project supported
HUMAN Concept
„You can change your live in a dance class”
Royston Maldoom, dancer and choreographerÂ
Phase I:
Premiere in Bremen and Brussels in 2021
With artistic support from world-famous choreographer Royston Maldoom, a team of choreographers consisting of Wilfried van Poppel, Amaya Lubeigt, Nanni Kloke, Susan Barnett and Jordi Puigdefabregas will create stirring choreography for HUMAN.
A piece of music, dealing with core themes such as freedom, home, equality, love, work, creativity or community, and newly composed by Helge Burggrabe for orchestra and percussion, underpins the enterprise.
Two premieres shape the HUMAN year in 2021.
Theater Bremen on 6 and 7 March 2021 (moved)
For the first time, an enthusiastic and committed ensemble of all ages will engage in a community dance to the HUMAN music to express the essentials of the UN’s declaration of human rights. They’ll be accompanied by Konsonanz chamber orchestra and a percussion quartet called Elbtonal with Julio Fernandez as the musical director.
 Brussels, early October 2021
The HUMAN premiere will take place with young people in Brussels. After three weeks of intensive rehearsals, students will interpret the UN’s declaration of human rights for themselves and others based on the HUMAN music. They will make these rights come alive in a rousing community dance performance and encourage others to engage with the core principles.
Phase II:
In European countries and beyond
School projects 2021 to 2023
The two inspiring choreographers, Wilfried van Poppel and Amaya Lubeigt, will then take the HUMAN idea in the shape of their Five Days to Dance concept to many schools in Europe and beyond. Because they’re convinced that “People dancing together is the ideal way of engaging with each other in a spirit of openness, respect and acceptance.”
The educational-cum-artistic project week is part of a curriculum developed especially for schools and includes suggestions on how particular subjects cover human rights issues. Each week culminates in a HUMAN community dance by the young people to members of the public so that they too are encouraged to embrace the tenets of UN’s declaration of human rights.
The plan is to run school projects in different countries, which are linked with one another by train-the-trainer programmes. This engenders a network of players who feel a permanent connection through the power of dialogue on the key issues of human rights and the creative expression they share.
Phase III:
from Europe to Brussels
Finale in Brussels 2023
In the autumn of 2023, young people involved in HUMAN projects in many countries all over Europe will gather for a large dance performance finale in Brussels. Seventy-five years after the UN’s declaration of human rights, it’s highly symbolic that HUMAN will return to Europe’s capital. Because protecting freedom and human dignity paves the way for peaceful visions, creativity and an unshakeably strong, life-affirming way of living together as people.