We see a broad international movement in which people with and without disabilities dance together as equal partners. Also in Flanders the attention for inclusion dance is growing in a wide variety of contexts. Yet we still notice stubborn prejudices about dance, about limitation and about the combination of both. We also see rigid structures within education and the arts that prevent the inclusion of people with disabilities. Often because of the lack of inspiring practices and concrete tools that support teachers and artists to overcome their cold fears. Talented and passionate dancers with a disability are the victims of this gap.
But also contemporary dance itself loses a strong source of radical renewal here. The core of this project consists of setting up a lab/learning and experimentation site for inclusion dance at the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp. This lab is a place for fundamental artistic research into the essence of dance as a means of communication and into the essence of creativity as the ability to solve problems. The inclusion of dancers with and without disabilities is the trigger for this fundamental research.