Building Integrated Dance in Denmark Silva Laukkanen speaks with Janne Weidinger Kristensen, Artistic Director of FIDM, about the organization’s shift from an association to a company and the challenges of building inclusive dance in Denmark. Janne reflects on societal barriers, the need for more visibility for disabled artists, and her hopes to expand FIDM’s festival highlighting disability-led performance.
Building Integrated Dance in Denmark
DanceCast is a podcast that spotlights non-traditional dance artists. It is produced by Silva Laukkanen, an advocate for inclusive dance based in Austin, TX.
In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Janne Weidinger Kristensen, the Artistic Director of The Association of Integrated Dance in Denmark, or Foreningen for integreret moderne dans I Danmark (FIDM). FIDM is in the process of transitioning from an association to a company, and alongside that change, Janne is hoping to focus more on creative work than administrative work. Janne reflects on how FIDM has struggled to reach members of the community with disabilities because society doesn’t value people with disabilities as artists. Along those lines, FIDM produces a festival in Denmark focused on artists with disabilities, which Janne is hoping to expand in the future.
Janne Weidinger Kristensen is a cultural entrepreneur who has worked in integrated contemporary dance in Denmark since 2013. She is the Artistic Director of The Association of Integrated Dance in Denmark / Foreningen for integreret moderne dans I Danmark (FIMD). Janne was educated in the UK at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance. Prior to this she was an elite gymnast from the age of five. She also works as a body/movement therapist and coach, educated in the Bowen-technique, L.E.P., Body Analysis and Change Catalyst Programme, and in Heartfulness Training by Dr. Stephano Sabetti. Alongside her work with FIMD, she is a board member in Brancherådet for scenekunst I Danmark (the counsel for performing arts in Denmark), an association that works for better rights for dancers in Denmark.
To learn more about FIMD, visit www.integrateddance.dk.
Welcome to dancecast, the podcast in which I interview people who create inclusive dance all around the world. My name is Silva Laukkanen, and I am your host. Welcome to dancecast Episode 88 in this episode, I spoke with Jone Weidinger Christensen, who is a cultural entrepreneur who has worked in integrated contemporary dance in Denmark since 2013 she is the artistic director of the Association of integrated dance in Denmark. And I let Janne to say it in Danish. Janne was educated in the UK at the northern School of contemporary dance, and prior to this, she was an elite gymnast from the age of five. She also works as a body movement therapist and coach, educated in the Bowen technique, LEP body analysis and Change Catalyst program, and in heartfulness training by Dr Stefano Sabeti. Alongside her work with fimd, she's a board member of the Council for Performing Arts in Denmark, which is an association that works for better rights for dancers in Denmark, I had the opportunity to meet Janne also in person this June here in Helsinki, and the reason why we got to meet in person is that Janet and I are part of creating this new network called Nordic inclusive dance network that is pioneered and started by Gauss company, the inclusive Dance Company here in Helsinki that I am board president for. And one of the ideas of this Nordic inclusive dance network is to collaborative, to create a collaborative network among inclusive dance organizations in Norway, Finland, Sweden and Denmark. And we hope to also include somebody from Iceland very soon that strengthens and supports inclusive dance education and artistry across the Nordic Region. Each of these countries has pioneered the important work in isolation, but through this partnership, we can share knowledge resources and best practices to address shared challenges and amplify our collective impact. This collaboration is essential for creating a sustainable, accessible dance field that reflects the diversity of our Nordic societies, ensuring that inclusive dance education and artistry continue to thrive, evolve and inspire societal change across the region. It was an honor to get to talk to Janne and learn more about the history of the association and the work happening in Denmark. And there was a really funny connection between how this work started in Denmark and me. So I hope you enjoy this episode. How do you say the company name, the organization name, yeah. How do you right
now, we're still in it's, it's an association, and in Danish, it's for ining, for Instagram modernity, Denmark, that would be the Association for integrated dance, or contemporary dance in Denmark. So we're still in the in the process of of building a company, and hopefully that's gonna be the next steps. Yeah, with the power project that we have actually applied money for.
Okay, so, how did this? How did this association start? Janna, how did you decide to start it? What is the beginning story of Yeah, however you say, I kind of want you to say it again. Can you say it again in Danish?
