Discourse | Online until January 22
In English with simultaneous translation into German Sign language (DGS)

There’s no people like show people they smile when they are low
Yesterday, they told you you would not go far
That night you opened and there you are
Next day on your dressing room they’ve hung a star
Let’s go on with the show
– There’s No Business Like Show Business, Lyrics von Irving Berlin, 1946

After we took a closer look at questions of work culture and (mental) health in 2021, this year’s episode of “Future Workshop” encourages you to reflect, discuss and examine the underlying structures of our lives at work. POWER takes on different shapes and forms within the dance scene of Berlin and we are yet to underpin the problems so they could, ultimately be resolved. The third edition of the discursive format, facilitated and organised by ZTB e.V. and Tanztage Berlin, is an invitation to imagine working environments founded in equality – through an embrace of all identities and needs. It promotes organising for the sake of strengthening that plurality while learning from it.

We propose to start from the recognition of the multiple power holders and gatekeepers that determine our dance making –  from myths, traditions, histories, economies, institutions and politics that, more often than not, render the working people in the field powerless or silenced within their working environments.

With invited guests we will talk about the existing initiatives, projects and strategies that can inspire our future attempts in standing up to power or seeking empowerment in organizing with others at our workplaces in Berlin, and beyond.

Moderation Kasia Wolińska GUESTS Fatima Çalışkan, Robyn Doty, Sonya Lindfors

Fatima Çalışkan is a curator and writer on cultural policy and the arts. In addition, she works as a consultant and speaker on the topics of cultural policy transformation processes, structural further development in the German funding landscape (both regionally and nationally) and development strategies for staff and audiences in cultural institutions. In 2021 she co-authored the catalogue („Maßnahmenkatalog“) of the Berlin model project FAIRSTAGE on discrimination-critical and good working conditions for all permanent and freelance employees at publicly funded Berlin theatres.

Sonya Lindfors is a Cameroonian-Finnish choreographer and artistic director that also works with facilitating, community organizing and education. Lindfors is the founding member and Artistic Director of UrbanApa, an inter-disciplinary and counter hegemonic arts community that offers a platform for new discourses and feminist art practices. UrbanApa hosts workshops, festivals, labs, mentoring and publications among other things. UrbanApa’s fourth publication „Words make worlds“ will come out in December 2021 and was was curated and edited by Lindfors and Maryan Abdulkarim.

Whistle is a platform that facilitates workshops, consults, and creates resources about harassment, discrimination, and abuse of power in the dance-based arts. Founded in 2017 by writer/artist Robyn Doty and dancer/choreographer Frances Chiaverini, Whistle has offered open forums and “Messy Talks” in the US and Germany and facilitated workshops at dance universities, institutions, festivals, and conferences throughout Germany. In 2020, Frances and Whistle had a fellowship at Center of Ballet and the Arts at NYU. While there, they developed resources and guides for dancers, teachers, and choreographers for their website www.whistlewhileyouwork.art.

Kasia Wolińska is a dancer, choreographer and writer based in Berlin. She is interested in and practices dance as an artistic, social and political activity while exploring its complex histories and future potentialities. In 2018, together with Frida Sandström, she founded The Future Body At Work – a theory-practice duet. Since 2019 she serves as a board member of ZTB e.V. – an organisation working for the sake of improvement of life and work in the free scene of dance in Berlin. www.danceisaweapon.com