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IJAD Dance Company aims to integrate dance with

technology, from incorporating user-generated content

into their choreography to live streaming performances.

Frances Leak asks Artistic Director and choreographer,

Joumana Mourad, about the inspiration behind the

company and their future plans.

Who are IJAD Dance Company?

We are a fluid collective of people who collaborate to

take the latest technology and find ways of integrating it

into performance work. The word IJAD is Sufi and means

‘meant to be’ which is how we feel about the inevitability of

technology integrating with art, so if people find what we’re

doing odd – our latest project asks the audience to turn their

mobile phones on and tweet throughout the show – we just

say, ‘it’s meant to be’.

We’re primarily Contemporary dancers but we use a

wide range of dance styles in our work and get inspiration

from user-generated content as much as possible. The

core members are myself, with a Contemporary dance

background and strongly influenced by the work of Raqs

Sharqui, Neoclassical and Physical Theatre, a part-time

general manager, and the trustees. The In-Finite dancers are

Robert Shaun Mennear, Morgan Cloud, Viola Vicini, Alice

Gaspari, Helena Casari, Naomi Tadvossian, Emily Spiggs and

Sally Marie.

How and when did the company form?

I started the company in 1999 for a variety of reasons: I

wanted to use technology to achieve complete synthesis of

the real, virtual, visual and the physical and create a fully

The In-Finite Possibilities of Digital DanceHow one dance company is making the most of technology to create and share its work

DANCE FEATURES

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immersive experience and make contemporary dance more

accessible for all. The actual dance is just part of what we do;

how we communicate through film, design and visual media

is equally important. I felt it was important to set up the

company because of the lack of female choreographers in a

female-dominated profession. I feel that we still have a way to

go in creating gender equality in dance as well as role identity.

I’m also of Lebanese heritage and while the company

is not politically or religiously affiliated, I was keen to

represent the Middle Eastern people. This is because, at the

time, there were very few artists creating work in this area

on the international Contemporary dance scene and I felt

it important that the region has a voice – not only to be

representative, but because, even today, the only images the

West sees of the area are of violence and conflict, which is

only part of the story. We are culturally vibrant and creative,

intelligent and peaceful people. By creating high quality

work which is appreciated because of its artistic merit, I hope

to help the movement of artists who are practicing now to

change opinions.

What is ‘In-Finite’ all about?

In terms of the content, In-Finite is about secrets – not just

about revealing them, but exploring how they feel and what

effect keeping them has on your body. We wanted to create

something which was political, social and cultural. The

performance is interactive and site specific, which begins

inside a multi-layered building, where the performance

moves from one space to another, taking the audience

through a collage of sensorial journeys swarming with rich

experiences.

In-Finite is also a global conversation and experience

embedded in digital reality which we achieve by filming

on six cameras, broadcasting online and holding public

screenings in other countries. Then we ask the audience to

use social media to share their thoughts and interpretations

as they watch the performance.

The name In-Finite was chosen for the two clear meanings

each separate word has and also because it has infinite

“We ask the audience to use social media to share their thoughts and interpretations as they watch the performance”

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possibilities in terms of where it can be

explored with regard to location and where

it can be broadcast to. As well as the ‘outside’,

the infinite refers to the inside of the self

– the place we keep those things untold,

tucked away.

What inspired you to incorporate social

media in your show?

It’s already being used by the whole world!

If art is a reflection of life, then of course it

should be a part of it. I like the way social

media is making the world more democratic.

This is why I base my performances on

content from the public and ask people

to express what they think through social

media. I want to create a conversation which

happens around the world, simultaneously,

about meaningful issues. This way, we can

create art which resonates with everyone.

If you watch the rise of social networks you

start to see a ‘digital self’ being created. For

some, this is a conscious step, but not for

all, yet it still happens. Social media is a step

which helps to combine two realities.

How did you come up with the idea of

performing ‘secrets’ that were donated

online?

As with most of our work, we chose a theme

that was universal. Everyone has a secret and

it feels a certain way when you think about it.

Different secrets twinge or tingle at different

parts of your body. When you express them

– even if it is on a piece of paper you tear up –

you feel different. They are very, very private,

yet they interact with the outside world in

a very interesting way on the body, mind

and spirit. It was this internal/external flux,

which I found intriguing. It has been very

interesting working with social media, which

“I base my performances on content from the public and ask people to express what they think through social media”

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is all about sharing and promoting yourself – the opposite of

a secret if you like. It has been difficult at times getting people

to share. Some people will only do so if they have no contact

with you whatsoever, others will only share face-to-face.

