Dancewalks is a series of site-specific dance and sound installations that the audience experiences through headphones. The walks are being performed in public spaces; on streets, squares, in parks, nature and in public buildings such as hospitals and malls. The participating dancers (the audience) move through a series of rooms where they are invited to interact with the places they pass, they get to experience and perceive different rooms from the perspective of a dancer. The places and suggestions for movement are described by a voice that the dancers listen to individually. The pre-recorded script is based on choreographer Anna Asplind’s own experiences of the places. It becomes a kind of choreographed dance improvisation that challenges the rooms’ normative movement patterns. In Dancewalks, the audience is at the same time creator, dancer and viewer. Each “Dancewalk” is also a newly written music composition that runs parallel to the text and merges, amplifies and contrasts the place’s own sounds.
Dancewalks has been produced since 2009 and since 2013 Asplind have investigated how Dancewalks can increase our perspective and understanding of different sites in connection to city planning.
How to do a Dancewalk:
- Find a Dancewalk close to you in the list below
- Download the mp3-file
- Look at the map and find the starting position
- Go there and press play
WRITTEN ABOUT DANCEWALKS
Danstidningen – Hjärtmaskiner, sjukhuskonst och pedagogiska dansupplevelser
Arbetarbladet – Får man göra så här på sjukhuset?
Arbetarbladet – Får man göra såhär?
SR – Nu ska Boråsarna dansa med staden
SR – Ljudfil ute i det gröna ska guida besökarna
SR – Danspromenad genom staden
SR – Anna vill få dig att dansa på Karlstads gator
Expressen – Här går det som en dans
Bachelor thesis 2014
DANCEWALKS – En fallstudie av alternativa stadsplaneringsmetoder (swedish only)