For the first time, starting this year, the Board of Directors of the Biennale di Venezia has established the Silver Lion award for the performing arts sectors. The Silver Lion for Dance 2010 will be awarded to P.A.R.T.S. (Performing Arts Research and Training Studios) from Brussels, founded by the Rosas company and by the Belgian National Opera De Munt / La Monnaie, an initiative of one of the most important exponents of European choreography, Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, who is still its director today.
European recognition
The motivation of the Silver Lion award reads as follows: “Instituted rather recently (1995), the P.A.R.T.S acquired immediate recognition throughout Europe as a center of pedagogical innovation, with a complete and intensive program of studies in which the most advanced techniques of contemporary dance dialogue with other artistic disciplines, in particular with theatre and music. A laboratory of movement which focuses not only on the development of the dancer’s skills, but on his search for artistic identity as well.”
Intersection of arts
P.A.R.T.S. was founded in September 1995 as a centre where the study of contemporary dance intersects with performing arts disciplines, such as theatre and music. The dancers and choreographers, who are admitted by audition, attend a full-time course of studies that extends over a four-year period, divided into two two-year cycles. The first two years constitute the more specific phase of training, whereas the second two years are dedicated to research, with the objective of applying the acquired technical skills to their personal creative capacity. Particular attention is concentrated on the student’s physical health and on nutrition: the meals served are strictly macrobiotic.
Articles in ‘The Low Countries Yearbook’
The Low Countries Yearbook has published articles about both Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker and P.A.R.T.S. You can read them by following this link and this link.
Awards ceremony
The ceremony for the Lion Awards for Dance will take place during the 7th International Contemporary Dance Festival on Saturday 5 June at the Teatro Piccolo Arsenale in Venic. It will be a day of celebration and performance in the name of this discipline.
The Silver Lion is an acknowledgment intended for the future of the younger generations, to highlight young and promising talents in the fields of dance, music and theatre, or as an award to institutions who have distinguished themselves in the advancement of young talents.
Subscribe