I felt it was important to gather secrets online because

technology enhances everyone’s ability to participate.

How many secrets did you receive via Twitter and what

has the response to the project been like?

You say ‘secrets’ and people are intrigued and want to see

what the scandal is. You then ask people to explore the secret

inside them, even without sharing, and most people clam

up. For those who have had the bravery to share a secret,

anonymously or not, many have found unexpected results.

We’ve had about 160 secrets online in text format, but quite a

few more expressed through video and photograph.

Can a streamed performance be as powerful as a live

performance?

I think the importance here is not to try to recreate a live

experience. It will always be different. What we are trying to

achieve is a meaningful, powerful communication within

the digital realm. One of IJAD’s long-term initiatives is called

Sensography. In my mind a dancer and a performer are two

separate things. The former is about technical and artistic

merit; the latter is about interaction with an audience,

which I don’t think too many training academies focus on.

Sensography is the ability not just to form a connection with

the live audience, but to have a relationship with a viewer

through a camera, something not too many people have

trained in or even think about. We want to open up access

online to everyone, and hopefully those people will also come

and see it live for a different experience.

Do you think the arts are doing enough to capture the

creative possibilities of social media and technology?

On a creative level it suddenly opens the doors to amazing

collaborative opportunities. Artists no longer have to be in

the same country. Just think of the cross-cultural possibilities.

It is an amazing way to work together across nations and

cultures and to access and listen to stories of people who

are not represented and vocalise them through art. It is very

exciting and we want the fever to spread across the art world

for a new era of experimentation.

What other forms of technology have you used in

previous performances/projects or would you like to

use in the future?

We’re currently using Google Maps, leaving trails of art in

significant places and we’re actually holding a workshop at

the Artaud Forum 2013 on how social media can be used

in political protest as part of performance art. We’ve used

lots of film and sound interaction as well as tracking control

systems. We are keen to look at children and technology

as there are starting to be cameras and tablets designed

specifically for children. I’m interested in looking at how

happy we are for children to start interacting with technology,

and what their creative output is. It will also be interesting to

see what happens socially when we introduce these children

to performance online and to other children from around the

world in this way.

If you only had one Tweet to define yourself, what

would it say?

Curious, creative, communicator, excited to create interactive

physical and virtual performative worlds where audiences can

enter freely #worldinspiration!

“We want to open up access online to everyone, and hopefully those people will also come and see live performance for a different experience”

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As a hugely vibrant and diverse medium, dance lends

itself easily to the world of technology and social

media. Perhaps most importantly, it’s something

that everyone can take part in, watch and appreciate whatever

their age, location or background.

Emilia Spitz and Linda Uruchurtu, joint founders of website

The Ballet Bag and creative studio Lume Labs, have been

named among the ‘100 Best Arts Tweeters’ by The Times. They

told us, “Dance is an amazing medium, not only because of

the rich pool of content out there, but also for its potential for

true audience engagement. Most of the work we’ve been doing

in arts consultancy has been targeted at dance organisations

and dance individuals to help them connect with audiences

through social media, and we’re always amazed at the

synergies between dance and creative technology.”

There are many examples of how dance companies and

individual dancers and choreographers have embraced online

outlets such as Twitter, blogging and YouTube, from Sergei

Polunin’s tweets last year about his sudden exit from The

Royal Ballet, to Diablo Ballet’s mission to create a Ballet via

social media with The Web Ballet (more recently christened

Flight of the Dodo). Diablo Ballet has also adopted the growing

enthusiasm among US performance venues for ‘tweet seats’

by introducing live tweet nights at performances.

The Providence Performing Arts Center says the goal of

its tweet seats is to “engage theatergoers on social media, and

build extra excitement for shows,” while the Guthrie Theater

in Minneapolis aims to encourage deeper interaction with

their performances. A flurry of social media activity can also

help with ticket sales, as Andrew Goldberg from the Adrienne

Arsht Center says, “If you get a Tweet from a friend, ‘You’ve

got to check this out!’ you’re more likely to go check it out

than if we tell you.”1

The trend may be catching on in the UK with Norwich

venue, The Garage, announcing in February this year that it

has designated a section in its gallery for tweeters. However,

just 10% of participants in an online poll by The Guardian in

March 2012 indicated an acceptance of live tweeting at the

theatre.2 With the urge to instantly share experiences with the

wider world just too urgent for some to wait until the interval,

perhaps tweet seats are inevitable and do, at least, help to

minimize disturbance to other theater-goers by herding the

tweeters together. Although it doesn’t intend to introduce an

area for live tweeting, Boston’s Huffington Theater is planning

to introduce a ‘Twittermission’ where the performers and

production team conduct a Q&A during the interval and the

responses are projected onto screens in the lobby.