The name of the association, yeah, for inning, for Instagram, moderna, dancy Denmark.
I like it a lot. I wish I could say it
it so you understand any of it.
I, you know, I do that mandatory Swedish. What we have to do in Finland. But it's so funny. Ever since I've been speaking English this long, when I try to produce Swedish, it changes to English automatically. I still can understand, but I hardly can produce beyond like, your head there. Silva, your body. Austin,
yeah, yeah.
You know, it's, it's really, it's really not happening anymore, no, but you get the case, yeah, yeah, so, but tell me, how did you decide to start it? What? How did, how did this association begin?
I'm gonna give you the long version,
yes, please.
And so for in, so in my in, in my timeline, it started with that I had this vision. I guess when I was, I was in a dance funk conference in Malmo, in skona stands Teater, and I had this vision that I was going to make the first integrated dance company in Denmark. And it came kind of out of the blue, because I didn't, I wasn't in the dance field, and I didn't know anyone with with a disability, who were dancing and yeah, so I was kind of okay what to do with that information, and I was letting it go. And then actually, one year later, and that was in 12, so in 2013 dancer Helena in Copenhagen, they announced that they were going to have three different workshops, one with Candoco Dance Company, and one with Caroline Bowditch. And the last one, I'm not sure I can remember who that was, but anyway, I was participating in one of them and and then it kind of started from there, because the woman in Danzer, Helena Susanne frlakson, who was arranging it, she said to, I think, everybody after the workshops, everybody who participated, that she would gather everyone interested in a meeting after to see if we could establish something. And yeah, and that all came about also because cat who then cat bog Jensen, who used to be my partner in crime from the beginning and until the Coronavirus hit us. She had gone to dancer Helena, asked for an intern, an internship, and then so she was a part of it as the first and only dancer with with a with a disability that we more well, we know more now, but yeah, the first one we knew from Denmark at that point, yeah, and we were nine people. Just after that, very quickly became five people, four, three, and then two in 2015 I think. And then I was the dancer together with Kat. And then when we were only two left, there was we had a professional dancer stepping in, so I was stepping out and becoming the choreographer. And then after that, it was very clear that it was her and me to do the work. And in the beginning, we called ourselves because of one of the other participants from the beginning. Maybe you know him, like, like Ricardo, like Ricardo Morrison, I think his name is
from US? Oh my gosh. Janna, you cannot even believe this. I know him, and I have this amazing picture of me flying on top of him in a contact improvisation jam. I was sent, when I was doing my BA in Finland, I was sent with a couple other students to Denmark to Copenhagen for a, I think it was a contact improvisation Festival, and he was there that is so wild. I have not thought about that, that person for like, 25 years,
yeah, yeah, yeah. And he, he, I'm, I know that he used to be a part of a two year process, like many, many years ago. I mean, before I even got into dance. And then he has a son in Denmark, as far as I recall, and that's the reason why he sometimes come in and out. And he was attracted to this, these kind of workshops, as well, so, but he was also there only for like. Like, the a couple of meetings, because he was in Denmark, and then he left the whole thing, I was letting him know when we had the 10 year anniversary, and he was very happy to hear but, yeah, yeah. So, so, so, because he was a part of it, we, we ended up calling it integrated dance explorations from the beginning, so like an an artist group, and then in 2017 I finally gave in. And the reason why I say that I gave in was because we heard from a lot of different angles that in Denmark, because of the way we have built our voluntary system, also with associations. It was important to become an association. And I don't know if, for me it it makes sense, but because I come from the from the military gymnastic environment, it's all built on associations. And I had a little bit like me, I had enough, yes, yeah. But it's true, it's much easier to fundraise and establish an economy here in Denmark with with being an association. Yeah. So the association, and you know the name now, has existed since 2017 but the work has been going on now on in 11 for 11 years.
Wow. And so you're saying, you were just saying that you're maybe now in the next process of becoming more than Association,
yes.
So tell me a little bit more about that phase, and what lead to that? So what? Why did you decide that, oh, association is not enough anymore. I think we have to go XYZ.
