DEJA DONNE
Duncan Centre conservatory
Zakladni skola Skolni
Archa Theatre
Sberny dvur Prazskych sluzeb
Pupils: Adéla Krausová, Klaudie Grošíková, Kristina Lekešová, Simona Chadrabová, Viktorie Patová, Andrea Kopalová, Eliška Pokorná, Violeta Mackevič, Lucie Švédová, Dominika Pěničková, Alena Vacková, Tereza Procházková, Barbora Vokurková, Ladislav Čada, Rolland Bierhanzl, Vojtěch Kalivoda Brian Lendor, Tomáš Pavlíček, Mikoláš Hrdlička, Tomáš Procházka, Jakub Ivanovský, Jan Rédr, Tomáš Rybecký, Daniel Semrád, Patrik Petrýdes, Pavel Zellner, Dan Voldřich, Michal Zellinger, Petr Palla, Lukáš Sláma, Jan Jun, Martin Fišer, Matěj Dúha, Julie Šebková
The workhop took place in a gym hall of Zakladni skola Skolni from 4th till 8th September 2006 and involved 27 children. The second day of the workshop EJA DONNE organized a visit in Sberny Dvur in Prague 9, a waste recycling organisation of Prague Services. Children rehearsals on Archa theatre stage were held on 10th and 11th of September together with the company members.
My Name is King world premiere and first two repeats were presented in Archa Theatre on 12th, 13th and 14th September 2006 as a part of theatre Archa programmation in collaboration with Duncan Centre.
Reception after the openning night was organised by the theatre and Italian Cultural Centre for the company and the theatre team. Performances were visited by Jitka Stropkova journalist, who will involve the company and the project in Czech TV documentary on ambient in autumn 2007, Marketa Ekrt Valkova journalist, who will inolve the performance in her Czech TV documentary on contempory dance. and
Journalists who wrote on performances/workshop:
Nina Vangeli (Hospodaske noviny, Dance Zone magazine) performance review
Magdalena Cechlovska (Hospodaske noviny) interview
Lizzy Lequesne (Prague post) preview
Katerina Kolarova (MF DNES) interview
Other visitors:
Jana Navratova cheef editor of Dance Zone Magazine
Yvona Kreuzmanova director of Tanec Praha Int. Dance Festival
Edyta Kozak DANCE projects organiser Warsaw
Martina Kessel from Tanzhaus Duesseldorf.
The Duncan Centre Conservatory was established in Prague, Czech Republic in 1992. Its foundation finally created space for a long committed part of the culture, for contemporary dance/dance theatre and a new form of dance education. This is at present the only state school in the Czech Republic systematically oriented towards this goal. The Duncan Centre relies upon the ideas of Isadora Duncan, that dance is not only an aesthetic movement but should be a connection between a dancer’s thoughts and their natural, cultivated expression by movement. Its graduates, according to their specialization, can work as effective dance artists, choreographers, dance lecturers and art-therapists. The aim of the Duncan Centre is to produce universal artists. The content of the education, therefore, enables students to continue in studies of art, human sciences or pedagogy.
From 2000 the school collaborates with Pedagogical Faculty of Prague and Hradec Kralove. The school was visited by pedagogues and students of different pedagogical schools from UK, Germany and Holland, and is a partner of an international project COSIMA.
The aim of the school is to offer to pupils as wide programme as possible. It offers programme for visual arts, informatics, modern technologies and sports.
Since 40 years – at each end of a school year - the students participate at the „last ring“ performance in Branik Theatre and organise a competition „Punta“ for most beautiful and friendly dog of the city quarter Branik.
The Archa Theatre belongs to a unique cultural scene in the Czech Republic. It is one of the few theatres moving beyond the principle of repertoire and functioning as a production house. Archa Theatre is a dynamic place where artists and companies from around the world can meet and actively cooperate. Presenting a wide range of contemporary dance, theatre, music, film and multimedia performances, Archa Theatre also strives to present its own projects showcasing diverse innovative ideas and progressive theatrical forms on an international scale.
For 12 years Archa Theatre has presented the public with a host of important Czech and foreign artists while at the same time creating a wide array of its own projects. Artists from scores of countries and every continent but Antarctica have performed with Archa.
The PSAS is providing services for collecting and recycling all wastes (electronic, plastic, glass, food waste, paper) from the city of Prague. Prague Services has a guaranteed annual disposal capacity for both mixed and sorted waste. Currently mixed waste is converted into energy at the company’s facility. In cooperation with the Municipal house of Prague, Prague Services is working to follow the worldwide trend in waste reduction. With protection of the environment in mind, they take efforts to keep waste production to a minimum. Prague Services try to use reusable materials, and utilizing a portion of the waste thermally to produce steam. This facility proudly produces energy by incinerating municipal solid waste and producing steam for heating of flats throughout Prague. Prague Services has the highest-capacity facility in the Czech Republic.
Report on the workshop from Eva Blazickova, director Duncan Centre
The R.A.P. for Children project appeals to us by its content, by its ecological message, which was mediated to the children during the workshop. Interstingly, the reaction of authorities, which we had to negotiate with, was encouraging.
The teachers of the primary school where the workshop took place were thrilled and so were the children. Their approach was creative and their expression was spontaneous.
It was wonderful to see the changed children on the stage of the Archa Theatre and watch their natural discipline and enthusiasm.
The evaluating discussion with the teachers, which followed, showed the importance of such projects for children. It seems that the difficulty of the task connected with the experience on stage makes children long for uncommon things, it provokes their self-discipline and social skills.
Apart from the above mentioned positive result the R.A.P. for Children project had a very good timing because it supported the preparation of the Dance for Schools project, which is supervised by the director of Duncan Centre Conservatory Eva Blažíčková. Duncan Centre and the Primary School in Školská street will start this project in September 2007 as a pilot programme whose aim is to include dance among the compulsory subjects at primary schools.