TANEC PRAHA FOR CHILDREN AND STUDENTS

TANEC PRAHA FOR CHILDREN 2016 

This year's – ninth – annual festival again sees child audiences not just as observers, but as co-creators of the performance. Over the last three years, the festival has always presented one new performance that works with children in an interactive way. In 2013 it was Carnival of the Animals by Bára Látalová and co., in 2014 Paper World by Mirka Eliášová, and last year Footprints and Fingerprints by the SE.S.TA Centre for Choreographic Development, the teaching department of NG in Prague and Bára Látalová. 

This year the festival decided to support the creation of interactive performances that are unique in the world of dance. They focus on an age category that is a challenge for many teachers: pre-teens. 

The inspiration for the new performance MOMO was a book that Mirka Eliášová knows well: Momo by Michael Ende. At the centre of attention is the abstract quantity of time, which the dancers, together with the children, make present, try to steal, slow, stop or rewind. In addition to the performance, the festival offers workshops in schools, which can take place before the performance as a first taste of the language that the children will encounter in the theatre, or after the performance, when it serves as a form of reflection on what they have just seen. The workshop can also be held independently of the performance, as a way to vary the school curriculum and create an alternative for movement work with children. Children also have the opportunity to meet with artists outside of the space of the theatre and to combine art with everyday life. 
This year's TANEC PRAHA FOR CHILDREN festival continues its cooperation with cities in the Czech regions, where it brings current works of contemporary dance and movement art, which this year will be Carnival of the Animals in České Budějovice, Among Us in Jihlava and MOMO in Plzen. The festival will also offer workshops in these cities connected with the performances and taking place directly in school classrooms, just like workshops for the performance of MOMO. 

Like every year, the festival will also include a public debate, an open house at the PONEC Theatre's Children's Studio and workshops with artists for children from the Dance in School and Dance for Children programs.  

01/06
Mirka Eliášová: MOMO

People measure time with calendars and watches. But everyone knows that sometimes an hour can seem like an eternity while at others it flies by, depending on what we are doing.

Time and how we experience it. Dancers and children, who together seek its actualization, slowing, stopping or return. Interactive media and personal physical contact of the audience with the events on the stage. A unique MOMO performance, inspired by Michael Ende's novelMomo, is intended for all ages with a special focus on children ages 10 and up.

23/05 – 23/06 
Elementary schools in Prague

Dance and movement workshops based on MOMO
School workshops led by the choreographer and artists. The workshops focus on the theme of the passage of time and its role in our lives. Through dance and movement games abstract quantities obtain specific qualities and characteristics. In addition to encouraging physical exercise, the workshop develops the imagination, abstract thinking, possibilities of perception and experience, and individual and group work skills.

The workshop offers children the opportunity to naturally come into contact with contemporary dance.

The workshop lasts for the duration of one lesson and is conducted in the classroom, in the gym or another suitable location. The date and time is by mutual agreement.