The Need for Legacy (The Netherlands), in collaboration with Zinnema (Belgium) and Tabanka Dance Ensemble (Norway), is organizing a residency/exchange week to introduce Thomas Presto and the Talawa Technique™. The goal of this residency program is to support self-taught and trained dancers and choreographers in decolonizing Black bodies in Western dance. The ancestral library, present in the Black body will be activated and encouraged to manifest in movement during the residency. This includes developing, practicing, and teaching a dance technique and philosophy, Talawa Technique™, which is aimed at a variety of Black bodies. 

Thomas Presto is the founder and creative director of Tabanka Dance Ensemble, the first and only Black dance company focused on dances of the African diaspora in Scandinavia and the creator of the Talawa Technique™. The Talawa Technique™ uniquely combines elements of African and Caribbean dances to train polycentrism, multiple movement qualities, grounding, and polyrhythms separately. Talawa Technique™ incorporates rhythmic structures, a specialized approach to grounding, and traditional African aesthetic movement qualities such as: trembling, waving, and pulsing. In this polycentric educational model, infused with polyrhythm, the criteria for a professional dancer are redefined. The pursuit is not only technical excellence but also an understanding of polycentricity and polyrhythm as essential elements. Participants develop not only physical skills but also a deeper understanding of ancestral philosophies. 

The Talawa Technique is the only technique available in Europe consisting of a philosophy, training technique, and professionalization method that opens the ancestral library of the Black body and teaches how to utilize it. 

The Need for Legacy is a platform for creators, performers, and researchers of color, dedicated to fostering an inclusive Dutch performing arts scene. It does this by both mapping the histories of creators of color and by responding to the current needs of artists of color in the performing arts. 

Zinnema supports, promotes, and develops projects by leisure artists from Brussels and the surrounding areas, expressing their imagination as a hobby, out of choice, but also out of necessity. Zinnema strongly believes in openness, diversity, professional guidance, collaboration, and quality. Zinnema nurtures artists and builds bridges between people within and outside the socio-cultural fabric. Zinnema encourages the realization of dreams and strives for freedom in creative expression. 

For this program, we are once again collaborating with Timiss and MDF the label, two grass roots organisations working actively to transmit culture in the field of dance. 

MDF the Label is a bridge between Europe, Africa and the Caribbean for Afro-Caribbean dances & cultures. The organisation promotes the culture from an intercultural, intersectional and decolonial perspective. 

Timiss works for and with the street community (often referred to as “urban”). Their goal is to unite the different cultures of these communities and to promote them to the general public and institutions. 

The Need for Legacy and Zinnema are bringing their communities together, and during this residency, we will explore the following questions: 

• How will we perceive art as we learn more about the philosophies of our ancestors? 
• What will the dance field look like when the Western world is no longer the center from which teaching occurs? 
• What will the criteria be to become a professional dancer with knowledge of ‘Polycentricity’ and ‘Polyrhythm’? 
• What do we, as creators/educators, want to convey to our audience and the next generations when whiteness and European standards are no longer the norm? 
• What does this residency mean for future international collaborations? 

We would like to invite you to participate in this residency in Amsterdam and Brussels. It will be two inspiring weeks filled with workshops, panel talks, and keynotes, fully organized by Zinnema, Tabanka & The Need for Legacy. Transportation to Amsterdam and accommodation will be covered. 

Unfortunately, there are only a limited number of spots available. If you are interested, please fill in the form below with your motivation (written or video link) before 25/11 - 13:00.