Countriesand Territories / Events / Austria / Wien

 

 

 

Wien

 

2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DANCES OF THE WORLD 2018

International Dance Day Celebrations

Österreichisch-Portugiesische Gesellschaft

Piaristengasse 34, 1080 Vienna

24.04.2018 | 7pm

Dance & Music Session “Celebrate Freedom”

To celebrate International Dance Day (April 29th) and the anniversary of the Carnation Revolution (April 25th) in Portugal, in this session, we will dance and sing Freedom.

Members: € 5

Non-members: € 10

…

07.05.2018 | 6pm

Lecture "Brief Journey Through the History of Portuguese Dance of the 20th Century"

Prof. Dr. António Laginha

Free entry

…

Dances Of  The World is a series of monthly meetings where we will visit or revisit the moments in which dance was part of social gatherings, celebrations and pilgrimages, but also work rituals or preparation for other activities.

To rediscover the geometric designs and the rhythms of group dances that are danced or were danced in Portugal and in other countries.

To observe cultural crossings and influences in various regions.

Dance and sing part of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

Keep alive the memory that we are all the fruit of diversity.

Joana da Silva & Guests

Registration & Information:

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Best regards,
Tatjana Sehic

Program Director
Vienna Office

Institute for Cultural Diplomacy (ICD)
Ku´damm Karree (3rd Floor/Hochhaus)
Kurfürstendamm 207-8 Berlin, Germany-10719
Phone: 00.43.6991.952-1122
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www.culturaldiplomacy.org

 

Tatjana Sehic for World Poetry Day 2014, Vienna

 

   Thinking dance and poetry together, we can imagine peace. Practicing dance and poetry we share
instruments of expression which can be found in all traditions and within all nations and cultures.
These creative diversity connects us allthrough the most vulnerable gifts of our humanity.
Before the production of written languages, dance was one of the methods of passing the stories
through generations..

   Dance is a physical language and an autonomous system of communication.
It strings together sequences of movement to make phrases and sentences. By the language of dance,
words are symbolized through the image of movement.

   As a form of Cultural Diplomacy, which is based on presentation and excange of expressions for
shared values, traditions and belives between people with the intention of fostering mutual
understanding, dance influences public attitudes and international relations, for centuries.

   The significance of dance as a cultural diplomacy can be underlined through the Burmese Prime
Minister U Nu's statement about American modern dancer and choreographer Martha Graham's visit
in 1955: "Of one thing I am sure, Miss Martha Graham's performance will find enthusiastic audiences
here as I understand that her theatre is very close to the classical Greek theatre which has many similar
features to the Burmese theatre. Artistes like Miss Graham can very effectively contribute to the
international goodwill and therefore they are a potent force for peace.“ So, the similarity connects.

   Martha Graham, which was the first dancer to ever perform at the White House, traveled abroad as a
cultural ambassador and received the highest civilian award of the USA- the Presidential Medal of
freedom, the Key to the City of Paris and Japan´s Imperial Order of the Precious Crown, worked with
sources from different cultures for her dance repertory. She noticed in her biographical work „Blood
memory“, that „Dance is a hidden language of the soul.“

   Beside its other historical meanings, dance is also an important spiritual experience across nations and
cultures.

   Dance in Hinduism, for example used to be a part of a sacred temple ritual, especially in Southern and
Eastern India, were female priestesses, Devadasi's, worshipes different aspects of the Divine through
the elaborate language of mime and gestures.

   The Torah, the Psalms, and many other scriptures also refere to dance:
for example in Ecclesiastes 3:4: „There is a time for everything and a season for every activity under
the heavens: a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance. For the Simhat
Torah festivities dancing with the Torah has been also practicing by Jews.

   In a classical Greek song, Apollon, the God of medicine, music and poetry, and son of the chief God
Zeus, was called: the Dancer.

   Also in Islam, the whirling dervishes use dance as a means of worship.
The spiritual path of the sacred and of the ritual dances moves and „bridges“ the world and opens
spaces for interfaith and intercultural communication.

   Every culture can boast of their charming folk dances, which, when performed, fill one with awe, the
intricacy and individuality of the costumes, and the traditional societal roles that they exemplify. Next
to each other, dancers can excange all their specific cultural and traditional –based artistic
developments, but through interactive excange, beside of categories such as nation, etnicity, religion
or gender, artists all kinds can connect through their common interests and beings- their humanity and
passion for dance, poetry and all other artistic expressions.

   Peace is a movement in a permanent motion. It is a soft force which challenges our hearts and souls to
negotiate with world within and surrouding us, continously.

   What poetry can not say, dance can. What dance can not speak, poetry does. Cultivating our words
into poem and shaping our movements into story, we negotiate with our memories, our emotions, with
time and space. We use all our dramatic or charming weapons to deliver message in a poem or dance.

   No any space is such free and violente at the same time like creative space. From endless sources of
expressions for love, anger, sadness, lamentation or joy in movements or words, we are free to choose
drama, lyric, humor or other forms of expression for our audiences and readers, but each step toward
that revelation is a struggle: balancing the power of words and shifting weights of movements to raise
and to fall, to turn, to jump or to fulfill the silence with meaningful stilness, we negotiate with strength
and faith.

   Behind each poem or dance is a long way of struggle and faith until every word and movement finds
its freedom in accordance with self and others.
Freedom is a motion of peace.

Tatjana Sehic, 2014-04-02 This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.">