Year of Performance (YOP) is an innovative advanced studies qualification in dance, drama and performance. The qualification as Community Performance Teacher (CPT), for completely new profession, is a European pilot project. As Community Performance Teacher, YOP graduates are able to find employment in various community sectors throughout Europe and to stage performances. This way, YOP contributes to the cultural integration of Europe.
YOP, a concept developed by the artists and educationalists Rotraut de Neve and Heidrun Vielhauer, is a cooperation with Norddeutsches Tanztheater e.V. (North German Dance Theatre).
YOP would like to thank the Hamburg State Department of Economics and Labour as well as the State Department of Education and Sport for the initial support of this innovative project and the excellent cooperation. Moreover, YOP thanks Johann Daniel Lawaetz-Stiftung, for valuable assistance during the development of the YOP concept and Lola Rogge Schule for official support of YOP during the three year introduction period.
Community Performance Teacher CPT
Normally, dance and drama are separated disciplines in dance and theatre pedagogics studies. YOP, however, is designed to fuse together dance and drama as a single expressive form for a dance-drama performance. During the training course, YOP students experience their own creativity, themselves as stage artists and managers as well as success-oriented teamwork.
A Community Performance Teacher (CPT) supervises individuals of different cultures in working together to develop, organize and stage performances in various venues e. g. in theatres, schools, social institutions, places of work, etc.
The career qualification obtained through the YOP training course offers a broad, future field of employment.
Directors
The concept of the YOP project is based on longterm experience of the artists and educationalists Rotraut de Neve and Heidrun Vielhauer.
Besides their artistic works , de Neve/Vielhauer have together developed a training programme that combines word and dance. Their eductional activities include techniques of dance, drama, dance-theatre and performance art. Through invitations of Germany’s Goethe-Institut to give courses abroad, they have obtained international experience in working with individuals from various European and Latin American countries, from the U.S.A., South America and Africa. The actress and director Rotraut de Neve and the dancer and choreographer Heidrun Vielhauer have been working together on projects for more than 20 years. They also jointly headed the Bremer Tanztheater (Bremen Dance Theatre). Their works were performed on tours in Germany and abroad. Critics confirmed that de Neve/Vielhauer have influenced the development of dance theatre in Germany.
Rotraut de Neve had been a member of the ensemble of Hamburger Schauspielhaus for years. There, she produced her first own play „Der letzte Schrei“. She invited Heidrun Vielhauer to participate in that production. Together with Imogen Kogge, they developed a play which attracted considerable attention and respect among the press and the audience. A second play „Zwei Weiber“ – written, played and danced by Rotraut de Neve and Heidrun Vielhauer – was invited to international festivals.
Heidrun Vielhauer, dancer, choreographer and leading member of Berliner Tanzfabrik, had already successfully participated with the play „Träume von einer schönen Haut“ in the Festival of Free Dance at Hamburger Kampnagelfabrik. There, both artists met for the first time.
After „Der letzte Schrei“ and „Zwei Weiber“, de Neve/Vielhauer produced as directors of the Bremer Tanztheater (Dance Theatre of Bremen) and as independent artists various plays which combined dance and drama to a single expressive form.