DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT

STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONING OF BDP

APPLICATION AND SELECTION PROCEDURE

DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT

Balkan Dance Platform, BDP is a dance festival which takes place every two years, regularly held in a different country of the region.

As the concept of the region of the Balkans is unstable and has changed throughout the history, in this project it is defined by those Balkan countries that have participated in the festival so far (Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Greece, Serbia, Slovenia, Croatia, and Turkey), with the possibility for other countries of the region to join (i.e. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, Montenegro and by some definitions Moldova also belong to the Balkan region).

Goals:

• Stimulation of development of contemporary dance in the Balkan countries by promoting the work of choreographers and dancers, groups, organizations, and institutions dealing with contemporary dance in the region;
• Stimulation of collaboration and initiation of new productions, collaborative projects, and regional networks and initiatives;
• Mutual acquaintance and connection of the local scenes in the Balkans, as well as their promotion towards other scenes; and
• Meeting of young, emerging, new coming choreographers and dancers form the Balkans.

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History:

BDP project was first initiated in 2000 by Dessislava Gavrilova (Bulgaria) and Cosmin Manolescu (Romania), during the international dance conference in Bratislava, which was organized by Dance Theatre Workshop (USA).

The first platform took place in Sofia (Bulgaria) from November 29th to December 2nd, 2001. The host of the first BDP was the The Red House Centre for Culture and Debate - (Sofia) in co-operation with Project DCM Foundation (Bucharest).

The second platform took place in Bucharest (Romania) from the 25th to 28th of September in 2003. This time the host was Project DCM Foundation (Bucharest) in co-operation with the The Red House Centre for Culture and Debate (Sofia) and Christina Polychroniadou, an independent producer from Athens.

The third platform took place in Skopje (Macedonia) from the 3rd to 6th of November in 2005. The host of the third platform was the Lokomotiva - Centre for New Art and Culture Initiatives (Skopje), in co-operation with The Red House Centre for Culture and Debate (Sofia), Full House Promotion (Athens), and Gabriela Tudor, an independent producer from Bucharest.

The fourth platform took place in Athens (Greece) from the 11th to 14th of October in 2007. The host was the Full House Promotion organization (Athens), in co-operation with The Red House Centre for Culture and Debate (Sofia), Art Link (Bucharest), Exodos zavod (Ljubljana),Lokomotiva - Centre for New Art and Culture Initiatives (Skopje), and Per. Art (Novi Sad).

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Regional Partners Of Balkan Dance Platform:

• Art Link (Bucharest),
• Exodos zavod (Ljubljana),
• Full House Promotion (Athens),
• Lokomotiva - Centre for New Art and Culture Initiatives (Skopje),
• Per.Art (Novi Sad, Serbia), and
• The Red House - Centre for Culture and Debate (Sofia).

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Local Partners:

• Serbian National Theatre - Forum for New Dance (Novi Sad),
• Station - service for contemporary dance (Belgrade), and
• TkH - Centre for Performing Arts Theory and Practice (Belgrade).

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STRUCTURE AND FUNCTIONING OF BDP

Relations, Rights, And Obligations Of BDP Partners

The BDP host

The host of BDP is one of the regional partners, working individually or in collaboration with local partners.
The host of BDP is selected every two years, based on what the potential hosts offer concerning the programming and organization of BDP during that period.
All the current regional partners of BDP take part in the selection of the next host, and the selection is being made either before or during the biennial. The results are announced the last day of the biennial.
The host of BDP is obligated to provide the organizational, technical, and financial conditions for the realization of BDP.
The host of BDP is obligated to provide board and lodging, daily fees (in accordance with the law) and fees (in proportion with the means that the hosts have at their disposal) for the participants of the festival.
The host of BDP co-ordinates the communication with the regional and local partners.
The host of BDP is responsible for creating and maintaining the BDP web site.
The host of BDP is obligated to organize the meetings of the team of selectors, and provide board and lodging as well as per diems for the members of the team of selectors. The host of BDP is obligated to cover 50 % of the selectors’ traveling costs, while the other 50 % is covered by the regional partners for their representatives in team of selectors.
Subsequent promotional activities related to the previous edition of BDP are organized by the host of the current edition.

Regional partners

Regional partners are selected for an indefinite period of time. There can be only one regional partner per country.
All the current regional partners decide on whether a new regional partner will be accepted.
Regional partners individually decide who their local partners will be.
Regional partners inform the actors of the local dance scenes about the activities of BDP in the period between two BDP editions. Regional partners select an expert who would be a member of the team of selectors for the festival.
The regional partners bear charges of transportation for the participants of the works selected for the BDP festival from their country, if the host is unable to do so.

Local partners

Local partners are selected for an indefinite period of time, based on their agreement with the regional partner.
Specific relations, rights, and obligations between local and regional partners of BDP are determined by an internal contract.

