Adultism and Critical Adulthood

To practice, we started a workshop series in collaboration with Pauri Röwert and Katrin Maiwald from Initiative Theater & Adultismus. Together, young junges tanzhaus artists discovered, during an empowerment workshop, where and how they experience adultism as well as the support they need to create autonomous artistic works at tanzhaus nrw. Simultaneously, teachers, dance educators and our own team participated in sensitivity workshops in order to question how they should change their work approach as well as work processes to enable true co-determination and enhanced visibility for young people at tanzhaus nrw. We strive for a collaboration in which all participants are taken seriously – regardless of age.

Pauri and Katrin, how should the day-to-day work process at junges tanzhaus nrw specifically be devised to let young people and grown-ups really dance and on equal footing – and what do we, as grown-ups, need to do to let go of our power in a meaningful way?

Pauri: I think it starts with you, as a team, constantly reconsidering truthfully what power you as grown-ups wield, within the different tanzhaus nrw sections – structurally, financially, artistically – as well as how to effectively share it with children and youths. Our shared tackling of the topic during the workshops marked a beginning, yet it is significant that you permanently anchor the topic in your day-to-day proceedings: Who decides what? Who has a grasp on which resource? Who speaks – and whose voice will be heard? The development of a critical adultism stance, to us, means perceiving children and youths – as well as grown-ups – as individuals, taking them seriously with their varying interests, needs, and skill sets. Simultaneously, we must acknowledge that children and youths experience many instances of external control in their day-to-day lives – by way of school timetables, performance pressure and institutional rules. Therefore, I find it exciting to pose the question how the space  at tanzhaus nrw might be different from that: Can we create open spaces that diverge or function differently, shaped by the young people themselves? How can grown-ups become accomplices in the support of children and youths to fill open (time) spaces according to their interests? For us grown-ups, this means, very specifically, to question our own assumptions and learned roles. And it also means ceding control and responsibility to young people, being open to new topics, aesthetics and working methods and to experiment together instead of simply steering results.

Katrin: I think, with the attitude you are describing, Pauri, it will be relatively easy to integrate some approaches into all processes and project structures at tanzhaus nrw. One of the greatest desires some of the workshop participants voiced: To allow to also spend some free time together in the schedule, apart from rehearsals or dance classes. Day trips for team building, cooking together during breaks, playing games, establishing ample enough break time were given as possibilities. Then there was the idea of offering all young people regular tours behind the stages, onto the stages, and so forth to provide better accessibility as well as putting a virtual tanzhaus nrw tour online. Such a video could also be filmed with young people… Very effective, but sometimes hard to consistently implement into one’s own routine would be, from my point of view, to enable absolute transparency into planned procedure and decision-making processes. That, as a grown-up, means always telling and opening about what I already structured and at which points there are genuine creative and decision-making opportunities for the young people. And then: Providing a framework for children’s and youths’ feedback and criticism, regularly getting this in, and to cultivate these feedback spaces as very important tools in shared artistic creation.

Pauri: I concur. I think an eye-to-eye, day-to-day work routine can only emerge if and when young people are steadfastly brought into decision-making processes at the house. One opportunity would, for example, be the founding of a fixed committee or board made up of young people who would be bindingly involved in programming and concept phases, getting their word in on festival themes and the focus of participatory projects. It is important to not only cede responsibility but to also enable access to further resources such as budget. When young people get to decide how money is going to be spent – then power is shifted in reality, and existing hierarchies are put into question. Why should children and youths not step into a teaching position? One youth company idea, for example, was to invite children  and youths at tanzhaus nrw to teach dance classes and to pass their favourite dance styles on to young and adults alike.

Katrin: Wow, that is a great idea! I am curious if this will be realised soon. Finally, I would like to stress again what also came up during the workshop with the youths: tanzhaus nrw should and can use its public visibility to draw attention – as it does on this page – to continually address the rights of young people! In this spirit, we would now like to let the young people speak for themselves and hope you enjoy all the additional material and links. Exchange about the workshop by the youths.