So I don't know if you have ever tried anything like this, but with having this vision many years ago now, then you begin to work and you get money for what other people think is, think is important. So we have done things that we did because we could, and then we have done things that we really enjoyed, and I think for me personally, I really need to take the next step now. I've done this basic work for 11 years for very little economy and and I also feel myself well, I'm doing a lot of administrative work, too much, and I want to be more on the creative side. And actually, just last weekend, I realized, when we were in dance capella, which is where we have studio space in Copenhagen, we had our, like, one of our dance workshops, and then we had the creation the solo with sizzle, as you're going to experience in Finland. And it was so clear to me that that is what fulfills me. So it's very, very clear that I need to, if I have to last in this field or with this work, I really, really need to go that way now.
So you need to return to the artistic work and less being in the administrative work, yeah, yeah,
yeah. And, and also the so it's, for example, our workshops, like for com, for the community, or whoever is interested, is also what I have been holding on to, to try and and and pass on some education. Because there there is no education, as you probably know, in a lot of the I guess, the Nordic country, that countries at least. But the thing is, people don't come. They don't show up. So it, it doesn't, it doesn't work in this way anyway. And that is what I that is why I have kept on doing it. And yeah, so now I just let go of that and see what. Yeah.
So you have, like, a open dance classes for the community to join, and you the idea has been that maybe you build like more dancers through that, or you attract dancers with disabilities to come and learn the art. But it's not happening. Was it the same way before COVID? Or do you feel like COVID changed that? How long have you been doing the classes? And do you feel like COVID changed that at all the participation?
No, we've been doing this to since 2018 and I don't feel that there has been a change as such. It has been uphill the the whole time. And there may be many different explanations. My last thought on it was, there are so few people with disability who is interested in this field. Of course, it's, it's a niche, in a niche. And then I thought, hmm, if it was me, I would really, I would really do something to perfect, to make myself better.
Yeah,
and train and but I think it's also very easy for them, because now they're getting there more and more jobs they're getting offered. And then there can also be, there can be a lot of barriers in terms of the social like, how to get to it, and do they have a helper that day? And there can be so many different things. But I think, I think ideally, I there also haven't been enough opportunities earlier, so I don't know it's, it's a whole education and a whole, yeah, a whole new way of thinking, I think, also for people with disabilities in Denmark, because society don't see them maybe, or value them as artists. So, right, yeah.
So there's the, there's the cultural stigma around like how dancers look like and if you're a wheelchair user, that's not something that you grew up thinking that that would be an opportunity, right?
For sure, for sure, that is not what you would be thinking,
Yeah, that's the same thing here in the US is that we don't have formal dance education opportunities for students with disabilities at all. And so we were just having this discussion. It's like most of our participants are over 40, and I think there comes with age this like, oh, I don't care anymore, what the society says. I have always dreamed about being a dancer. I'm going to become a dancer. And I think that is a like a universal issue that we have in the ideas of how dancers look like and who can dance?
Sure, yeah, yeah. It's not only for as a I mean, it's not only people with disabilities, there are many people who say they cannot dance, yes, compared to our history of ballet or whatever it is,
right? So talking about history. So, Janne, you were not a dancer, but so where? How did you end up in the dance world? Where are you coming from?
So, I was but many years before, so an elite gymnast for 20 or 25 years, and then I discovered contemporary dance, and went to England in Leeds, in northern School of contemporary dance, where I actually met Candoco Dance Company, or met. I saw them on stage, and I was really like, Oh, can you use art in a political way? I was out. It was an eye opener for me. And back then, I was, you know, I was young. I was 24 I think, and still dreaming of becoming a full time professional dancer myself, so I never thought it had anything to do with me when I met them, though that I had this enlightenment, or Yeah, and then after one and a half years, I got injured and had to leave the study, and I went back to Denmark when I realized I couldn't heal and continue, or heal quick enough to continue the study and came back home, and that was why I, you know, I wasn't a part of the environment. So it was, I think I was out of that, it for eight years or something like that.
Wow. Okay. And so then when you see that there was this option to study with Candoco. You had already seen them perform, so you knew a little bit about them by that time.
Yeah.
