As part of the residency programme Re-Framing Dance, initiated by Dance4 in collaboration with Primary in Nottingham, Nora-Swantje Almes invited six practitioners into conversations on the shifting relationship between contemporary dance and visual arts. The 5-part podcast series takes the practices of choreographers and artists Jamila Johnson-Small and Gillian Walsh, Holly Blakey, Michele Rizzo, curator/DJ Naeem Dxvis (BBZ London) and dance historian Tom Hastings as departure points to gather a variety of perspectives.

Conversational formats have become an important research method that continuously inform Nora’s curatorial practice. The series understands the ‘in-between’, unpredictability and being in-flux as a legitimate tool. Queering* and body-based practices in institutions both challenge existing (infra)structures and open up room for new working practices. By bringing about moments of surprise, conversations reflect this non-linearity and facilitate a constant learning beyond education conventions. Their fluid character allows for dissonance – a change of direction in the midst of it. Primarily recorded for curatorial research purposes, the edited episodes give an insight into the practitioners’ cross-points, shared questions and concerns, and an outlook on where to go from here.

In the second episode Nora speaks to London-based choreographer Holly Blakey, about breaking away from the field of contemporary dance, motherhood as an artist, choreographer-performer relationships, popular culture and value systems attached to it.

How to listen: Re-Framing Dance Conversations with Nora-Swantje Almes | Ep.2 has been released on Soundcloud.

Nora-Swantje Almes is a curator, producer and writer, currently based in Bergen, Norway. Her research explores topics of intersectionality, queerness and gatherings as a performative format for platforming a multiplicity of voices.

Re-Framing Dance is an action research project. Part one of the project will support residencies for independent producers to invite curators, artists and Dance4 into a process to undertake choreographic research exploring the possibilities to create new work that invites audiences to see, experience and potentially participate in choreographic art works sited in gallery contexts.

Sound design: Urban Feral

Sound edit: Tom Harris

Thanks to Dance4, Primary, Jerwood Arts, Lxo Cohen, Annika Thiems.