Welcome Johanna Byström to ilDance!
We are thrilled to introduce Johanna Byström as ilDance’s new Company & Project Manager!
Johanna brings a rich background as both a cultural manager and a former dance artist, with extensive experience in the independent performing arts sector. Her career has been defined by leading and executing projects across multiple disciplines and industries, always with a strong commitment to innovation and collaboration.
Passionate about fostering creative entrepreneurship and intercultural exchange, Johanna is dedicated to strengthening the independent cultural sector through sustainable strategies and global collaborations. She has worked with diverse teams worldwide, ensuring that artistic projects not only thrive creatively but also create meaningful impact and accessibility for broad audiences.
With Johanna on board, ilDance continues to expand its vision of supporting independent dance artists and fostering a dynamic, inclusive cultural ecosystem. We are excited to have Johanna with her expertise and enthusiasm on our team.
iCoDaCo encompassing collective meeting in Berlin
In Early October the iCoDaCo 2024-2027 encompassing collective, consisting of Sebastian Matthias, Mila Pavicevic and ilDance’s directors Lee Brummer and Israel Aloni, met in Berlin to further develop strategies and methods for the knowledge production process in the project.
The encompassing collective is responsible for pulling together the contributions of all the collectives and artists in iCoDaCo and proposing certain articulations for the iCoDaCo 2024-2027 score. The score will be based on the data and content developed by the various collectives throughout the research residencies between November 2024 to March 2025.
The encompassing collective will meet all the iCoDaCo collectives together online, at the end of each week of residency and research. During these meetings,all the collectives, together with the encompassing collective, will process and reflect on the content gathered. With the help of the encompassing collective this content will later be articulated into a form of information and knowledge that will be proposed in the next stages of the process.
Visit to Forum Box Gallery in Finland
Photo credits: Nata Korenovskaia
Forum Box is a non-profit artist-run co-operative society initiated in 1996 by sculptor Kain Tapper (1930–2004). Its main purpose is to maintain an art space in Helsinki to enrich and support Finnish cultural life. Currently, Forum Box co-op has over 100 members, all of whom are prominent Finland-based artists and actors in contemporary art.
In August 2025, Forum Box will present Boys Just Want To Have Fun by Israel Aloni & Cast as part of its Perform Europe tour.
On 8-10 November 2024 Aloni is going to visit Forum Box and other potential collaborators in Helsinki in order to begin the process of specifying the piece to the unique gallery space as well as contextualising some activities in the cultural and social reality of the city in relation to the themes and concepts of Boys Just Want To Have Fun.
Conflicted
From ’Something to do, Someone to love, Something to look forward to’ by Lee Brummer.
Photo: AdeY
The desire with Conflicted, a project which Lee Brummer is embarking on with the intent of longterm investment, is to share personal stories of Palestinian and Israeli individuals directly impacted by the conflict in the Middle East, not limited to the recent events. The project will lead up to the making of a new piece which will be based on interviews with individuals who have lost family members to the ongoing conflict and have chosen a pathway of coming together and grieving together, Palestinians and Israelis, and by doing so working towards a different and brighter future.
Counter to common knowledge, there are numerous initiatives and activities in which Palestinians and Israelis ‘practice’ this type of togetherness in every day lives. These groups and individuals are examples of how conflicts can be mitigated and people can come together despite and maybe even because of the pain.
Through the research and making phases of Conflicted, Brummer and her collaborators also seek to develop a practice in which individuals on opposing sides of a conflict, ideologies or belief systems (beyond the specific Palestinian - Israeli context) can understand, support and trust one another, and thus proposing a practice of empathy and coexistence. This practice will be developed through exploring conflict resolution methodologies, understanding how to accept differing ideologies, and fostering empathy through a range of both movement and theatrical work.
iCoDaCo call 2024
Photo: Robert Siwek
We are in the midst of the application process to put together the collective of Sweden based artists for the European cooperation project International Contemporary Dance Collective 2024-2027. We received many applications from across Sweden. It’s been interesting and exciting to get to know different artists and their practices. We are currently in the process of connecting with and meeting the shortlisted applicants.
We want to thank everyone who applied for taking the time to engage with us and with the project. We value your commitment to pushing dance boundaries, embracing diverse perspectives, and contributing to a global dialogue.
Thank you for sharing your work and enthusiasm with us.
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Lee Brummer at DancePointX in Malmö
Photo: Hedda Axelsson
Lee Brummer will be attending the DancePointX conference in Malmö on April 5th, hosted by NoXsense. The conference, centred around Dance for future generations, will feature Lee presenting on behalf of ilDance, highlighting the organisation's extensive work with emerging artists. Specifically, Lee will delve into projects such as the nurturing of talent within the junior company ilYoung and the facilitation of platforms like Compass, which supports emerging artists throughout Sweden.
Additionally, Lee will participate in a panel discussion alongside Alma Söderberg and Karin Nedergaard. The panel will explore the collaboration needs among various stakeholders to foster the prosperity of both established and emerging dance artists in Sweden.
Israel Aloni in residency in Tenerife
Photo from imaginativecc.info
From the 30th of April to the 11th of May 2024 Aloni will be one of 10 artists in a collective residency in Tenerife, coordinated by Imaginary Choreographic Center and hosted by Laboratorio de Artes Vivas y Ciudadanía
During the residency the artists will engage in collective imaginations of the future, share their practices with local communities and start dialogues about potential collaborations in the future.