The SWOP festival 2012 has now come to an end

It was a pleasure seeing so many great performances in the region around Roskilde. The SWOP festival 2014 will be held from 26 April to 4 May 2014

The Opening

Snow Eyes
Urban Explorer – Murakamifications
We dance to forget
Ritual
The Magical Sound Cirkus
Alles
I know where your House is living!
Couple-Like#2
Oogly Boogly

Workshops
Seminar
Presse

New International Dance Festival for Children and Young People

in Roskilde and seven other cities of West Zealand, Denmark

Aaben Dans is happy to present the SWOP festival! SWOP is a regional festival. Nine dance companies will give 50 performances in eight cities in the region with Roskilde as an epicenter (30 km from Copenhagen). The audience – from toddlers to dance eager 17 year-old teenagers – can look forward to an exciting blend of Danish and European performances. All of them hand-picked by Aaben Dans. You can read much more about the performances here on our brand new website.

About the SWOP festival
SWOP is inspired by the significant artistic development within contemporary dance for children and young people across Europe. This recent development has resulted in new cross border networks such as Fresh Tracks Europe which are exploring new innovative ways of creating dance for young audiences.

By launching the SWOP festival, Aaben Dans wishes to establish a Danish platform for international exchange of contemporary dance for children and young people.

The programme includes performances by Koen de Preter (NL), Alma Söderberg (S/NL), Eric Kaiel (US/B), Keren Levy (NL), Dansstationens Turnékompagni (S/UK), and the following Danish choreographers: Lene Boel, Samuel Gustavsson, Tali Razga and Thomas Eisenhardt.

As an integral part of the initiative hundreds of school children will take part in dance workshops (in schools) and participate in a large scale opening event through the city of Roskilde. Aaben Dans will also host a seminar for professionals with focus on childrens’ perception of dance and and two workshops, one for choreographers and another for dance educators.

Local partners
It’s been a big pleasure to collaborate with the municipalities, the theatres and the venues in Roskilde, Holbæk, Lejre, Sorø, Odsherred, Slagelse, Kalundborg and Ringsted. They have all made their own local and impressive dance program, which you can find in the danish version under each city.

The festival is all about SWOPPING! Swopping performances, ideas and knowledge across regional and national borders and most of all…swopping dance moves and the joy of dancing!

The program is selected by: Choreographer Thomas Eisenhardt, Director Catherine Poher, Theatre Manager Lisbeth Klixbüll, Consultant Lene Thiesen og Coordinator Pernille Møller Taasinge.

Best regards
Aaben Dance & Coordinator Pernille Møller Taasinge

The festival is supported by The Danish Arts Council’s Committee for Performing Arts, The Ministry of Culture, The Zealand Region, The Culture Region of Middle- and West Zealand and a number of private foundations.

SWOP is playing at Teater Fairplay, Holbæk Teater, Kalundborg Musiskskole, Skælskør Bibliotek, Scenen i Laboratoriet, Roskilde Bibliotek, Slagelse Teater, Odsherred Teater, Ringsted Kongrescenter, Slagelse Musikhus and Korsør Kulturhus.

Aaben Dans is Denmark’s only regional dance theatre, situated in Roskilde. The theatre produces two performances every year, one for adults and one for children. Aaben Dans is one of Denmark’s most touring dance companies with tours in Denmark and in Europe.