Last week Diane Madden concluded 3 weeks of teaching contemporary technique to the 2nd year students of the Training Cycle. In her class, Diane Madden is building up material and skills towards a longer Trisha Brown repertoire workshop in Spring 2021, in which students will be creating their own version of Brown’s “Son of Gone Fishin’” 1981.Diane has been giving workshops at PARTS based on Trisha Brown’s repertoire for many years. Since 1980 Diane has been an integral part of Trisha Brown’s work: as a dancer, rehearsal director and Associate Artistic Director.It is a special honour for PARTS that Diane Madden is associated with the school for the entire Training Cycle, from 2019-2022.

This lecture will be live streamed and can be followed remotely. More info below.Contemporary theoretical discourse addressing the anthropocene often invites a series of interrelated comments: that the Eurocentrism of the humanities ignores that indigenous peoples have and/or are already experiencing extinction, that it is human technological hubris that is ultimately to blame, or that is a particular organization of social and political relations which have terraformed the planet. Immediately the question of who is the ‘we’ (as human being or human species or bourgeois or Western) that faces extinction is central.

We are happy to announce that, on Monday August 31st, we opened the new academic year 2020-21 with live programs for Training (2nd year) and STUDIOS (2nd year).Of course we are talking about a lot of safety measures, smaller groups, bubbles, extra space to guarantee social distancing, timeslots, facemasks, sanitizers and circulation plans, but we have made it work.

On the first day of the new academic year 2020-21, Theo Van Rompay, co-founder of P.A.R.T.S., stepped down as Deputy Director of the school. He will retire on September 1st, 2021 and during the last year of his employment he will focus on a number of special projects.Charlotte Vandevyver, previously coordinator of the STUDIOS program, took up her position as the new deputy director of P.A.R.T.S. With Director Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, a new female duo will now lead the school. As an addition to the team we also welcome Yannick Roman as the new Financial and Administrative Manager.

On September 4th 2020, PARTS had its 25th anniversary.After an inspiring journey of 25 years we are very proud that both cycles, Training and STUDIOS, are recognised by the Flemish government as a Bachelor in Dance (since June 2019) and Master in Dance (since July 2020).

Just before the official start of the school year we organized a three day program BACK. CURRENT: a come together between the students, teachers and staff as a transitioning from the lockdown into the new school year. To reflect on what happened, focus on the present and look into the future.

On August 31st the normal programmes for Training (2nd year) and STUDIOS (2nd year) will restart. On this first day of the new academic year 2020-21, Theo Van Rompay, co-founder of P.A.R.T.S. who is retiring soon, will step down as Deputy Director of the school. Charlotte Vandevyver will take up her position as the new deputy director of P.A.R.T.S., to lead the school together with director Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker.

The academic year is running towards its end, the Summer holiday is just around the corner.On Saturday June 27th we organized the last open-air class in Duden park with David Hernandez.Since May 18 - when the National Security Council decided that training outdoors for group sports was allowed again – we have organized a weekly 90’ outdoor dance class in the park for a group of maximum 20 people. A very welcome relief for all the students that have been locked up in small Brussels spaces with no access to flowery backyards, mountain-view meadows or sunny beaches. Luck was on our side, the weather was always very nice.

The school management has decided to suspend all classes until the end of the academic year. The safety of students and teachers cannot be guaranteed as social distancing is in many cases not an option for a dance school. Moreover, our studios are not big enough to work with groups of 20 students, while a permanent distance of 1.5 meters should be kept between all dancers.The online classes for the students will continue until the end of June. Many PARTS teachers have made great efforts to adapt their teaching practice to online teaching, including technique teachers for ballet and contemporary dance. The majority of the students of the Training Cycle have now returned to their home country.

Much to our regret, we have to announce that the eleventh edition of SummerSchool 2020, planned from July 13th to August 14th, will not be able to take place. The risk of infection by the covid-19 virus is still very present, and despite a currently slightly improving health situation, there are no guarantees at all that classes and workshops could take place in safe conditions. Provisions for social distancing will almost certainly still be in place during the summer. This makes the dance classes and workshops that were planned impossible. A very intensive use of our studios by a very large group of dancers, in ever-changing line-ups, is completely forbidden according to today's safety regulations, and remains almost certainly not recommended during the summer months.

