A dance film workshop for teenagers with different types of neurological diagnoses. During the workshop each participant creates a short dance film that portrays a fun fact about themselves through poetic movement and images accompanied by a short text and music. The workshop gives an insight into the art form of dance film through other existing works and the practical tasks the participants go through.

The workshop is divided into different segments: scriptwriting, choreography, location scouting, filming and editing. Each segment reflects the artistic process of making a dance film and is carefully facilitated. The segments allow each participant to work in their own tempo.
The workshop challenges the participants’ understanding of film and video making as well as how they usually move their bodies.

The goal of the workshop is for each participant to experience an artistic process and the joy of having created a short film from scratch, that transforms something concrete from their own lives to a poetic art work.

This workshop is part of Maia’s artististic research on choreographic collaborations with people with different minds. Maia describes why:
“Like other teenagers this group goes through a transformation from child to adult, where they are seeking to discover themselves, what the world is about, and where their place are in it. But when you are challenged on your social abilities, have sensory disturbances, dislexia and other learning disabilities, and other challenges that come with these diagnoses, this journey is full of hindrances that you are forced to overcome to simply just exist in this overstimulating, chaotic world we live in. You are forced to take other routes that others don’t have to and for many it is really hard. But at the same time this journey becomes more nuanced and filled with both vulnerability and strength, a quirky sense of humor, idiosyncratic ideas and raw emotions. This creates a highly loaded energy field that I find interesting to work with artistically.”

The photos are from workshops facilitated at Waldemarsbo Efterskole, Denmark in 2022 and 2023 and taken by the participants themselves.

The workshops have been supported by Huskunstnerordningen / Danish Arts Council.