focusing on artistic research in dance. Documentation will take an important role in these studies, as students will be working on their individual artistic or teaching profile. In this regard, the digital publication of MINDTHEDANCE.com will be very helpful in offering versatile ways and concepts of documentation in dance. MINDTHEDANCE.com can be a great tool to work with as it has the potential to inspire the students towards shaping their own mode of documenting and reflecting --via the transformative effects of noting, scribbling, drawing, pondering and visualizing their work. In this sense MINDTHEDANCE.com will also trigger further involvement with dance/ art notation, which supports the discourse on artistic research methods, which is a big issue in all art disciplines at Zurich University of the Arts.

Regarding the design of this Master Program, I am still questioning: What do Master students of art studies want, what do they need? Tools, techniques, guidance, empowerment, encouragement? For me, the most important is to facilitate a frame for the students to work on their art, to provide the students with functioning infrastructure and ‘doses’ of interesting ‘input’ administered by experienced artists; to bring people together, help the students advance in their studies by simply asking questions such as: What do you think is the meaning of the term ‘choreography’: and how far is it (ir)relevant for your work? How do you perceive different working methods? What do you see? What are your ideas? How can you transfer your ideas into your teaching or choreographic work? What is your responsibility? What are you offering to people? Which reactions do you expect? How do you deal with disorientation? (These questions are inspired by the Belgian dramaturg and performer Jeroen Peters)

After all, simply ‘being there’, students and teachers sharing topics and questions in a common time-space may be everything a Master Degree Program can offer. ‘I am here’  and the 6th IDOCDE Symposium - titled ‘You are here!’ - can be the ground for more than words can transmit.

I am convinced by simplicity, even trivial simplicity, which can ever-so-paradoxically trigger deep thoughts. Following that thought, I will  close with some lines of the lyrics of a pop song called ‚I am here’ by David Pfeffer (winner of the german X-Factor show 2011):

„I could paint a picture
But I might get it wrong
And I could tell a story
But it might go on too long
And I could join an orchestra
Pretend to play along
Sometimes I might be lost for words
I’m here
I’m here“

Friederike Lampert, March 2018