Description:
Dance is an important, ephemeral part of our heritage and its preservation presents a substantial challenge. In 2011, the nonprofit organisation Diehl+Ritter launched a website (tanzfonds.de) to facilitate access to funds from the German Federal Cultural Foundation for artistic projects dedicated to the cultural heritage of dance. These projects aim to document, archive and therefore preserve the history of dance for future generations. The selected artists are encouraged to fully research their projects and work closely with experts in the fields of history, dance science and choreography. The results allow the general public to openly access the history of 20th century and contemporary dance through a well-designed website, which includes videos of rehearsals, interviews and performances as well photographs, artworks and articles relating to dance. By encouraging the projects to work within national and international archives, valuable artefacts have been uncovered and brought back into the dialogue surrounding dance heritage. The rediscovery of material has also led to the reconstruction of historical dance pieces, which have been reproduced as closely to the original as possible and have been reconsidered in a contemporary context. For the preservation of intangible heritage, this is an extremely important aspect of the project as it ensures the practice of something which can so easily be lost.