The power of the moving body

Anita van Dolen ist seit 2024 Kuratorin für Tanz bei der Ruhrtriennale. In unseren Festival Stories verrät sie uns, welche Rolle zeitgenössischer Tanz im Gesamtprogramm der Ruhrtriennale 2025 spielt, welche Aspekte ihr bei der Auswahl der Produktionen wichtig sind und was sie all jenen rät, die bisher keinen Zugang zu zeitgenössischem Tanz gefunden haben.

What does contemporary dance mean to you personally – and what role does it play in Ruhrtriennale's overall concept?

Dance is the art form that most moves me. Its abstract nature allows for personal interpretation. It allows you to travel within your mind and explore different perspectives. The power of the moving body lies in its ability to express (deep) feelings in a way that words cannot. Dance, like music, has the power to touch you directly in the heart. Moreover, the human body is a miracle in itself. I find dance artists who use the body to develop a universal language fascinating. I work from a broad definition of what dance is and can be. The use of space in time, rhythm, and movement can be found in many interdisciplinary projects. The monumental and non-verbal character of dance becomes even more expressive when it collaborates with other art forms such as live music, visual arts, and theater. This makes dance an indispensable art form within the Ruhrtriennale's programming.

What key curatorial questions or considerations were central to you when you put together the dance programme for 2025?

"Longing for tomorrow" is also the starting point for curating the dance performances for the Ruhrtriennale. Dance as a language, with productions that reflect current themes and the times we live in. We work with choreographers who create their own language, push boundaries, and bring together different dance styles and traditions. These are choreographers who not only offer beautiful images but also use the body to convey something they consider essential. We seek performances that strike a balance between beauty and unconventionality.

How do you go about selecting productions? Are there criteria that are particularly important to you – for example in relation to body images, narratives or interdisciplinarity?

To create a window onto the world and a glimpse into the future, we seek dance productions that bring together diverse elements: humanity, history, traditions, and all manner of art forms. Migration, for example, is changing demographics; everyone brings their own cultural and historical baggage. The body is the perfect medium for incorporating all these influences. Performances that invite us to explore other ways of interpreting the beautiful yet complicated world and perhaps speak to new ways of living together and interacting with the world.

Which aesthetic or thematic tendencies in contemporary dance are reflected particularly clearly in this year's programme?

All dance productions are an expression of the principles described above. They are all unique and distinct. What they have in common is that they all possess great beauty, are virtuosic, and musical. At the same time, they reflect on how humans move through this world, both past and present. Human behavior, relationships, power dynamics, the impact of colonization, forgotten traditions, rituals, and minorities are themes that are brought to the stage.

Some people are unsure how to understand ‘contemporary dance’. What advice would you give them?

Sometimes people think dance is a difficult art form to grasp. But you really don't need to know anything about dance to be moved by it. The abstract nature of dance allows you to create your own story and give it your own meaning. If there was any advice, I'd say: Let go of preconceived notions, let the performance wash over you, and see what happens.