NEWS

Schwabinger Kunstpreis 2023 goes to Fokus Tanz | Tanz und Schule e.V.

In 2023, the association FOKUS TANZ I Tanz und Schule e.V. will be 18 years old. And just in time for their coming of age, the team around Simone Schulte-Aladağ and Anja Brixle can look forward to the Schwabinger Kunstpreis, which will be awarded to them on 13th November. The jury's statement reads: 

Since 2006, Tanz und Schule e.V. has made artistic contemporary dance an area of cultural participation for children and young people. Every year, the association realises more than 80 artistic projects in 30 educational institutions in Munich. Dancing, according to the makers' credo, has been proven to promote creativity, social competence and intellectual development - and offers space for intercultural encounters. Supporting children and young people in school and out-of-school contexts always means further development for the instructing artists at the same time. Their teaching work is part of the ACCESS TO DANCE - Tanzplan München initiative, which contributes to the promotion and strengthening of contemporary dance in Munich and Bavaria. Fokus Tanz designs further training courses for dancers and dance teachers and realises participatory art projects in collaboration with museums, orchestras and theatres. In 2011, Fokus Tanz founded the THINK BIG! Festival for contemporary dance, performance and music theatre for young audiences. The biennial festival communicates performing arts with a focus on dance to a diverse audience and creates venues for international networking.

The aesthetic and structural development of dance art for young audiences sets standards from Schwabing. Here, everything becomes a stage: meadow hills, gymnasiums, teachers' desks, foyers and occasionally stage spaces. In workshops and productions, the experts also bring Munich makers together with international colleagues. The powerhouse for dance in Kaiserstraße radiates far beyond Schwabing and strengthens and challenges dancers and audiences alike. Young and experienced dance fans alike can only hope that Fokus Tanz never runs out of steam.

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From Schwabing into the world

Since 2006, the headquarters of Fokus Tanz has been a shop office in Schwabing's Kaiserstraße 46. From here, the association led by Simone Schulte-Aladağ and Anja Brixle realises over 80 artistic projects for children and young people in 30 educational institutions. Since 2011, Fokus Tanz (since 2019 in cooperation with the Schauburg) has presented the international festival THINK BIG! to a broad Munich audience. Fokus Tanz originates from the initiative ACCESS TO DANCE - Tanzplan München, which has been helping to promote and strengthen contemporary dance in Munich and Bavaria since 2006.  

Since 2018, Fokus Tanz has also been networked nationwide: Together with colleagues in Hamburg, Potsdam and Dresden, the jointly initiated project explore dance has been developing the production of dance pieces for young audiences for six years. This strengthens the continuity of the work of dance professionals, which is urgently needed: dance continues to be structurally and dance is still structurally and financially much weaker than other art forms. Above all, offers in cultural education, for which continuity would be particularly important, are usually only designed for the short term. Five years of explore dance show what immense potential dance opens up for young audiences: 28 dance productions with over 400 performances at home and abroad, plus numerous rehearsal visits, workshops and discussion formats on stages, in gymnasiums, schools, cultural centres and parks, as well as festivals and expert meetings in all four partner cities, testify to the success and broad impact of the network. For everyone: for pupils and teachers, for families, for choreographers and dance professionals, for the dance scenes locally and nationwide, for the synergies between the funding authorities as well as for the four partner institutions involved. Fortunately, this is also increasingly being noticed by the public: explore dance has already received the renowned theatre prize FAUST in 2019.