While we all confine ourselves at home to help stop the spread of the coronavirus, PARTS offers its students an alternative online program with live streamed classes. For the Training cycle we organise daily online yoga classes with Laia Puig Escandell and Stephane Bourhis, a weekly Pilates class with Gabriel Schenker, and 3 times a week contemporary technique classes with Diane Madden, who adapted her class to small confined spaces and remote exchange. For the workshop on William Forsythe’s Improvisation Technologies, teachers Fabrice Mazliah, Tilman O’Donnell and Liz Waterhouse worked out an assignment especially adapted to living rooms, concluding with a collective improvisation on zoom. Furthermore, we started the music project with Noé Soulier and Tom Pauwels, in collaboration with musicians from the Contemporary Music programme of School of Arts Ghent, and the philosophy seminar with Ludo Abicht.All of these live stream sessions are recorded so that the students can access again at a later date.

To limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus, PARTS follows the measures taken by the federal government. PARTS suspends all classes and public activities until May 18th 2020. The school is closed and an alternative program is offered remotely for the students. The PARTS team works from home and is only available through e-mail.We keep you posted about further news

We are very hopeful that SummerSchool 2020 will take place as originally planned! A final decision will be made by June 1st, 2020. Registrations are OPEN and a significant Covid-19 section was added to our cancellation policy! 1. In case we cancel due to negative advice from the Belgian government regarding the Covid-19 virus, all participants will receive a 100% refund. 2. In case the participant cancels due to negative advice from their country of origin regarding the Covid-19 virus, the participant will receive a 100% refund. Updates on the SummerSchool will be posted on our website. In the meantime, you can email summerschool@parts.be with additional questions or click here to find out more about our programme. Thank you for understanding and stay well!

During an X-Week, the normal operation modus of the school is suspended.The invited artists can work a whole week with the students, in or outside school. The subject may be composition or improvisation, but also politics or visit museums and exhibitions. We ask the artists to unveil their way of approaching art towards the students. For this week of artistic practice PARTS invited the artists Stina Nyberg & Zoë Poluch, Diederik Peeters and Ula Sickle.

'About birds and other animals'Philosopher Vinciane Despret enters into conversation with Bojana Cvejic about her work, following a seminar for the students of the Studios programme.After philosophical and psychological studies, Vinciane Despret specialized in ethology, the study of animal behavior, and became fascinated by the humans who work with animals. Borrowing a path from philosophy of sciences, her work combines ethological and psychological research with the goal of understanding and explaining how scientists build their theories, how they interact with historical and social contexts, and what relation is established between them and animals.

Throwback to the public presentation "Exchanges" of last Friday, a final sharing of the 5 weeks during exchange project between Ecole des Sables and PARTS.Thank you Ecole des Sables for your hospitality!Thank you Ogutu Muraya (Kenya), Faustin Linyekula (Congo), Panaibra Gabriel Canda (Mozambique), Nadia Beugré (Ivory Coast) and Qudus Onikeku (Nigeria) for sharing your artistic practice so generously.Thank you to Ise An Verstegen (Netherlands), Patrick Acogny (Senegal/France), Mamadou Baldé (Senegal), Ntone Edjabe (Cameroon), Saky Bertrand Tchébé (Ivory Coast) and the musicians for transmitting your technique and insights on African dance.And thank you all participants for your curiosity and hard work!

You are very welcome to join us for the public presentation of the theatre workshops of the 1st year Training students.Free entrance – no reservation is needed.Doors open at 14h45 (program 1) and 17h45 (program 2), the performances start at 15h and 18h sharp (latecomers are not admitted).Each program consists of 2 pieces, 4 in total. There is a short break between the 2 programs. You are welcome to watch both of the programs !Program 1 at 15h :Group of Carly WijsGroup of Thomas RyckewaertProgram 2 at 18h :Group of Eva SchramGroup of Scarlet Tummers

Ise chose Acogny and Acogny chose her.In her work as a dance artist Ise Verstegen interweaves worlds with an inclusive, transcultural vision and body language. Since 2008 she has been working closely with Germaine Acogny, the mother of modern African dance. Acogny technique is a dance technique and philosophy based on West African and Western dances. Ise's work and transmission start from embodiment, connection, collectivity and the respect, possibilities and natural strength of each body through rhythm and movement. From here she addresses social issues.

From January 2nd until February 6th, 14 students from the STUDIOS program at P.A.R.T.S. and 10 young choreographers and dancers from the African continent meet and exchange at Ecole des Sables, the school initiated by Germaine Acogny in Toubab Dialaw, Senegal. This is the third exchange program and the collaboration between P.A.R.T.S and Ecole des Sables goes back until 2013.