As a visual medium, dance is particularly suited to

YouTube and other video sharing sites, as well as Pinterest

where a quick search for ‘dance’ brings up an amazing array

of images. More than 250m photos are uploaded to Facebook

every day and over 829,000 videos are uploaded daily to

YouTube.3 As a specialist dance channel, DSI-London.TV allows

online viewers to see exclusive videos of Ballroom and Latin

events with interviews and profiles of leading lights in the

world of Dancesport. In March last year, the Royal Opera

House in London first streamed Royal Ballet Live, offering

a live fly-on-the-wall view of a full working day with their

dancers. It was shown on their YouTube channel and The

Guardian website and garnered 200,000 views.

A behind-the-scenes aspect can be a key element of a

company’s social media profile, allowing them to increase

the range of information they push out online. Rather than

a straight sales offering when tickets for a show go on sale,

Top: Diablo Ballet choreographer Robert Dekkers and dancer Hiromi

Yamazki creating The Web Ballet

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The Social Media DanceHow the dance world is developing digitally

 issue no. 463 35

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anticipation builds through interviews with

principals in rehearsal, the latest photos of

costumes, and the public are able to gain

previously unheard of access to the key

players. Citing backstage tweets by New York

City Ballet’s Ashley Bouder in the New York

Times, Gia Kourlas argues that Twitter is

“starting to change the public face of ballet (…)

making ballet dancers human.”4

Tapping effectively into social media can

also bring dancers to a massive potential

audience, many of whom they would not be

able to reach through traditional methods.

San Francisco Ballet’s principal dancer,

Maria Kochetkova has more than 187,000

followers on Twitter and the company

estimates that 11% of their website traffic

comes via the 300,000 people who follow

them on social platforms.

Marrying dance and technology even

further are DanceDigital, a UK-based

company that seeks to “catalyse the

development of new choreographies in

digital environments” and offers support

to artists and technologists to create

and develop new performance work, and

Movement Media, a New York-based agency

that helps dance artists integrate digital

technology and create works for the screen.

Although resources need to be effectively

allocated to the use and expansion of social

media, outlets like Twitter and Facebook are

free and there are many sharing and tracking

tools that can help you make the most out

of your online activities. However, a recent

survey from the Pew Internet and American

Life Project recognised the all-important

need for arts organisations to allocate

resources to digital strategies, stating that,

“Organizations will continue to need to adapt

and incorporate digital technologies into

their programming.”5

This underlines the increasing tendency

for dance companies to do much more with

social media than just post news about ticket

offers or add a video preview to YouTube. A

growing desire to creatively merge digital

with dance has already revealed huge

possibilities and, with so many companies

jumping on board, it will be interesting to see

what the future holds.

Sarah Clarke

1. ‘“Tweet Seats” in Theaters Spark Battle Between

Technology and Tradition’ by Christine Dimattei,

WLRN.org, 1st March 2013.

2. ‘Would you welcome ‘tweet seats’ in theatres?’ The

Guardian, 6th March 2012.

3. 48 Significant Social Media Facts, Figures and

Statistics, www.jeffbullas.com

4. ’Ballet Stars Now Tweet as Well as Flutter‘ by Gia

Kourlas, New York Times, 29th March 2010.

5. ‘5 Things the Dance Field Should Be Talking About’ by

Marc Kirschner, Huffington Post, 10th January 2013.

“Organisations will continue to need to adapt and incorporate digital technologies into their programming”

TWITTER TIP‘MT’ at the start of a tweet does

not mean that someone has tried

to type ‘RT’ too quickly! It means

‘modified tweet’ and can be used

if you want to tweak something

in the tweet – perhaps you want

to add another hashtag or use a

link that you’ve created to track

click-throughs. It can be a good way

to share a tweet that lets you add a

little something of your own while

still acknowledging the original

authorship.

Don’t forget to follow us

on Twitter!

@ISTDdance

Left: The Twitter profile for dancer

Maria Kochetkova

36 issue no. 463

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The Euro Dance Festival – Germany

From 14th to 17th February, the Euro Dance

Festival took place at the Europa-Park

near Freiburg in Germany. Over four days,

the world’s best dancers ran numerous

workshops and courses in a range of styles

including Latin, Discofox, Salsa, West Coast

Swing, Tango Argentino, Lindy Hop, Hip Hop

and Breakdance.

Matthias Blattmann, Festival Director

says: “One of the main goals of the festival

is to allow dancers from all skill levels, styles

and ages to mix and share their passion for

dancing as well as their knowledge. After all,

dance is a universal language and we believe

it should be shared as freely as possible.”

