November 2023
Performing Gender in Brussels is a two-day event led by the British Council and European arts organisations Gender Bender Festival (Bologna, Italy), City of Women (Ljubljana, Slovenia), SÍN Arts Centre (Budapest, Hungary), Norrlandsoperan (Umeå, Sweden), Dans Brabant (Tilburg, The Netherlands), Theaterfestival Boulevard ('s-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands), KLAP Maison Pour La Danse (Marseille, France), Yorkshire Dance (Leeds, UK), Paso a 2 (Madrid, Spain), bringing together artists and policymakers to explore the difficult relationship between culture and marginalised communities, and to deliver a roadmap for change.
Two artists will perform during a live-streamed event on Tuesday, 14 November, at 18h CET, which will be accessible here.
How can artists and policymakers work together to build inclusive and innovative cultural programmes? This is just one of the questions the two-day event Performing Gender in Brussels, orchestrated by the British Council with the support of various European cultural organisations, will try to answer on November 14th and 15th in Brussels.
Culminating with a closed event at the European Parliament, Performing Gender in Brussels is a rare moment when communities gather alongside senior transnational policymakers to explore a roadmap for change.
In addition to closed working sessions with regional and national European policymakers, the summit will host a livestreamed event from Brussels’ cultural venue LaVallée. Performing Gender: Provocations on the Relationship between Personal Identities and Artistic Identity will present provocations through performances by artists exploring the intersection of dance practice and questions of gender, sexuality, and marginalised communities.
Two provocateurs to spark conversations
Two provocations will be performed at the live-streamed event, with the aim of questioning how artists articulate their identity—or identities—with their practice. Artists / Provocateurs include Bakani Pick-Up, the English choreographer and Artistic Director, and Rio-born Marina Santo, a dance practitioner with experience of community collaboration in Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Ecuador, and the U.K.
The performances will be delivered in English with International Sign Interpreting, followed by a discussion between artists.
Performing Gender: An Ambitious Collaborative Project
Performing Gender has been a series of Creative Europe-supported collaborative projects using the Performing Arts, and Dance in particular, to deepen understanding of questions around gender and sexual identity. The results have included greater innovation from artists, strengthened communities and excellent dance works.
The 2020-2023 edition of Performing Gender, Dancing In Your Shoes, has explored how artistic processes can support community-building through genuine Co-Design between professional artists and target community members. These communities include those with experience of gender-based violence, sexual discrimination, racism, homophobia or transphobia, ageing body, or disability. Dancing In Your Shoes is led by a consortium of nine dance communities and the British Council.
Performing Gender, Dancing In Your Shoes is supported by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.
Ben Evans, Head of European Collaborative Projects EU at the British Council, said:
“Performing Gender has been a remarkable series of projects supporting leading European dance artists to explore both how questions of gender and sexual identity can inform excellent artistic practice, but also how Dance collaborations can contribute to community-building and civic cohesion. What is unique about the Performing Gender in Brussels event is that senior national and European cultural policymakers will be debating and finding solutions directly with members of often marginalised communities, and with artists working at a grassroots level. So often these stakeholders never meet, but it is only through exploring these themes together that genuine change will be achieved.”
You can watch the Dancing In Your Shoes image films here.
Questions about the programme, accessing the live-streamed or live events can be addressed to DIYS@britishcouncil.org
About the British Council
The British Council is the UK's international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. We support peace and prosperity, building connections, understanding and trust between people in the UK and countries around the world. We do this through our work in arts and culture, education, and the English language. We work in over 200 countries and territories and are on the ground in over 100 countries. By 2021-22 we will reach 650 million people (www.britishcouncil.org).