Guiding principles
Tanec Praha has 3 basic missions:
Tanec Praha has no ensemble of its own and presents a wide range of productions no matter their size or recognition as long as they fulfil the requirement of artistic quality. It has been developing community work for years, collaborating with primary schools and linking them with professional artists. Since 2004 PONEC theatre runs a weekly Children Studio, which focuses on creative development of children from the age of 4.
Since 2014 Tanec Praha is a partner in the Be SpectACTive! EU large scale cooperation project, which is focused on active spectatorship, involving spectators in creation process as well as the programming under the leadership of the artistic director.
History
Tanec Praha was founded in 1991 when an independent legal entity Tanec Praha civic association was established thanks to a brand new civil code. The organization took all responsibility for the Tanec Praha Festival and started the idea of shaping the festival towards international level of contemporary dance with an emphasis on artistic quality and diversity. In 1995 Tanec Praha started organizing the Czech Dance Platform, a showcase of Czech contemporary dance for international and national presenters to open new opportunities for Czech dancers.
PONEC, the dancehouse, as a brand new type of space dedicated to contemporary arts first opened to the public after a thorough reconstruction in 2001. As a new platform for presentation of contemporary dance, the theatre filled an important gap on the Prague cultural map.
The theatre’s name refers to František Ponec who ran the famous cinema Poncův Royal Bioskop in the building from 1910. It was a cinema until the 60s and then it finished as a ruin. The roots of this building go back to the 19th century as far as the first owner, Mr. Stabenow, built it as a metallurgic factory in 1888.
Building and facilities
PONEC is a dance venue, which has the stage (12 x 14 m) with professional equipment and technical services. The venue presents more than 100 contemporary dance performances per year including international artists. It is the basic facility for Czech dance artists and their new works (presenting 8-10 premieres every season). PONEC is also the main venue of the Tanec Praha International Festival. Besides professional artists, the dancehouse is regularly opened for children and schools. The capacity is flexible, from 80 to 180 spectators. Tanec Praha/PONEC theatre provides creative residencies and different forms of support to the artistic research including consultancy, mentorship, dramaturgy and arts management issues. During summer (July and August) and winter (end of December and January) PONEC venue provides space to Czech and international artists for creative residencies including technical services. The organisation has a number of local partners with suitable facilities for residencies all year round.
The project Micro and Macro Dramaturgies in Dance provides an opportunity to give artists from five partner countries the experience of leading European dance dramaturges.
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27th edition of Czech Dance Platform 2021 postponed to 27-30 September 2021.
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While many EDN members are still closed for public, activities continue to take place remotely - both for artists and audiences! We bring to you plenty of shows, trainings, celebrations, reflections. Take your peak!
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As a practice-led project, Dancing Museums thoroughly documents its various activities. Let's go back to La Briqueterie & MAC VAL for an exploration of the topic of inclusion, that took place in November 2019.
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In place of a large plenary, IETM gathers members and non-members online and on-site in more than twenty locations around the world - including some EDN members
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The Czech Dance Platform presents the most interesting performances produced on the Czech dance scene every year.
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In between the Carte Blanche - Artists Focus and the Encounter, a group of European artists went for three weeks to Montréal for an artistic exchange, following the EDN Encounter that took place two years earlier.
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The aim of this Atelier organised by Tanec Praha was to encourage a deeper knowledge of very diverse contemporary dance scenes in Central Europe and closed post-soviet countries, the similarities and differences between them and their potential for international collaboration
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Jessica Greer, Project manager at The Place London visits Tanec Praha in the week of Česká Taneční Platform (Czech Dance Platform) and shares her experience.
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Dancing Museums is an action-research project designed to foster and sustain long-term collaborations between dance organisations, museums, universities and local communities in order to develop inspiring and long-lasting arts and cultural programmes that people in those communities want to get involved in.
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The cooperation project Shape It proposes a new model for developing dance performance for young audiences. It will run from 2019 to 2021, under the leadership of The Place (UK).
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A cooperation project focusing on developing the capacity of choreographers in dramaturgy. Micro and Macro Dramaturgies in Dance aims to develop new skills for choreographers in dramaturgy and to train a future generation of dance dramaturgs through three main areas.
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EDN Members were invited to discover the Baltic dance scene at the Baltic Dance Platform that was held as a part of the international contemporary dance festival “New Baltic Dance” (May 2-11). It is a combined platform among 3 countries – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Annette van Zwoll reports on the first Baltic Dance Platform, and on the connections with EDN.
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The second edition of the EDN Carte Blanche for artists took place from August 20th to 26th, 2019 hosted by the CSC – Centro per la Scena Contemporanea. Twelve artists from nine Dancehouses attended B.Motion under the guidance of local mentor Eva Zilio.
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A delegation of six EDN members attended Moultaqa Leymoun, the Arab Dance Platform organised by Maqamat Theatre in Beirut and the Chouf Mountains during BIPOD 2016. The 5th edition of this platform showcased and promoted the work of 20 Arab choreographers from Lebanon, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine and Iran.
Arianna Economou, director of Dance Gate Lefkosia, shares her experience of this visit.
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EDN representatives travelled to Chile to attend the 14th edition of the festival Danzalborde. Additionally, EDN members visited the School of Architecture of the Universidad Técnica Federico Santa Maria. Directors of dancehouses and students shared conversations about the buildings for dance.
José Laginha, director of DeVIR|CAPa, shares his experience of Valparaiso and Santiago de Chile.
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EDN’s Encounter Brazil took place from 5th November to 9th November in Sao Paulo during the Festival Contemporaneo de Sao Paulo. Form's director Matti Numminen, one of the 5 EDN members taking part in the visit, shares his impressions.
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At the beginning of March 2020 EDN and AND + worked together to implement the path started in Yokohama and to prepare a public talk, as part of the in-depth events open to the public, organized by the Tanzplattform Deutchland in Munich (Germany).
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Four days of performances, dialogues, interviews, shared physical practices and conversations about dance.
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EDN joins efforts with Grand Re Union: how can we re-design our thinking and our projects, how can we - still stay creative and how can we co-imagine a new, better, future for our local and global communities and societies.
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The event took place within the Czech Dance Platform, April 24-26, 2022, in Prague, hosted by Tanec Praha. In addition to the live gathering, the event was live-streamed on April 25, 2022 at 10:30 a.m. (CET, Prague time). The event was opened to EDN members and others.
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