dance project -machines d'tendresses- MayJune 2019

SUMMARY
machines d' tendresses / en·semble 4 gentle men 
is a dance project about the moment when you want to tell someone you love or desire, how you feel about them. I am working with three other dancer-makers and we will be an ensemble of four (gentle) men dancing together. This campaign has the goal to raise money for paying them an acceptable minimum fee, get adequate documentation, and a proper production of the performances. 


About me
I am an independent choreographer based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Ever since I can remember I have been moving - mentally, physically, emotionally. My family has been on the move as political and ethnic refugees for two generations. Finding (new) ways to understand better through the experience of movement, and to re-design some of the many ways in which we dance from this understanding, has been and continues to be an essential part of my life-goal. Coming out as gay & genderqueer was -and still is- an integral part of this process. This is my website. 

The project
In May/June 2019 I have the opportunity to work with three promising and beginning dancer/makers from various backgrounds, resulting in a studio-showing of four dance concerts, June 27-30 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

We will work with a very wide range of various dance vocabularies and theatrical conventions, including  (European-formulated) postmodern dance, East-Asian theater dances, commercial (boy-band) moves, Eurythmy, and integrated acting-dancing. Each one of us will get a solo in silence, where he is letting his body reclaim its right to move freely - even in the presence of others. 


Motivation
I want to make a statement about men and vulnerability in this time and day. I believe it is important to bring in alternative narratives and states of being into the current discussions about power and (dys)functional traditions.  I am also making a decidedly gay-centered independent work, which is often done on the side in the Netherlands, but rarely the centrepiece. Finally, I want to make a statement of what I believe today's dance can be, after more than 20 years of research and development.

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What am I asking for?
To recompense these young and upcoming dance artists for their time and effort, at least partially -and to pay them at least a fair minimum-wage at the beginning of their careers I would like to raise 3x 1000 +taxes = ca. 4500 euros, for two weeks of full-time work 

plus for any extra time spent on pre-production and rehearsals,
for the pre-performance of puit d'amour on May 21st at Ubik/Worm, Rotterdam (more info )
and machinespiritualités / Effete(s) on May 26th at ETTO Space, Rotterdam (more info )


Any remaining money will be used for
- studio rental (ca 1500 euro) 
- special costumes (ca 300 euro) 
- PR (ca. 200 euro)
- documentation on video for future reference, when it will come to a next level in the development of the work. (ca 1000 euro) 


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Would you like to contribute? 
Your support would help us to make this unique work possible.
A series of experiences where the sensorial meets the sensual, where people are moving and will hopefully be moved - with many layers of meaning, emancipating the physical body beyond mere objectification, to an agency of its own.

You would also help to create a safer place for dancers to express their physicality, in a way that is integrated with their personalities. Your generous contribution would help us to make these moments possible, with all further con-sequences.

(* if you live abroad and cannot make it to the final performances, it is possible to ask for a link to the video-documentation)

Thank you very much for your consideration and for reading this call! 
If you would like to find out even more, just ask : 
[email redacted] 

Keep moving ~
Thomas