On the context of the digital revolution, European Video Dance Heritage (2013-2015) aimed to raise political and professional awareness of the importance of recording dance for archiving and dissemination purposes, and to discuss and lobby for appropriate policy change in relation to intellectual property rights affecting filmed dance performance and video dance.

It also aimed to improve the visibility and circulation of filmed dance, and to create a means of effectively passing on Europe’s dance heritage to a new generation of choreographers, dancers and enthusiasts.

A European level seminar was held to raise awareness among professionals, rights holders and policy makers on the need to preserve and transmit video dance through European seminars.

5 national workshops and seminars were held for artists and film makers relating to best practices in: recording live dance performances for preservation, choosing appropriate technical formats, creating video dance and negotiating intellectual property rights and contracts in relation to filmed dance.

Numeridanse TV was developed into an online resource for the broadcast of Europe’s recorded dance heritage for future generations by gathering video dance from each of the partner countries.

Key outcomes

• The collective awareness of the need to preserve our heritage but also to share it. To share it intelligently by accompanying the discovered of this part of our culture.
• The exchange of contacts, of methodology and way to proceed between all the participants of the project, whether co-organisers or partners.
• The creation of European tools on Numeridanse.tv website. 17 educational tools accessible unlimited and for free in 6 European languages.
• The training of 24 young European professionals who had the opportunity to create video dance during one week and to present their work at the museum Reina Sofía (Madrid) and all around European festivals.
• The creation of an online tool box accessible for free with all the resumes of the seminar that took place in Düsseldorf.
  The creation of a European collection which give an overview of archives from each of co-organisers' country.

Partners & Funders

Under the leadership of Maison de la Danse (Lyon, France), this 2-year cooperation project involved EDN members Mercat de les Flors Barcelona (ES) and Tanzhaus NRW Düsseldorf (DE). Futher non-EDN partners were Dachverband Tanz Deutschland (Berlin, DE), Deutsches Tanzfilminstitut (Bremen, DE), Diehl + Ritter (Berlin, DE), ENICPA (Brussels, BE), Fábrica de Movimentos (Porto, PT), Fondazione del Teatro Stabile di Torino | Torinodanza festival (Torino, IT), Instituto Universitario de Danza Alicia Alonso (Madrid, ES), Instytut Muzyki i Tańca (Warsaw, PL), IMZ - International Music + Media Centre (Vienna, AT), Loikka Dance Film Festival (Helsinki, FI), NU2’s (Barcelona, ES), Vo'Arte (Lisbon, PT).

The project was co-funded by the Culture Programme (2007-2013) of the European Union.