Ten days. That's how long we had this time to truly dive deep into what had begun as tentative first steps in our partnership with com.dance. Following our successful exchanges in 2024, this extended residency in the beautiful city of Freiburg marked a significant evolution in our Cultural Bridge Tier 2 collaboration, moving from exploration and connection to genuine co-creation.
As our plane touched down in Basel-Mulhouse Airport in May 2025, there was a different energy among our group of 4 Anjali dancers and team members. Gone were the nervous butterflies of that first meeting. Instead, there was anticipation, excitement, and a sense of coming home to familiar faces and a partnership that had already begun to transform both companies.
Building a Language Without Words
The heart of our ten-day residency was ambitious: to develop a non-verbal choreographic language that would allow both companies to co-create and collaborate without the barriers that spoken language can sometimes present. What emerged was something beautiful, practical, and deeply meaningful, our own system of symbols and signs for dance movements.
Each gesture, each movement quality, each spatial relationship was given its own symbol. Katja and Rebecca from com.dance, alongside our own artist Lexy, facilitated sessions where we experimented, laughed, occasionally got confused, but ultimately built something entirely new together.
The symbols themselves became works of art, simple, clear drawings that could represent everything from "slow" to "sharp" to "start again." But more than just functional tools, they represented something deeper, a commitment to true inclusivity and accessibility in our creative process.
“I really enjoyed my time in Germany. I made lots of new friends and they make you feel welcomed with open arms and they’re so kind. I loved watching their dancing, they inspire me and I really enjoyed getting to lead some of the class.” Lauren, Anjali Dancer
From Symbols to Movement
The creative process was beautifully organic. We would begin by exploring a quality of movement together, perhaps moving quickly through space, or flowing through the studio like water in a river. Once we had all embodied and understood the movement quality, we would gather around massive sheets of paper spread across the studio floor.
What followed was part art class, part movement workshop, part collaborative invention. Using our hands and arms, we would create gestural signs that felt true to the movement quality we had just experienced. These hand signs would then be translated into drawn symbols on the paper (or vice versa) simple, clear marks that somehow captured the essence of complex physical sensations.
Our German colleagues brought their own unique approach to the work, while our Anjali dancers contributed their distinctive style and perspective. The result was movement that belonged to neither company individually, but to our collaboration as a whole.
“At the beginning of the process, it was not clear where the joint work would go, as both Anjali and com.dance e.V. contributed a variety of ideas and conceptions.
Thanks to the team's excellent cooperation and a harmonious distribution of roles, we found ourselves in a mutually inspiring and participatory process after just a few days.
It was very touching to see how all the dancers understood each other in a different, non-verbal way despite the language barrier.
Decisions for further productive collaboration were made democratically within the team.
In the final showing for this first rehearsal unit, the dancers were able to present the jointly developed material to an audience in a very moving way.” Katja, com.dance
Cultural Immersion and Community
Of course, ten days in Freiburg meant more than just studio time. We had the opportunity to immerse ourselves in the local culture, exploring the historic city centre, taking a trip on Freiburg’s famous funiciular, and experiencing the warmth of German hospitality.
The local dance community welcomed us with open arms, and we had the privilege of sharing our developing work with other artists and practitioners. These informal showings became valuable testing grounds for our emerging piece, helping us understand how our non-verbal language might communicate with wider audiences.
Looking Forward: October 2025
As our ten days drew to a close, the excitement was palpable, not for the end of our time together, but for what comes next. When com.dance visits the UK in October 2025, we won't be starting from scratch. We'll have our shared vocabulary, our developing choreography, and most importantly, our deepened understanding of each other as artists and collaborators.
The plan is ambitious but achievable, a showcase performance of our collaboratively created piece, alongside community workshops where we'll share our non-verbal choreographic tools with local dancers and artists.
Reflections on Deep Collaboration
This extended residency has taught us that true international collaboration takes time. While our previous exchanges were valuable for building relationships and understanding each other's work, these ten days allowed us to move beyond the surface and create something genuinely new together.
The non-verbal language we've developed isn't just a practical tool, it's a statement about the possibilities that exist when we commit to genuine inclusion and accessibility in our creative processes. It's shown us that barriers we might assume are insurmountable can actually become sources of innovation and beauty.
“Our most recent exchange has left me brimming with ideas to develop this inclusive practice with community audiences, understanding how something collaboratively developed can continue to be a tool for choreography, technique, and shared movement. But more than anything, it’s reminded me how dance exists as a universal language for participants to enjoy and access in many ways. To have begun an exploration with com.dance on how this can be expanded further is a privilege.” Lexy, Anjali Artist
As we boarded our flight back to the UK, we carried with us not just memories and photographs, but a new shared language and the beginning of a piece that will continue to evolve. The Cultural Bridge programme has given us more than funding or networking opportunities, it has given us the chance to discover what's possible when artists commit to working together across all boundaries.
Our partnership with com.dance continues to challenge and inspire us, reminding us daily of the power of dance to connect, communicate, and create understanding where words alone might fail.
The exchange will continue to ensure we go forward with a renewed sense of the value and potential of our work, and of international collaboration, and has offered an invaluable platform to connect and inspire on a wider, more ambitious scale.
Images: Melanie Beulich and Jennifer Rohrbacher