Oh, okay, so what are some of the so now you want to, do you want to.. you want to go back to the more artistic and creative work. What are some of your dreams when you think about for next five or eight years? What are some of your dreams?
I definitely wish for, for us to receive enough economy to be able to establish the actual first pilot group, and after that, a company that can run and make work and spread the work in Denmark, we have an application out there for development. So that would be the pilot, if we get the money. Yeah, that is, that is, that is what I, I want to steer towards. And then there's the festival.
Oh, yeah, yeah, tell, because that's not the first it's happening next year, right? Yeah. And this is not the first time.
No, we did the first one in April 24 So, like a year ago, because of the 10 year Jubilee, ah, and, and I had a producer back then who said: "Janne, you need to do this every second year, because you need to spread the word and, and, and, and make this work grow". And I listen to that and, and then we are establishing money now for the next one in 26 and is it very
similar to X Dance festival? Tell me a little bit about the festival.
No, actually, until now, well, we've only, we've only had one and but the next one is going to be, it's going to be more with dance. But we didn't really receive any money last time for the actual dance part. We got quite a good grant for the music part. So we had three different bands coming and, and then we had some kind of, I don't know if you say exhibitions, but decorations and, and we had an artist, a visual and a visual artist who was painting live. Yeah, so, and
what was it artists with disabilities focused festi?
yeah, both. So we mixed it,
okay, okay,
yeah. So last time we only had two dance performances, and we were lucky that we got we received economy to make our first big dance performance. So we had money from the Arts Council. So that was one of the dance performances. And then there was another one, which, yeah, an interactive performance for everyone, which was really, really, really nice. It's actually Paulina, who made it, who is going with us as a choreographer now to X Dance festival. Yeah. So, so my dream is also to keep on having the festival and spreading the word. I'm actually, for the first time in a long time. I talked to someone earlier today and where I said, I think I stopped dreaming. But right now, when I talk to you, I realized that I actually recently, I had this feeling, wow, if I could have a curator on the on the music part, and I could have a curator on the if you say visual art,
yeah, visual art
visions, and, yeah, then, then it could actually be a really big thing, also, like in our country, yeah, that is my dreams, yeah. So we started it like that, and, and somebody also asked me, after the one in 24 if I if I wanted to steer towards only becoming dance and I'm, I wasn't I'm, I don't know why I like it like this, and I have to keep on looking into my my, how much I don't know we are so we are such a small country. We are. We so few people in this area, and we are a little bit behind everybody else. So maybe it's fine to do it like this. And I don't know if it's going to be only dance one day or whatever it's going to build into, but I'm I'm open to what, whatever. But I think it's important the festival.
It feels to me, very important that it would be more than dance like, especially when you have started it like that. It feels meaningful to highlight all of these artists with disabilities from other arts than dance I like. I think that's when you were thinking of, like, you know, we the we can't attract participants with disabilities. But I think this would be an amazing way to, like, you know, a musician might musician with a disability might notice, oh, I want to dance, and here I can see this dance happening, and I want to be part of it now. So I think that's like a great way of this interdisciplinary work and festival happening. And like you said, How many people live in Denmark?
I think we are 6 million now.
Okay, so you are more than we are.
Oh, okay, yeah,
yeah. I mean it is hard in this it is hard and you don't live in Copenhagen, or is come, is this also say Association work happening in Copenhagen?
Yeah, it is,
oh, it is okay, okay. And so the festival happened 2024 next time, 2026 and you already have some plans and funding, so we know that this is happening, that's exciting!
yeah, from the 20th to the 22nd of June is most likely
nice, okay, okay, and then you and I are part of this new initiative where we are trying to strengthen our Nordic inclusive dance networks. So you're part of it with Veera from spin from Sweden and Ingeborg Dugstadt Sanders from Norway. So we are trying to build this supportive network in which we can start to offer. Well, we don't quite know. Do you have any thoughts and dreams about that? What kind of a support we can start offering?
I think we are going to, we're going to have interesting talks about that. I like your ideas of, yeah, exactly. Looking at like maybe making a did you call, I don't know what you call it in English, this wheel of of a period, so that we know about each other's work when it's happening, so we can do what we can to be part of it and support each other in that way. And since we got money this time for the festival, it we call it puts verse in Danish and and in English, it would be cross or a cross. Yeah, the meaning has, it has many meanings in Danish, but it's definitely also building bridges,
even at the crossroads of like and
more like being cross if you are angry with someone, oh,
oh,
because they are not behaving well and and for me, I was kind of cross until we received the money in 2024 from the Arts Council, because that was the first like recognition we got in Denmark for the work we did for, at that point, nine years, right? So, right, yeah. So for me, it makes sense back then. Now I'm not thinking too much, so much about it. That became the name, yeah, and I don't know, I'm I feel because, because of of your energy, and Veera's and and Ingeborg, I don't know that well yet, but I'm pretty sure she wants to support as well. I don't know. I just feel we can, there's a lot of, there's a lot of, do you say embracement or there's a lot of room and and what I really like about this environment also, there's also a lot of love, and in that field, I think we can do a lot. I think that's that's mainly what I have felt until now, other than inviting each other's work to our festivals, and then I haven't had that many ideas, I hope that that we can exchange that and and, yeah, so I'm still not getting kind of new ideas, but, but many things hasn't happened yet because we didn't have the money and we didn't have the network or the the communication between all of us, right?
yeah. And I'm really excited to learn the histories about these inclusive dances in each of our Nordic countries, because I don't think we haven't shared that ever either, very much like everybody just I feel like it is like you said, the work is kind of hard. You work really hard and in isolation, and you focus on your own. And now I feel like each organization is so in a way old. I'm making citation marks because really it's not. None of these are old, But, you know, we have, all of us are 10 plus years, and I think we have this capacity to look out and see, okay, how can we do this more effectively together and support each other? So I think the timing is also kind of really good right now.
Yeah, they're they're good, they're good bases around in the different countries?
Yes. So one last question I want you to describe a little bit about the solo work. I know you're not the choreographer, but you've been part of the rehearsals, and something that you're excited about, this solo and and this new is, isn't she quite new dancer for you in the association as well.
Yes, Cecil. Cecil was with us the first time in our in our it's called: "where do we go from here?" So the big performance, or the what? I don't know what else to say, but it it. It had quite good economy. So it was a, it was a bigger event. It was actually a performance where, so it Dansekapellet is an old chapel. So there's a church, there's a graveyard just beside a very beautiful graveyard. So one of the the first scene was actually out there, and the audience was in an audience, audience costume, which bound them together. So they were walking out there, and they had to walk back in to the yard of Dansekapellet, get off the costume, have a headset, and then they had a soundscape where the story of the dancers were told. And then they went into Dansekapellet from behind and and passed the studios where they could see dancers and different scenes through the windows, which made it all quite. Some people understood it. Some people didn't, and, and, and, but the but it came out of as a this whole idea of doing it like this was because we were never in a black box before. So for me, it didn't make sense to go have our first big performance in a black box. I wanted to show the 10 years of work that we've been doing. And then, yeah, and then, then the audience received, or met, met most of the performers and scenes through the windows. And then just in the end, they got rid of the the headphones and came into the last studio, where they met three of the dancers. And then they they finished there, and Cecil was a part of of this big performance with 10, different performers. Wow, yeah, and, and, yeah, she, she, she did it very well. And I think she's talented. She's a talented performer. So So and to tell you about the solo now, what can I say? I think the way I work, the way I like to work, and that was we, we collaborated. We collaborate. I collaborate with Paulina Rabuka and and we agreed that we wanted to bring as much of Cecil's everyday life, or what she's interested in, she's a teenager, she's just turned, I think, 15 or 16, to bring as much of her way of living life into a performance. And I that is the way I do, like in general, I shouldn't spoil too much, right?
Yeah, right.
Maybe say she's interested in k pop, and we are going to include that into the performance, solo performance. And then I think I should not say more about it.
You just have to wait until X Dance festival, but
they I'm really happy about the two of them, and I know they are happy about the collaboration between all three of us and and for me personally, as I mentioned to you earlier, I'm really looking forward for our association to go with five people. We never did that before. It was always either me or me and one other person. So it feels like a big step to be able to bring, bring a little performance, and yeah, to your festival. I'm very, very happy about that manifestation.
Me too.