The Young Berlin Dances
Purple Summer
Purple - International Dance Festival for Young Audiences
Over the summer of 2021, the two pupils Noomi and Juna visited young dance enthusiasts at five different locations in Berlin for several weeks, danced with them and asked them about their passion for dance. The result is wonderful video sequences that Naomi and Juna shared via their own Instagram channels and show how dance-enthusiastic Berlin is. You can watch the sequences at any time via this Instagram highlight. So much can be said: It's worth it!
Incidentally, it all started with our Audience Survey 2020, conducted by PURPLE – International Dance Festival for Young Audiences. Throughout the year, we conducted several surveys to find out how dance can reach and inspire even more young people in the future, especially during exceptional situations such as the pandemic. There was a questionnaire aimed at multipliers and one that specifically addressed children and adolescents. Results from young people: Many of them cannot classify contemporary dance as an art form or have misleading associations that hinder an argument. In addition, it is above all recommendations from one's own environment that lead young people to try out new things together.
From this survey, our three-day symposium on ‘Who is our audience?’ took place at the beginning of May this year. In addition to experts from the fields of (performative) arts, culture and media, several young people who followed the contributions and ultimately gave their opinion a critical reflection – including Noomi and Juna – were also involved. The freelance dance journalist Christine Matschke has summarized the results of the symposium for us in the offensive blog. A key message is "ignite dialogues at eye level instead of sending messages. In order to give children and young people a successful access to cultural education, existing hierarchies and power relations must be dissolved (...) Not doing something FOR young people, but WITH young people.”
From this realization and the motivation of Juna and Noomi to carry their passion for dance further into the public eye, the action PURPLE SUMMER finally emerged. All posts and videos of the two were shared throughout the summer via both the PURPLE and the Offensive Dance Instagram channel. They are still visible there. At the end of August 2021, Juna and Noomi also took over the PURPLE Instagram channel for the entire festival period. Also in 2022, we want to work on other formats that directly involve young people, so that they become active co-creators of our project.
