PROJECTION. A Trialogue In Swing.

PROJECTION is an international dance production about the meaning of Vernacular Jazz (couple and solo dances to swing music) from an African, a North American and a European perspective. It is created in partnership between Hodi Maputo Afro Swing (Maputo, Mozambique), Emily Vartanian + General Mischiefs (New York, USA), and Swing Time + Beyond Borders e.V. (Hamburg, Germany). The results and experiences of our TRIALOGUE flow into a collaborative dance piece by digital means. The production is accompanied by public workshops. 

International cooperation is essential for this project, as the topic cannot be dealt with one-sidedly. Vernacular Jazz is of Afro-American origin, developed in the context of slavery and colonization. 

One of the reasons for PROJECTION is the complete standstill of the swing culture due to Covid-19, which was carried by numerous music and dance venues, bands, schools and festivals and which was hobby, sport and social environment for many people. Motivation for PROJECTION is to use the time between lockdown(s) and normality in such a way that there no restrictions are felt. Digital parts of the project are not born out of need, but are creative enrichment.

Our international uniting subject and instrument is Vernacular Jazz. PROJECTION is about its roots and history in terms of culture, gender roles and music. It's about why we dance today and what emotions accompany our dancing.

Monthly TRIALOGUE takes place as a video conference where the three partners discuss a topic and share experiences, practices and movements.
These are publicly embedded in FORUMS: workshop days (provisionally live outside), in which interested people in each country work on a topic together with experts, choreographers and dancers: theoretically, reflectively and in dance.

A small dance ensemble will rehearse weekly in each country in order to process the results into a performance. In close co-production, three short hybrid dance pieces are created, each showing one performance live and two digitally. All three choreographies relate to each other and are only complete in their interconnection through projection.

As result, there will be one performance per country. PROJECTION will be documented in videos and in a scientific paper. We expect to build a sustainable dance and cultural partnership between Hamburg, Maputo and New York.