European links to explore Dancing Museums

Dance organisations, galleries and museums across Europe are coming together to explore new ways of interacting with audiences through a three-year European Union funded project. The ‘Dancing Museums’ project, starting next month, will enable five European dance organisations to work with eight internationally renowned museums. In England, Siobhan Davies Dance will partner with The National Gallery.

The project will highlight the role of live performance in enhancing audience engagement with art, while promoting professional development by sharing skills at both staff and artist level. Dance artists from each of the participating organisations will use a period of research and development and a week-long residency to find new methods for engaging audiences, including “choreographic guided tours,” participatory workshops and a web platform. Former Place Prize finalist and Associate Artist at Yorkshire Dance Lucy Suggate will represent Siobhan Davies Dance. The project will culminate with an event at The National Gallery in November 2016.

Siobhan Davies Dance has been producing choreographic works for gallery and museum spaces since 2002. Last year it launched a new mentorship programme to explore conversations between curators of art and performance and dance artists to build confidence and understanding of how performance can be seen in galleries and institutions.