Brussels
Performing Gender: Dancing in Your Shoes (PG:DIYS) is a Creative Europe project that for the last three years has implemented dance, the creative process and decision making as tools to empower communities in risk of exclusion, particularly due to gender diversity reasons. Since its launch in 2020, it has involved eleven institutions across eight countries (France, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, Sweden, The Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom), and has been supported by the British Council.
As part of the programme’s official closure, the British Council and a series of European cultural organisations have organised a two-day event in Brussels that will bring together artists and policymakers in an attempt to analyse the relationship between culture and marginalised communities, with the aim of creating cultural projects that are innovative and inclusive. The event will take place at the European Parliament where both parties will deliver a roadmap for change.
In addition to these closed work sessions, on 14th November PG:DIYS will present “Provocations on the relationship between Personal Identities and Artistic Identity”, a series of three lectures delivered in Brussels by artists Bakani Pick-Up, Marina Santo y Sekai Makoni exploring the intersection of dance practice, and questions of gender, sexuality and marginalised communities. The event will be livestreamed in English with International Sign Interpreting, followed by a discussion between artists.
For more information, visit https://www.britishcouncil.org/arts/europe/performing-gender-dancing-in-your-shoes
Madrid
Performing Gender: Dancing in Your Shoes will celebrate its final events in Madrid during the 37th edition of the Certamen Coreográfico de Madrid. On Tuesday 28th November at 18.00h in an event organized by Paso a 2, the Spanish project partner, the audience will have the opportunity to see a series of videos produced by the British Council on how the project developed across Europe and hear from some of the choreographers, cultural mediators and community members who have participated in PG:DIYS in Spain, Italy, Sweden and the Netherlands.
Salón de Actos, Condeduque Contemporary Culture Center.
On the last day of the Certamen Coreográfico (Sunday, 3rd December), PG:DIYS will culminate with the presentation of three choreographies focused on identities and diversity, which include a performance by the Spanish community involved in the project and one by the Swedish community. This event will mark the final stage of Performing Gender: Dancing in Your Shoes, a project whose communities will remain connected and active collectively, despite its end.
For more information, visit https://www.pasoa2.com/