ANR Project 'EnDansant-InterChor'

The EnDansant-InterChor project examines the formation, circulation and transformation of choreographic communities in Europe from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century. At the intersection of dance history, studies of cultural circulation, and archival research, it explores how artists, teachers, institutions and forms of knowledge move, encounter one another, and contribute to shaping choreographic practices.

The first research strand, “Knowledge Networks and Professional Communities”, focuses on the forms of solidarity, cooperation and exchange that structure communities of dance teachers and practitioners. Moving beyond an understanding of the artistic world based solely on competition, the project brings to light forms of collaboration, transmission and collective reflection that may be informal or symbolic. Exile, professional travel and cultural transfers are examined through the traces they leave in gestures, techniques, styles and imaginaries. The aim is to understand how these circulations contribute to the formation and transformation of pedagogical and artistic communities, both actual and imagined.
 

The second strand, “Beyond the Archive: Enhancing and Circulating Choreographic Knowledge”, approaches sites of preservation not only as documentary repositories but also as creative and performative spaces. Museums, libraries and archives are thus considered active agents in the transmission and reactivation of embodied knowledge. The project draws in particular on collaborations with the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris), the Akademie der Künste (Berlin), the Waseda University Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum (Tokyo), The Bodleian Library (Oxford) and the Victoria and Albert Museum (London) London, while discussions are also under way with the Bibliothèque de la danse Vincent-Warren in Montreal. These partnerships will provide opportunities to explore how archives can be activated through the body, gesture and memory.
 

By working across local, national and transnational scales, EnDansant-InterChor seeks to generate new knowledge about dispersed choreographic communities and the networks connecting them. More broadly, it investigates the relationships between power, politics and artistic creation, as well as the role of dance in processes of influence, cultural diplomacy and transnational circulation. Cultural capitals, performance venues, international exhibitions and aesthetic schools are therefore approached as spaces in which power relations and forms of belonging are constructed and negotiated.
 

The project builds on the collective momentum initiated by an international conference held at the Maison française d’Oxford (MFO) in October 2025, bringing together historical research, the study of transnational networks and archive-based experimentation in order to renew our understanding of the transmission of choreographic knowledge and practices.

Direction du projet: Emmanuelle Delattre-Destemberg, Marie Glon, Guillaume Sintès
Nature du projet: ANR PRC (48 mois)
Acronyme: EnDansant-InterChor
Code:  ANR-26-CE54-3360