Ag Dance and Parenting was approached by Felicitas Zeeden of the Tanzfabrik last winter already, to exchange ideas on how to make the venue more family-friendly. On this basis, we approached the Tanzfabrik in the summer to get them on board for our test run as part of the Artist Lab “Get Labelled: Parents in Theaters” for a family/caregiver friendly event. We agreed on Tanznacht for this purpose, as its mini-festival format lent itself well to a family-friendly orientation.

Our common concern was: a dance night that welcomes caregivers and kids without being an explicit children and youth event.

The project manager of the dance night, Inge Zysk, was immediately open for a conversation and suggested different possibilities for our design. The ag team planned different elements from play corner, equipped changing table, outdoor space elements to addressing and communicating the family friendly aspects. The Dance Factory proposed a workshop specifically for children, led by Lea Martini, which they organized and financed. This took place on Saturday and allowed parents to watch while their children danced. There was also to be free admission up to age 10.

We set up the play corner and the changing table, brought toys, books, chalk and bubbles, and laid out questionnaires. Inge Zysk had provided crate, blankets, pillows, painting materials, etc.

Zur Tanznacht selbst war July Weber (neben Jacopo Lanteri Kurator der Tanznacht) mit großem Engagement und viel Spass dabei, uns zu unterstützen. Am Samstag, den 9.9., der sehr warm war, wurde spontan ein großes Plantschbecken organisiert, was bei den Kindern eine (vorhersehbare) Freude und Abkühlung brachte.

An beiden Tagen erschienen ungewöhnlich viele Menschen mit Kindern. Die Kinder schienen ganz natürlich Teil der Veranstaltung zu sein.

The dance night was basically communicated as a Relaxed Performance and was very suitable for this test run, because its duration of 24 h enabled all caring people with and without children to participate in the dance night.Moreover, there was the possibility for the spectators to walk around, the sound was regulated by headphones, so that neither the children were perceived as disturbing in case of noises, nor the sound of the performance was too loud for children.
The atmosphere and also the openness of the staff* and the premises had a very positive effect on coming and staying with children.

In questionnaires and conversations, it was repeatedly noted that the design was perceived very positively. In a next step, it was desired that venues also offer childcare.