Well-known trainers attending the festival

included Marcus Hilton, who holds 16

Ballroom World Championship titles, Arunas

Bizokas and Katusha Demidova, reigning

Ballroom World Champions, Franco Formica,

who holds three Latin World Championship

titles, Eider and Luisa from the world-

renowned BNF, Gonzalo Alonso and Mariel

Robles for Tango Argentino, and Jordan

Frisbee and Tatiana Mollmann, the manifold

US Open Champions and reigning Classic

Division Champions, amongst other leading

professionals in each dance genre.

In January 2014, as an ‘offspring’ festival,

International Dance FestivalsFrom youth dance in the UK to Street Dance in France – how dance is feted all over the world

Registration is open until 30th April for the

international celebration of dance that is Dance

Proms 2013 and, with Danza in Fiera in Florence

and MOVE IT in London taking place as we go to press, we

thought we would take a look at other international dance

festivals across a number of different dance genres.

“Dance is a universal language and we believe it should be shared as freely as possible”

Top: Kizombia workshop with

Cyméone Mopoa

Top right: Latin performance by

Franco Formica & Olga Müller-

Omeltcheito

Far right: After-show party –

Breakdance

Above: Latin workshop with Jürgen

Schlegel

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the ‘Ladies Only Festival’ will also offer three

days of fitness, dance, health, beauty and

well-being exclusively for women.

www.euro-dance-festival.de

Juste Debout – France

In France, the biggest celebration of Street

Dance takes place at Palais Omnisports de

Paris on 10th March. Juste Debout is an

international collaboration of Street dancers,

gathering more than 3,000 dancers selected

after a three-month international tour, who

then compete in seven different styles of

Street Dance: Breakdance, Locking, Popping,

Hip Hop New Style, House, Experimental

and Top Rock. The event itself was founded

by Bruce Ykanji, with the first competition

taking place in 2002, at which 330

participants took part. Today it is the largest

Street Dance event in the world.

Every year Juste Debout opens with a

spectacular show of various Street Dance

styles and this year the opening number

mixed light and dance. When not watching

the competitors battle, spectators are able to

dance alongside the biggest names in Street

Dance in one of Bercy’s largest studios. Juste

Debout’s jury includes Bruce Blanchard from

Belgium (Hip Hop), Hit Master Fish from the

USA (Popping), Mamson from France (House)

and Locking Woong from Korea (Locking).

The UK competitors who made it through to

this year’s final are: Badness Crew (Locking),

Young Soul (Hip Hop), Holistic & Shawn

(Popping), Mogwai & Neo (House) and Ed

Spoons (Top Rock).

www.juste-debout.com/fr_FR

Flamenco Festival London – UK

The Flamenco Festival London celebrates its

10th anniversary at Sadler’s Wells in March

this year. Proclaimed by The Daily Express as

“an eagerly anticipated annual fixture,” the

festival includes performances of Flamenco

in both its traditional and contemporary

forms and attracts a wide variety of

audiences, from Flamenco enthusiasts to

those who are new to the genre.

All top three photos are competitors

at Juste Debout

Middle: Ballet Flamenco Andalucia

Above: Ballet Flamenco, Traje Negro,

performed by Eva

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This year, eight productions feature in the

main house, including a special gala featuring

Antonio Canales, Carlos Rodríguez, Belén

López and Jesús Carmona. Eva Yerbabuena

performs the world premiere of !Ay! while

Farruquito, who is regarded as one of the

most faithful representatives of flamenco

puro, presents Abolengo with guest artist,

Karime Amaya, the grandniece of renowned

Flamenco master, Carmen Amaya. Rocío

Molina Company performs the magnificent

Danzaora while choreographer, Rocío Molina

collaborates with video artist, Yoav Segal and

two Hip Hop artists, Sébastien Ramirez and

Honji to produce choreography with a blend

of dance styles.

Ballet Flamenco de Andalucía’s Metáfora

is performed by 19 dancers with a contrast

of classical and folk elements of Flamenco,

featuring traditional castanets, fans and bata

de cola dresses. This year also sees the debut

of Tapeos, a series of short performances in

a range of dance styles and music, selected

from entries submitted via YouTube.

www.sadlerswells.com/show/Flamenco-

Festival-London-2013

Jacob’s Pillow – USA

15th June to 25th August sees the return of

America’s longest running dance festival

at Jacob’s Pillow, which includes 350 dance

performances, talks, classes and exhibits.