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The Decision Making Procedure

All important matters are decided on by all the current regional partners of BDP.

The general principle of deciding on the important matters concerning BDP is settled by a consensus.
That means that all the partners have to agree on a certain solution or decision.

The principle of deciding functions this way: each member that comes forward with a certain proposition, dilemma, or problem also suggests a possible solution or a decision, with clear arguments. The partners then comment on, and discuss the given arguments as well as the suggested solution, until they have reached the consensus. A partner that disagrees with a certain solution, cannot stop the process of reaching the decision by simply negating it, but instead, s/he has to support her/his disagreement with clear and precise arguments, and, at the same time to propose another solution or a decision which is then to be further discussed later on.

The partner that starts the discussion about certain proposition, dilemma, or problem, also proposes the deadline for the reaching of the decision in accordance with the estimation of the realistic needs and the circumstances. The opinions of the partners that do not take part in the discussion within a given time, are not subsequently taken into consideration nor does that partner have the right to demand that the decision be nullified.

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The Inclusion Of New Partners

There is an open call for new regional partners.

Potential regional partnership organization should contact any of BDP partners by email and provide the information on activities, members, history, and the reasons of the organization that wants to join BDP. It is desirable if the organization applies with a recommendation from one or more BDP partner organizations. If the organization doesn’t have recommendation from any BDP partner, then BDP partner from country that potential partnership organization has applied should inform other BDP partners about applicant organization’s position on their local dance scene.

New regional partners can come from the country which in the previous BDP editions did not have its representative or, in case that some of the regional partners decide to withdraw from BDP, it can come from the country which previously gave a regional partner.

The inclusion of local partners is decided on by regional partners independently, in accordance with the estimation of the needs and benefits from such partnership in the local context. Regional partners then inform other regional partners on the inclusion of its local partners.

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APPLICATION AND SELECTION OF THE WORKS FOR BDP FESTIVAL

The Application Procedure

The host of BDP makes a public announcement for the application of the works for the festival.

The information is distributed in collaboration with regional and local partners.

The application includes a filled-out application form and the video of the material in its full length (DVD format).

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The Ways And The Criteria For The Selection Of The Works

Team of selectors

The works for the festival are chosen by the team of selectors.
The team of selectors consists of experts in the field of contemporary dance (choreographers, theoreticians, critics, dramaturges, dancers, curators), who are proposed by regional partner organizations.

The host of BDP announces the membership of the team of selectors within the call for application.

The criteria for choosing the works

Eligible to the Balkan Dance Platform are works of authors who are based and who work in the region of the Balkans.

Following criteria would be applied in exceptional cases depending on the importance of the work for the local and regional dance scene and its development.

• the works of authors who are based and work in the region of the Balkans, regardless of their formal citizenship or the country that the producer comes from
• works of the authors who have the citizenship of one of the countries on the territory of the Balkans, which were made – in case that the authors do not live nor work on the territory of the Balkans – in co-production with at least one producer from the Region
• works that involve participants active in their local dance scenes produced by producers from the Region , regardless of where the authors of the work live or whose citizenship they have

In these cases, the team of selectors would ask representative of the regional BDP partner to provide information about the particular application / work.

Together with the dance performances, BDP welcomes other forms of dance projects (performances, actions, installations etc.) which are performed at non-theatrical venues (galleries, outdoor, in the lobby…)

Works created between the application deadline for the previous BDP festival and the application deadline for the next BDP festival can apply for the festival selection.
It is possible to apply with a work which is unfinished till the application deadline (as a work in progress). In this case, if that work gets chosen in the selection of the festival, the authors must eventually send the video material of the finished work before the deadline determined by the host of BDP.
Video materials (DVD’s) are not sent back to applicants.

The works selected by the team of selectors must not be changed drastically until they are performed on the festival, nor can they be replaced by other works by the same author or producer. In case that a work has intentionally an open form like work in progress or work in process, or that it significantly adapts to a concrete context of performing, that has to be clearly pointed out in the application for the festival.

The authors belonging to the same group/ organization/ institution, can apply for the festival. The authors whose works were presented on the earlier BDP events can also apply for the festival.

One author can apply with several performances but only one can be selected.

Although there are no restrictions concerning the age of the authors, BDP traditionally encourages and supports new authors as well as those whose works have not yet, to a greater extent, been promoted abroad. The task of the host of BDP is also to present the works of these authors in an appropriate context - for example, in a Video showroom or some other additional programme of the festival - in case they do not get to be selected for the main programme.

Together with these works, Video showroom can include other works which the team of selectors and regional partners consider important to be presented. It can also include an overview of the current state of the local dance scenes.
The authors of the works which get to be selected for Video showroom and other additional programmes should attend the festival. Regional partners choose the authors, and the number of authors is established according to the financial capability of the hosts and regional partners of BDP.

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