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Fostering freedom of expression

Duncan Centre competition nurtures new modern dance

By Brooke Edge
For The Prague Post
November 21st, 2007 issue

New Europe Modern Dance Festival

When: Nov. 23–26
Where: Duncan Centre (Branická 41, Prague 4–Braník)
Tickets: Call 244 461 342 for reservations

“For me, dance is not only an art that allows the human spirit to express itself through movement, but it is the supposition of the whole concept of harmonic and natural life,” wrote modern dance innovator Isadora Duncan.
That’s a good summary of the philosophy Prague’s Duncan Centre tries to impart, not only to its students, but to lovers of dance beyond the center. This weekend, the modern dance conservatory is extending that spirit to dancers from other countries where contemporary dance has faced hardship, and may still have difficulty finding financial support and an audience. The Duncan Centre’s New Europe Festival will demonstrate the inspirational and unifying effects of contemporary dance during four evenings of work by artists from Central and Eastern Europe.
The title “New Europe” encompasses countries new to the European Union and those working toward joining, explains Duncan Centre Director Eva Blažíčková. “Very specific potential is there,” she says.
As an artist who attempted to learn and perform modern dance under a regime that didn’t welcome contemporary choreography, Blažíčková feels an inner drive to share knowledge and opportunity with others who have endured similarly restrictive circumstances. She feels the Duncan Centre is duty-bound to facilitate a cultural exchange among those who may not have ready access to it — just as people here didn’t as recently as 20 years ago.
This is the ninth year the Duncan Centre has hosted the event, though the first time it’s being held under this name. (Previously it was referred to by the name of the award bestowed at the event, the Jarmila Jeřábková Award.) From 40 applicants, Duncan Centre judges selected eight choreographers to compete this year, hailing from the Czech Republic, Romania, Greece, Cyprus, Estonia, Poland and Bulgaria. Each choreographer featured in the festival will perform two original pieces.
The festival opens Friday night with performances of original works by three laureates of the 2006 competition. On Saturday, there’s an evening of modern dance pieces set to music by contemporary Czech composer Luboš Fišer (every year the selected choreographers are tasked with creating a dance inspired by the music of a Czech composer). Sunday features “The Best of New Europe” — performances of original works by the competing choreographers. The Jarmila Jeřábková Awards will be presented Monday evening, along with a concert of Fišer compositions.  
When she founded the Duncan Centre in 1992, Blažíčková named it after Isadora Duncan, not only because of her enduring influence on modern dance, but also because of her connection with Czechoslovakia. The New Europe Festival’s award namesake, Jarmila Jeřábková, was a student of Duncan’s style in the late 1920s. In 1934, Elizabeth Duncan, Isadora’s sister, asked her to establish a school in Prague to teach the new methods. Under the communist regime, however, the only sanctioned dance was Soviet classical ballet.
But Jeřábková managed to continue teaching Duncan theory to a select group of students, including Blažíčková. When restrictions were lifted, Blažíčková pushed to reinvigorate modern dance, and the Education Ministry granted the Duncan Centre accreditation as an official artistic conservatory.
However, not many other former Eastern bloc countries have had the resources or willingness to foster the growth of contemporary dance. “They need to have the schools — they are fighting for the schools,” Blažíčková says.
For this reason, the Duncan Centre founded the New Europe Festival. Blažíčková feels it also benefits Czech and Western audiences to see innovative works from often-unrecognized sources.
“New ideas are coming from these countries,” she says. “The ideas and potential are there, and they are very interesting.”

Brooke Edge can be reached at tempo@praguepost.com


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