Tilburg, City of Dance

Tilburg dances. Because Tilburg has all the links in the ‘dance chain’ within reach. First of all there is the Factorium dance and music school; secondly, we have the Fontys Dance Academy, a dance academy with an international outlook; thirdly, Tilburg has Danshuis Station Zuid; fourth: Theater De NWE Vorst is here, a studio theatre with a performing arts centre; and the fifth link is Theaters Tilburg; a well-equipped theatre. All these links together form a unique cultural climate.

With an eye for tradition on the one hand, and on the other hand a concentration of different breeding grounds for talent, Tilburg has put itself on the map locally, nationally as well as internationally as the centre for dance. Tilburg, Dance Capital of the South represents an integrated view on education, talent development and artistic development, production, presentation, and promotion of dance in the city. In essence, we are aiming to achieve three goals that transcend the individual needs of our separate institutions:

		Profiling and Quality: creating a distinct profile and a high artistic standard. Innovation is the core issue here, with high-quality artistic education both during and after school.
		Continuously expanding our audiences by creating coherence in the chain, from the creation through to the presentation. The different partners offer (young)talent the opportunity to create and perform performances.
		Connecting amateur dance and professional dance by strengthening the bond between the disciplines and bringing promising amateurs into contact with the professional work field.

Although the Brabant dance Week and the Tilburg Dance Night should become crowd pullers, Tilburg, City of Dance is more than just a few smashing public events. It is a structural collaboration which makes it a joint approach throughout the year of all dance activities, dance marketing and dance education. Within this structure the different partners each preserve their own unique character, but it is their joint responsibility to ensure that in Tilburg, people can always do or see something dance related and that talented Tilburg-based dancers and artists can develop full artistic careers here.

A strong national and international outlook will ensure that interesting dance artists will want to work in Tilburg, that dance professionals and hardcore dance audiences will look to Tilburg for new developments, that there are possibilities for collaborations with leading dance houses and artists, and that we will draw more visitors from outside the city limits. All of the city’s dance institutions together will act as a magnet. In a flexible and welcoming environment the coming together of dance artists from widely differing backgrounds will cause artistic movement. Innovation and tradition, big and small, each have their own power, but also need each other. Artists and audiences are packed together here and will start a dialogue. Dance will find its way to the city, and the city will find its way to dance.

The partners in Tilburg, City of Dance have committed to a close collaboration that will slowly expand over the course of time. Not a cumbersome structure but a flexible, informal collaboration based on trust and a common goal. For further information, go to www.dansstadtilburg.nl.