The MAIN CRITERIA that the Dramaturgical Council of the Czech Dance Platform, which will work in an international composition starting in 2024, follows when creating the program are:
- high quality and diversity of contemporary dance and physical theater performances;
- the ability to resonate in an international context and appeal to a foreign audience;
- uniqueness, originality, and a clear creative signature;
- the selection of current topics, contextualization;
- the interpretative quality and professionalism of all components, and the overall complexity of the work.
Czech performances refer to those created by Czech artists, either produced domestically or during international residencies or internships, as well as performances by foreign artists residing and creating in the Czech Republic. To maintain diversity, the board includes only one piece by the same author/choreographer each year.
The goal of the CDP is to capture the current state of affairs, so it prefers performances from the last year, or at most from the last two years. A piece can only be submitted to the CDP once.
In exceptional cases, the Dramaturgical Council has the right to include a performance that was submitted in the previous year but, for objective reasons, could not be included.
We understand dance and physical theater in a broad, modern, and liberal sense, encompassing both purely dance forms and cross-genre performances (cross-over); generally, any form that works with movement and physicality as the main component of artistic expression, extending to the fringes of what is called performance art and new circus.
Since national platforms are commonly attended by foreign guests, the Council must consider the international context and anticipate potential interest from foreign visitors – professionals. Therefore, another important criterion is how the selected performances might resonate internationally.
The quality of a piece is understood as a strong opinion or stance by the creators regarding the theme of the performance, an individual and unmistakable expression, and the originality of the dance language. The board also considers whether and how the performance responds to the contemporary aesthetic context.
The Dramaturgical Council of the CDP seeks out and highlights creators with a strong personal artistic signature, those with the courage to transcend established conventions, provided that their work is driven by compelling inspiration and a relevant message.
This quality also inherently includes the professional level of the dance/physical performance – although technical proficiency is not an end in itself. The Council also demands a professional standard from all other elements of the stage performance.
The state and composition of dance and physical theater performances vary from year to year. Sensitively capturing changes in aesthetic, content, or even societal paradigms, which cannot be defined once and for all, is the expert task of the board.
The Council has a variable number of members or votes. From 2024, the 30th edition, representatives of Tanec Praha, the event organizer, will no longer be part of the Council. Instead, the Council’s work has been expanded to an international context.