dance! - Moves that move us

The Hygiene Museum in Dresden held an extensive exhibition on contemporary dance. The project aimed to present dance as both a quotidian and universal cultural practice, as well as a phenomenon of pop and avant-garde high culture. The exhibition had an international orientation and incorporated a rigorous investigation of current practices, also with regard to the development of an innovative educational approach. Visitors could look forward to taking a 24-hour-long journey back in time and space into the world of dance – a dramaturgical process, based on the “Short Cuts” principle used in Robert Altman’s film of the same name. The exhibition featured a complex interweave of interviews, performances, rehearsals and dance courses.
This montage-like concept allowed the curators at the Hygiene Museum to combine a scientific-cultural historic focus with an artistic, performative approach. In “Rooms of Knowledge”, they presented visitors with findings from neurology, anatomy, ethnology and modern dance research, and acquainted them with the social and political dimensions of dance. In collaboration with various artists (choreographers, fine artists and performance groups), the curators designed “Dance Rooms” so that visitors could experience the energy of contemporary dance first hand. An extensive accompanying programme was developed in cooperation with the Palucca University of Dance, the Saxon State Opera and Hellerau – European Center for the Arts, and aptly supported Dresden’s ambition to become a recognized centre of international dance.

Artistic director: Colleen M. Schmitz
Artists: Aaron und Sam Taylor-Johnson, Akram Khan, Andreas Gursky, Auguste Rodin, Camille Claudel, Dan Graham, David Bowie, Elvis Presley, Emil Nolde, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Gene Kelly, Gerda König, Grace Jones, Henry Chalfant, Josephine Baker, Katherine Dunham, Mary Wigman, Merce Cunningham, Pieter Bruegel der Ältere, Pina Bausch, Pussy Riot, Robert Longo, Robert Mapplethorpe, Rudolf von Laban, Sasha Waltz, Uday Shankar, Vaslav Nijinsky, William Forsythe, Xavier Le Roy, Yvonne Rainer and others.

Stiftung Deutsches Hygiene-Museum, Dresden, 12 October 2013 – 20 July 2014