PARTS@WORK#2 – Sunday 26/01, 15h.The performance is for free, no reservation is needed.Doors open at 14h45, the performance starts at 15h sharp (latecomers are not admitted).PARTS@WORK is a series of informal showings of work created by PARTS students.PARTS@WORK #2 consists in several pieces, all personal work of the 1st year Training students.Hope to see you there !!

From January 2nd until February 6th, 14 students from the STUDIOS program at P.A.R.T.S. and 10 young choreographers and dancers from the African continent meet and exchange at Ecole des Sables, the school initiated by Germaine Acogny in Toubab Dialaw, Senegal. This is the third exchange program and the collaboration between P.A.R.T.S and Ecole des Sables goes back until 2013.

PARTS@WORK is a series of informal showings of work created by PARTS students.PARTS@WORK #1 consists in a number of short pieces, all personal work of the new Training students, made in the first three months of the schoolyear. These performances are free, no reservation is needed.Hope to see you there !!

This lecture centres on the practices of African Diaspora art as archive, resistance and transformation. It adopts an Afrogenic approach, restructuring the “geographies of reason” and approaches the various timelines, genres and practices from the perspective of rhythm as a mobile institution. It seeks to move out of the realm of mysticism, obscurity and tropes over into access, right to opacity and approachability. The lecture seeks to courageously step into the uncomfortable and difficult conversation with the perspective of generous black rage.

From November 18 to 29, the Taipei Performing Arts Center and the Centre national de la Danse (Paris) organise the first edition of Camping Asia. It's an event where more than 100 students from 12 art schools from across Asia and the rest of the world gather to work and learn together.

We regularly organize semi-public talks with teachers at P.A.R.T.S. It is a way for our students to get a deeper insight in the teacher his/her personal practice, work as a performer, own artistic work, and anything else he/she might be busy with. On Monday, September 30 we had our first talk with David Hernandez.

This week, researcher Stephen Zepke is teaching a seminar in the Studios programme at PARTS. On Thursday evening 26/9 at 19h, he will give a public lecture in which he reflects on the possibility of art to reflect about the future, if anything 'new' can still be imagined and created.Free entrance, reservation is not necessary!

In 2019-20, PARTS starts with a new generation of students and a new programme!On September 2, the students of Generation XIII started the 1st year of the Training cycle 2019-2022. They are 40, representing 24 different nationalities from five continents.On September 23, the new Studios programme starts, with a program of 2 years with 14 participants from 11 different countries. Stay tuned to this website for news about our public activities!

Last week Somnia premiered, a performance by Anne Teresa and Jolente De Keersmaeker for the 44 graduating students of the Training Cycle, in the fairytale setting of the Castle Park in Gaasbeek. The press also came to watch and saw that it was good:De Standaard, Charlotte De Somviele: 'A tour de force in the castle park'. "Tons of energy must cost to master this boundless setting. But the 44 players throw themselves, and how. They walk around for miles, let themselves tumble down the slopes and climb like monkeys in the trees."La Libre Belgique, Guy Duplat: 'Somnia, a daydream mixing dance, nature and poetry': 'Somnia is a total artistic and ecological experience, which requires active spectators to research thousands and one small scenes; this is a moment that connects us back with nature and with the love games so dear to Shakespeare'.Le Soir, Jean-Marie Wynants: 'A great experience of nature': "There will be many other magical moments: the fire on the water, the dancers spiralling among the spectators, the slow ascent of the stairs by the spectators, and this fully danced final sequence where the 44 students of PARTS flow between dream and reality like these thousands of young people marching in our streets to protect the planet."www.pzazz.theater, Pieter T'Jonck: 'In the magic forest': "The real protagonist of this piece is the castle park: The De Keersmaeker sisters succeeded in revealing the imaginative power that is enclosed in it, by manipulating the 'score' of it."More information about the performance here.

From September 2019 onwards, PARTS will launch a new advanced 2-year program, called STUDIOS.STUDIOS is a 2-year fulltime research programme for dance-makers and choreographers, who intend to develop their creative voice and practice, in a learning environment that is communal and collaborative.

On 1 September 2020, Theo Van Rompay (1954), co-founder of P.A.R.T.S., will step down as Deputy Director of the school. His succession is already assured, since a year earlier, in September 2019, the new 'Studios' programme will start, for which a coordinator had to be appointed. Charlotte Vandevyver (1982) will implement this new 'Studios' programme from 1 May 2019 onwards. On 1 September 2020 she will take up her position as the new deputy director of P.A.R.T.S., to lead the school together with director Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker.