Since 2009, the Swedish arts council’s international dance program has run a residency in Malmö, where two international choreographers are invited for a two-to-three week residency each year. The purpose is to give local dancers and choreographers an opportunity to meet colleagues from other countries and create long term relationships with people from the rest of the world. The residency is done in collaboration with Skånes danskollegium, consisting of Danscentrum Syd, Dansstationen, Inkonst. MARC, Memory Wax, Riksteatern Skåne and Skånes Dansteater.

Young Dance Market is a showcase organized by Memory Wax, in collaboration with Freestyle Phanatix, production company Scesam and Danscentrum Syd, planned to take place on 10th and 11th of May 2021 in Malmö. The purpose of Young Dance Market is to create a platform where dance productions for children, created by dance groups based in Skåne/the south of Sweden, can be showcased to an audience of mostly international organizers. For more information about the event, visit the Young Dance Market website.

The showcase was carried out 2018 in cooperation with BIBU – Biennal for performing arts for children and youth and in 2021, due to the pandemic, the event was carried out outdoors in cooperation with Folkets Park in Malmö.

Retazos Evoluciona – Reach Out OverSeas where dance, art, music and the focus on exchange contribute to the sociocultural transformation

Retazos Evoluciona – Reach Out OverSeas, was a 3 year international cultural project, supported by the EU within the program Europe Aid. The goal of the project was to develop a stable base for a recurring professional international exchange between Cuba and Sweden. The project’s main objective was to strengthen the Cuban dance company Danza Teatro Retazos infrastructure and to create a cultural platform, in close cooperation and exchange of expertise with Scandinavian artist and organisations.

Danza Teatro Retazos
Memory Wax has been collaborating with the Cuban dance company Retazos since 2006. The projects have had different focus as guest performances and workshops for children and youth. For more than 20 years, Retazos has contributed to several exciting platforms for the modern dance of Cuban society. Such as the international well known outdoor festival in Havana, Habana Vieja – Ciudad en Movimiento with more than 1 000 participating artists each year. The festival DVDANZA presenting new dance films and Impulsos a festival for young choreographers. Retazos also creates their own dance pieces. In addition Retazos conducts an extensive social work with children and young people in the older parts of Havana which positions them in a key role artistically and pedagogically.

Oikos
Oikos – Cooperação e Desenvolvimento (Cooperation and Development) is a Portuguese non-governmental organization whose goal is worldwide development. They work with communities in the poorest regions and countries regardless of their geographical location. They join forces and share responsibilities with the different social players to facilitate solutions aimed to contribute to the sociocultural transformation, in this project, through art, giving visibility to the aspect of gender.

The initiatives in this project have resulted in:

1. Strengthening the infrastructure of Danza Teatro Retazos trough education, team and capacity building, developing organization and cultural management and equipping their theater.
2. 4 editions of the cultural exchange platform between Cuban and Scandinavian artists; Transitos Habana – Scandinavian Cultural days were presented.
3. The creation of three new dance performances in Cuba and Sweden: Parc in Motion 2013, Possible Impossible 2014 and Crisálida 2015.

These actions have not only enabled the creation and development of the organization and cultural management capabilities that ensure functional transition and sustainability to Danza Teatro Retazos, but have also allowed new artistic products and spaces for exchange to flourish, reinforcing its community action. From a participatory, interactive and dynamic perspective aggregating values and creative expressions, from both cultures that reflect the identity of contemporary dance and its contribution to sociocultural transformation.

Tránsitos Habana – Scandinavian Cultural Days takes place in Havana, Cuba. It is a biennal where artists from Scandinavia and Cuba present their work through performances, workshops, showcase, exhibitions and lectures.

The goal is to focus and develop continuous cultural exchanges between Cuban and Scandinavian artists in the area of visual arts, film, performing arts and music. The festival reaches a wide audience, both children and adults, with its performances and different activities.

Tránsitos Habana is organized in collaboration between Memory Wax and the cuban dance company Danza Teatro Retazos. Tránsitos Habana was one of the various activities included in our EU project Retazos Evoluciona-Reach Out OverSeas 2012-2015.

Tránsitos Habana is presented at the stage of Danza Teatro Retazos; Las Carolinas, Fabrica de Arte Cubano, schools and on rooftops, streets and squares in old Havana.

2024 – in collaboration with ASSITEJ World Congress and Young Dance Network
May 25 – June 1 it´s time! We present the 9th edition of Tránsitos Habana – Scandinavian Culture Days. This year in collaboration with ASSITEJ World Congress and Young Dance Network. Tránsitos Habana will host activities in ASSITEJ’s official program as well as presenting our own program. The program includes workshops, performances, meetings and talks about international festivals and collaborations, as well as family activities with participating artists from Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Croatia, Mexico, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Germany.

READ MORE ABOUT ASSITEJ World Congress program here!
READ MORE ABOUT TRÁNSITOS HABANA program here!


2022 – The Family in focus
The program started with collaborations and workshops out in the streets and schools of old Havana with artists from Scandinavia and Cuba. The week ended with performances and activities for the whole family. The Swedish Embassy supported the festival with two exhibitions, Swedish Dads – Cuban Dads with photographs by Johan Bävman (Sweden) and Néstor Martí (Cuba) and Pippa Mediaslargas – an exhibition with the legendary Pippi Longstocking and Astrid Lindgren’s work.

2019 – Children and youth in focus
2019 was the first year that we focused entirely on culture for children and young people. Memory Wax and Danza Teatro Retazos also invited choreographer Claire Parsons to a residency. It became the first Swedish dance residency to be arranged in Cuba supported by the Swedish Arts Grants Committee´s International Dance Program

A vibrant, poetic performance moving through Folkets Park where modern dance meet the park’s magnificent greenery. International and local artists perform a varied program with dance and music, created specifically for Folkets Park in Malmö. Experience the power of dance, with the trees, the grass, the water and the urban architecture as a magical stage design!

The show was presented in Folkets Park in Malmö three times on 19th and 20th of June 2013.

Participants: Memory Wax, 10 dancers from the Cuban dance company Danza Teatro Retazos, 10 dance students from Malmö Cultural School (Kulturskolan), the live looping sound artists LUR, the dancer Malin Skoglund, the musician Oscar Hielm and the Swiss drum player Ananda Krishna.

In connection with Danza Teatro Retazos visit in Malmö Memory Wax arranged a workshop for professional performing artists and musicians in collaboration with Kulturkraft Syd, 15th to 16th of June, and a lecture at Cuba Café in Folkets Park on the 13th of June with the Danza Teatro Retazos’ founder and artistic director Isabel Bustos, in collaboration with the Cultural Organization Jose Marti and Cuba Café.

Organizer: Memory Wax in cooperation with Danza Teatro Retazos, Malmö Folkets Park, Malmö Cultural School (Kulturskolan) and Barnens scen.

The project was supported by:  EU program Europe Aid – Retazos Evoluciona, Swedish Arts Council, Malmö Cultural Committee, Region Skåne, The Swedish Arts Grants Committee, the Swedish Embassy in Havana and the Ministry of Culture in Havana.

THANKS TO ALL WONDERFUL VOLUNTEERS!

About Danza Teatro Retazos:
The Dance company Danza Teatro Retazos was founded in 1987 by choreographer Isabel Bustos, in Havana, Cuba. With inspiration from both nature and everyday life Isabel Bustos has created a lyrical and intimate language of movement that reflects the diversity of the contradictions of our time. Danza Teatro Retazos works are like a chronicle of Latin American spirituality, with an expression that is deeply thoughtful, compelling, impulsive and vital.

Danza Teatro Retazos has an important position in cultural nationally, but they also reach far beyond Cuba’s borders with their works. Danza Teatro Retazos works have participated in Memory Wax outdoor performances Transit – City in Motion (2006-2008) and City Hoppers (2010-2011) in Malmö – both with inspiration taken from the annual street dance festival Habana Vieja: Ciudad an movimiento, which Danza Teatro Retazos oraganize in Havana.

