NGO

Tanec Praha's primary mission is to organize annual international and national festivals of contemporary dance and movement theatre at the highest artistic and organizational level, including accompanying programs (seminars, practical workshops, conferences for theorists and critics, etc.) and to operate facilities for the production, creation and implementation of works, notably in the field of dance and other artistic disciplines that mutually support and develop one another.

Historically TP's various activities have developed in accordance with the needs of the Czech dance scene in the European context. Over time these have included:

TANEC PRAHA International Festival of Contemporary Dance and Movement Theatre
CZECH DANCE PLATFORM
PONEC – the dance venue
Dance for Children, Dance for Schools
International projects and networking

TANEC PRAHA Festival

The most important event remains the TANEC PRAHA Festival, which takes place every year in June at the end of the dance season. Ever since it first began in 1989 it has had the important mission of inspiring local artists and bringing dance to a wider audience. An integral part of the festival is creative meetings, workshops with foreign artists, and discussions. Since the mid-1990s, attendance at the festival events has risen significantly, as has the number of partners in the regions. Public, professional and media interest in the festival have led to its excellent reputation abroad.

CZECH DANCE PLATFORM

Another no less important event organized by Tanec Praha is the Czech Dance Platform. It began in 1994 with a humble April review of Czech dance productions held in the Duncan Centre, then spent the next four years profiling events in Hradec Králové under the name "Entrée to Dance", and on the occasion of the Informal European Theatre Meeting in April 2000 definitively returned to Prague with the objective of using the space of the PONEC Theatre and other venues. Every year it presents Czech dance and movement works to foreign and regional partners as well as to local audiences. Also participating in the Czech Dance Platform are the Alfred ve dvoře Theatre, Studio ALTA, the NoD experimental space, and others.

PONEC – the dance venue

One of TP's main activities is year-round operation of the PONEC Theatre. Its opening in 2001 heralded the start of an entirely new kind of venue on the Czech theatre map. The name of the theatre recalls František Ponec, who opened the famous Ponec Royal Bioskop cinema here in 1910. PONEC is conceived as a theatre for dance in Europe known as the "dancehouse". It also supports inspiring crossovers with other genres and new technologies that are generated by contemporary art. PONEC to a certain extent supplants the absence of institutional facilities for artists in the field of contemporary dance. It does not have its own permanent company, but contributes as a co-producer or producer in the creation of new productions intended both for adults and children. Its program also includes educational projects, workshops, seminars and discussions.

Dance for Children

The youngest series of activities overseen by Tanec Praha are projects intended for children. In September 2004 the theatre management decided to create a regular space for children in the PONEC Theatre. The Children's Studio was opened focusing primarily on creative development of children's personalities. Together with the Dance Vision, PONEC also implements an experimental project called Dance for Schools, whose primary objective is to teach dance and movement education in elementary schools. Then there's Dance for Children, an interactive program by the PONEC Theatre that aims to bring contemporary dance in all of its forms to children and elementary and high school students.

International projects and networking

A major part of Tanec Praha's activities is support of legislative and related organizational changes and financing conditions for non-governmental, non-profit organizations in the Czech Republic. In addition to two nationwide specialist conferences for arts and culture, the director co-founded the Free Association of NGOs in Culture and the Arts, as well as the Initiative for Culture, Vision Dance and actively worked in the Government Council for NGOs, where she is a sitting member of the Committee for the EU. Tanec Praha strives to make its video library and archives as accessible as possible to the specialist public.

Tanec Praha is a member of IETM (Informal European Theatre Meeting) and is a co-founder and partner of the Trans Danse Europe project. Its chairman was named the Associate Director in the Aerowaves international platform of young European choreographers and was approached for membership in the Czech council of the ITI (International Theatre Institute) at UNESCO, and led the European M4m – m for mobility project. Tanec Praha continues to be actively involved in European collaborations (Be SpectACTive!, EDN – European Dancehouse Network, IETM).

In addition Tanec Praha actively cooperates with arts schools and respected festivals and theatres, and is the co-founder of the Czech Association of Festivals.