Dream teams for our 1st international dance hackathon

A 3-day-long creative sprint to invent a future where dance meets digital technology!

A world first… The Dansathon is a unique initiative devised by the BNP Paribas Foundation and co-organised in close collaboration with 3 leading dance institutions: La Maison de la Danse in Lyon, a loyal partner and collaborator of the BNP Paribas Foundation for the past 30 years, Sadler’s Wells in London and the Théâtre de Liège.The project originated from a shared desire to contribute to the development of innovative proposals to combine dance and technology.

A 3-day-long creative sprint that will bring dance and new technologies together. 90 experts from different disciplines and cultures who have never met, will get the chance to work together in multidisciplinary teams of 6 to invent, test and present new ways of interpreting, creating and sharing dance. The aim: to reach audiences that are as varied as possible. That is in fact the common theme of the Dansathon: connecting with audiences and local communities.In each of the cities, 30 participants will set up their teams on the 1st day, through discovery and sharing exercises.

Technological, human, methodological and stage resources will be at the teams' disposal for 72 hours to back them in their creative work (coaches, facilitators and experts) and to make sure everything runs smoothly (volunteers from BNP Paribas and the theatres). 

An international, collaborative and connected event

The Dansathon was devised on an international scale from the start. Lyon, London and Liège will share a common, collaborative work method inspired by Museomix and creative sprints. During the three days, the three theatres will be interconnected so that the participants can draw inspiration from each other and discover the work done in each city. 

They will have 72 hours in which to explore, try out possibilities and produce a dance performance prototype, a short creative work or a proposal for an application or installation, at the intersection of different approaches. 

3 winning projects

The 3 most innovative projects, selected by an interdisciplinary jury of professionals in each city will each receive a EUR 10,000 grant from the BNP Paribas Foundation as well as support from the organising theatres to continue their creative work through to its performance on stage.

Photos Mix technologies Théâtre de Liège