The war in Ukraine has significantly changed not only the socio-political, but also cultural situation in Europe. Previously intensive cooperation between countries is gradually decreasing and/or fading away. In order to preserve the cultural ties that have been created over the years, in the first half of 2023, with the support of Pro Helvetia, we conducted the ON/OFF first online edition.
On the one hand, there were organized monthly meetings of Russian artists in exile and of those who are in Russia, so that all of them could get answers to their questions about the life of dance artists in Europe from their Swiss colleagues. At the same time, an initiative arose spontaneous meetings of middle-aged artists who wanted to discuss how to live, create and become visible as artists in new places, because many of them are now scattered around the globe.
We also organized a two-week online residency with Russian-speaking and Swiss dance artists, which resulted in a variety of creative tandems. In total about 60 applications were submitted to the residency, which shows a high demand for this kind of event and a great interest in it. As part of the residency, people who would otherwise unlikely cross paths in today’s realities met and talked about their creative ideas. As a result, with an active participation of the Swiss curators, six ideas were developed in the residency, hopefully they will be realized in the future.
Finally, the project ended with a two-day online symposium on 22-23 of May 2023. On the first day we presented the projects of the emerging dance artists from Russia. On the second day mid-career artists discussed the impact of the political situation on their personal careers, and the ideas of the Russian-speaking dance community on what to do next and how to adapt to the new conditions. Both days were moderated by Swiss curators and attended by about a hundred dance and performance professionals from more than ten European countries. In addition, they were videotaped, and after the Symposium ended, the videos were sent to all the curators and producers who wished to watch them.
As a result of the first season we’ve created a first version of the project’s website. Also, several surveys of participants were conducted, and they showed the need to continue the work: for many Russian-speaking artists on both sides of the border, ON/OFF seemed probably the one of very few ways to maintain international connections and a sense of belonging to a large European community of contemporary dance. And for their European colleagues it’s almost the only possible window through which they can still see what’s happening in Russia and are able to continue artistic dialogue with their colleagues.
