KIDFOffstage Encounters

Offstage Encounters
19.07 | 12:00 | Kalamata Dance Megaron – Lobby

A developing program featuring talks, discussions, and opportunities for connection between the broader dance community and the public. To us, the Festival community is a complex body made up of choreographers, dancers, professionals, students, collaborators, institutional representatives, and the public. With the Offstage Encounters series, we open a field of dialogue around themes that run through the Festival’s works.

On 19.07, we welcome Madeline Ritter for a talk titled Facing the Future: A Discussion on the Art of Ageing. Drawing on the work of the Dance On Ensemble—which explores the intersection of dance and age both on stage and in society—Madeline Ritter, the company’s director, will share thoughts and tools for developing programs at the meeting point of art and the social fabric, addressing both the individual and the system as a whole.

Since its foundation in 2015, the Dance On Ensemble has been making visible what has long been overlooked in the cultural sector: That artistic power has no expiry date. The internationally acclaimed ensemble brings together outstanding professional dancers over the age of 40, creating an alternative concept in the dance scene. The Dance On initiative opens up a new perspective on age(ing) by drawing attention to issues of great urgency in an ageing society.

Madeline Ritter, founder and curator of Bureau Ritter, is a leading figure in cultural policy for dance in Germany. Joining her in the conversation will be Ty Boomershine, artistic director of the Dance On Ensemble, and choreographer Christos Papadopoulos, as well as choreographer Panagiota Kalimani, who will share her experience collaborating with the local community for the creation of her performance Fones.