City Hoppers – an exciting and versatile site specific dancearrangement.

City Hoppers presents current international contemporary dance in accessible and fascinating ways to a broad audience in outdoor settings. Experience a vibrant program with some of the dance world’s most exciting artists. A meeting point for artists, promoting the exchange of experiences, ideas and initiatives.

City Hoppers presents dance and movement in a different way that gives joy, thoughtfulness and a feeling of belonging! City Hoppers is a mobile and flexible program that can be carried out with a different number of participants and adapt to different locations. Contact us for more information or visit City Hoppers homepage.

Transit – City in Motion is the name of the outdoor dance festival that Memory Wax organized in cooperation with Rörelsen – koreografer i Skåne and Sommarscen Malmö during 2006, 2007 and 2008.

The program contained local and international dancers, musicians and performers from Spain, Cuba, Japan, Israel, Holland, Greece, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Within the three years the festival counted with a total of 120 guest artists and 12 000 spectators that joined the performances in different locations in Malmö’s West Harbor and Lund.

Background:

2006 Johanna Jonasson and Miguel Azcue, artistic directors of Memory Wax, travelled to Havana, Cuba, to cooperate and participate in the outdoor dancefestival Habana Vieja: Ciudad en Movimiento. The same year the first edition of Transit – City in Motion, a colourful cavalcade of dance and music, was presented during Sommarscen Malmö program a warm summer day in the West Harbour in Malmö, Sweden. The program included 26 local artists, and 2 international guest performances from Denmark/Israel and Israel/France.

2007 Transit – City in Motion became a member of Ciudades que Danzan (Dancing Cities), a network of more than 30 festivals around Europe and Latin America. This opened up for new interesting international collaborations. The program could offer the Malmö audience 41 local and national artists and 3 international guest performances from Cuba, Holland and Spain. The festival was inaugurated with a performance at the amphitheater in Pildammspark in Malmö and continued the following day along the Sundspromenaden in the West Harbour. A photo exhibition of images from the festival took place later in the fall at Inkonst in Malmö.

2008 Transit – City in Motion continues to grow this year to 68 dancers and musicians. This was the first year we also made an appearance in Lund. The program included artists and musicians from Denmark, Greece, Holland, Japan, Norway, Spain and Sweden.

Transit – City in Motion was inspired by the Cuban dancefestival Habana Vieja: Ciudad en Movimiento. 2010 and 2011 we created City Hoppers, a smaller, more flexible and mobile arrangement. Our aim was to also create opportunities for other cities in Skåne and its inhabitants to rediscover their landscape and architecture through the art of dance.

Transit – City in Motion was supported by: Sommarscen Malmö, Rörelsen – koreografer i Skåne, Malmö Culture Committee, Region Skåne, The Arts Council, The Swedish Arts Grants Committee and Sparbanksstiftelsen Skåne.

The EU-project Least Common Multiple, a collaboration between eight European Festivals!

In 2012 we participated in CQD’s EU-project Least Common Multiple, a collaboration between eight European Festivals of the network. Among many activities that took place within the project, City Hoppers were involved in creative meetings and discussions about public space and the role of art in society including public appearances. Our involvement also included creating the film Dancing Cities, a documentary about dance. The material from the complete project was presented in CQD annual magazine Dancing Cities edition 05.2012.

CQD – a network of international outdoor dancefestivals
Since 2007 our outdoor festivals Transit – City in Motion and City Hoppers are members of the international dance festival network Ciudades que Danzan (CQD), Dancing Cities (in english), based in Barcelona, Spain. Within CQD there are around 40 members of dance and street festivals in Europe and Latin America. The CQD network is a vibrant forum with the ability to create every day meeting places for audiences, artists, producers and arrangers. Our membership has given us more opportunities to introduce international artists to a wide audience in the region of Skåne.