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In the beginning
Aerowaves started in 1996 in response to the emergence of a generation of contemporary choreographers and companies in Europe. Around fifteen dance specialists including presenters, writers and artists, gathered in London to look at the work on video of 70 young European dance companies - ten were selected to present their work.

Those ten dance companies performed once each over five weekends in January and February 1997 for expenses only in London at The Place Theatre in the triple bills of the season Resolution!, meeting each other and local artists, many then going home with that useful tool, an English language review. These emerging artists benefited from the experience of performing their work in a new cultural context, usefully clarifying their difference. Audiences responded with enthusiasm to the very varied pieces, each of its own high standard, and the weekend series rapidly gained a following within the season.


Today
Aerowaves is represented by 37 Partners and Associate Presenters in 32 different European countries, who all meet together in October to select the works for the following year from around 400 open applications. Meetings have been hosted in London, Helsinki, Ghent, Luxembourg, Aarhus, Tallinn, Amsterdam, Prague, Cork, Montemor-o-Novo, Malmö, Zürich, Madrid and Vilnius. The participants’ ages range from those in their early twenties entering the profession to senior figures who lead it; some are founding Partners of Aerowaves and some are recently recruited. All are experts in their field of identifying emerging dance talent, both in their own country and internationally. The next meeting will be in Moscow.


Performance
Until 2008, the performance outcomes of the Aerowaves network activity were limited to the ten dance companies invited to The Place in London. However, in 2009 at least three companies were presented in 22 European cities: Moscow, Oslo, Tallinn, Vilnius, Copenhagen, Dublin, Amsterdam, Luxembourg, Frankfurt, Prague, Poznan, Warsaw, Zurich, Lausanne, Bassano del Grappa, Rome, Porto, Limassol, Osijek and Zagreb. This represents over 80 performances, and there will be – as there always has been – further informal invitations as news of the selected works is spread through the advocacy of the network. We expect a similar number of opportunities in 2010.

The expansion of Aerowaves performances is a development which provides a European network without precedent in dance.