In January 2015 Jane Mason (pictured) was invited to accompany The Point’s Creative Producer Sacha Lee to Dance Exchange in Washington DC, to attend ‘The Winter Institute’, a four day workshop asking ‘What is the Role of Artists in Building Community?’  This unique opportunity was funded by The Point and supported by Dance in Devon:

“Even within a different cultural context and there certainly seems to be different emphasis on the kind of language used to describe processes, ways of thinking and the giving of instructions etc, yet there is so much commonality drawing this diverse group of people together, in this space of dance that we all share.”

“Storytelling features heavily in the work that Dance Exchange does to find ways to reveal and generate movement, for example noticing the physical behaviour a person involuntarily makes when telling a story is called ‘spontaneous gesture’. Ways of working are not so different from processes I have been involved in or might try to create myself. Yet here there is clearly a system of named and articulated tools that underpin the ways of working.”

Extracts from Jane Mason’s blog – read the full entry here.

Sacha Lee’s blog gives an insight into her wider research in the US, visiting both the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council in New York and Dance Exchange, funded by the Artists International Development Fund:

“I was struck by how Dance Exchange are good at blurring boundaries, and it might be at these boundaries where the interesting stuff happens. We are always so keen and impatient, to label, to know, to have the answers, to be sure – especially when we are in the subsidized sector and making the ask for money, that is demanded of us. Dance Exchange is run by thinking artists, and this is felt strongly.”

Extract from Sacha Lee’s blog – read the full entry here.