“‘An eagerly anticipated annual fixture’, the festival includes performances of Flamenco in both its traditional and contemporary forms”

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The 81st year of the festival will include the

world premiere of New York City Ballet star,

Wendy Whelan’s project Restless Creature,

as well as the premieres by Contemporary

Ballet choreographer, Jessica Lang, Tap

artist Michelle Dorrance and a new work

by European master choreographer, Nacho

Duato, performed by the Martha Graham

Dance Company amongst others. The

newly revived Dance Theatre of Harlem will

perform at the festival along with Compagnie

Käfig, whose performance last year was one

of the main highlights of the festival.

“If audiences dive into the range and

variety of Festival 2013, it will be an exciting

and incomparable dance experience,”

states Jacob’s Pillow’s Artistic Director and

Executive, Ella Baff. “The best part about a

festival is the opportunity to explore and see

new artists and dance styles as well as enjoy

beloved classics and favourites. I hope our

visitors will discover new companies such as

Sharon Eyal’s intense and provocative L-E-V

from Israel, and other new productions.

Each festival we strive to bring the best of

international dance, dedicated to presenting

companies and new works that will only be

seen at Jacob’s Pillow.”

A highlight of the festival will be

Compagnie Käfig’s performance at the Ted

Shawn Theatre between 26th and 30th June.

The all-male cast features self-taught Hip Hop

dancers from Brazil, with choreography by

Mourad Merzouki from France. AGWA uses

water as a symbol of precious resource and

their stage design features hundreds of plastic

cups for the dancers to find innovative ways to

dance around them. To close the festival, the

Martha Graham Dance Company will re-stage

Graham’s interpretation of The Rite of Spring,

in honour of its 100th anniversary.

www.jacobspillow.org

ImPulsTanz Festival – Vienna

For Contemporary dancers, there is also

ImPulsTanz festival, founded in 1984, which

has become one of the largest festivals of

Contemporary dance in the world. Over the

course of five weeks, more than 100,000

visitors and 500 renowned international

choreographers, dancers and artists met in

Vienna last year to celebrate Contemporary

dance at ImpulsTanz 2012. This year is the

30th year of the festival, taking place from

11th July to 11th August.

Programmes include the Choreographic

Platform Austria, which creates a platform to

present work from emerging Austrian artists,

and Prix Jardin d‘Europe, a European dance

prize awarded to emerging choreographers.

Below: Gabrielle Salvatto and

Anthony Savoy of Dance Theatre

Middle left: Ballet BC at Jacob’s

Pillow Festival

Bottom left: Workshops at

ImpulsTanz Festival

Bottom right: Shantala

Shivalingappa at Jacob’s Pillow

Festival

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“Each festival we strive to bring the best of international dance”

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The festival brings newcomers as well as internationally

reputed choreographers and dancers such as Anne Teresa

De Keersmaeker, Akram Khran, Jan Fabre, Ismael Ivo, Marie

Chouinard, Wim Vandekeybus and many more.

www.impulstanz.com

U.Dance – UK

The UK’s National Youth Dance Festival, U.Dance 2013 takes

place from 19th to 21st July in Leeds. U.Dance is run by Youth

Dance England alongside Yorkshire Dance and a range of

other partners for young people aged 11 to 19 and disabled

young people up to the age of 24. Performers will be selected

to show their work at venues such as the West Yorkshire

Playhouse, the Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre and the

Riley Theatre. Performances vary from group dances to duets

and solos with different length pieces and different styles of

dance and youth dance choreography.

This year there is a new performance strand for longer

and more developed pieces, called ‘New Dimensions’, which

allows dancers to have a more experimental approach to

choreography, with fewer limitations in terms of the number

of dancers and the length of the piece. The piece may include

up to 30 dancers and it may last up to 20 minutes long

(applications are now closed). Youth Dance England is also

looking for new dance films made by or featuring young

people, to be screened at U.Dance 2013. These films must be

less than seven minutes long and must have been filmed in

the past two years.

www.u-dance.org/main.cfm

With such a wide variety of dance festivals taking place

throughout the year in all corners of the world, there really

is no excuse to not attend one this year! Whatever dance

style you prefer, whatever level you are, there’s something for

everyone – even if it’s just as a spectator. If you would like to

take part yourself in an international celebration of dance at

the Royal Albert Hall, then don’t forget to register for Dance

Proms 2013 and submit your entry by 30th April. Please see

the Dance Proms advert on the inisde front cover for full

details. We hope to see you there!

Frances Leak

“‘New Dimensions’ allows dancers to have a more experimental approach to choreography”

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All photos are taken from U.Dance 2012. Photos feature

competitors from a range of different dance genres