The following is an extract from the press release promoting the LETTERS FROM HOME project between RISE Youth Dance (Bristol, England) and Freizeitheim Linden (Hannover, Germany), plus some press coverage.
Home is rarely just the place where we come from. Sometimes it takes root right where we meet one another.
What does “home” mean? Where do we feel we belong? And how can memories, encounters, and identity be translated into movement?
In LETTERS FROM HOME, 18 young dancers from the twin cities of Hannover and Bristol came together for an international dance exchange. Over the course of two intensive workshop weeks, they collaborated to develop a performance that weaves together personal stories, diverse life experiences, and shared moments.
The artistic process began with questions about home, identity, and community. Storytelling workshops with people of different generations provided inspiration. The focus was not only on the question “Where do I belong?” but also on the openness to create answers together and to engage with one another.
The young people created a shared space where trust grew, friendships formed, and forms of expression merged. In the second phase, the process was supported by live music.
LETTERS FROM HOME tells of memories and the future, of the search for one’s own place in the world, and of how home often emerges where people meet one another.
A project of Freizeitheim Linden in cooperation with RISE Youth Dance/Bristol, supported by the Cultural Office and the Department of Child and Youth Services of the State Capital of Hanover. Funded by Fonds Soziokultur e.V. as part of the Cultural Bridge program.
Press coverage in Hannover newspaper, HAZ:
Images / film stills: Jannes Kuhlmann