Curator’s welcome

It is my great pleasure to present this year’s Out of the Toolbox workshop program. It’s an honour for me to be part of the festival as curator and to offer my vision through the careful selection of diverse and unique teachers. Each is an expert in their own field, style or genre; all of them are life-long seekers of new information and are passionate and generous people.

The common thread which makes this edition unique is that the workshops are conceived as bridges between the disciplines of dance, movement, health, music, spirituality and creativity. The teachers have a wide range of expertise in professional dance, performance, choreography and teaching. They are committed to a variety of interests such as contemporary dance, folk dance, historical dance, singing, integrated well-being, injury prevention and ancient traditions, amongst others – looking at life holistically. Each individual workshop contributes equally to the creation of a diverse and exciting experiential mosaic; therefore, I encourage you to take agency over choosing which sessions fit best with your individual needs.

The program is versatile and accessible, sometimes dynamic, at other times more relaxed. There will be a focus on rhythm as well as connecting different fields and knowledge. Choose the right combination from physically demanding workshops, or specific topics such as the music-dance relationship, dramaturgy, photography, or 18th Century court dance. My work will be represented through a four-day workshop on Besi, led by Michaela Mirtová. It is a dance piece dealing with the relevance of beauty in our everyday lives, commissioned by Divadlo Štúdio tanca in Slovakia and premiered during the pandemic.

We live in an interconnected global world, increasingly threatened by uncertain events across the globe. It feels as if respectful behaviour and basic communication have become the exception. I hope that with our presence and action, we can each make our stay during the festival workshop pleasant and rewarding.

Certainly, you’ll see me around, stop by for a minute and share your thoughts or experience, ask me a question, or just smile. Let’s enjoy the five intensive days with the breath of summer in the beautiful city of Ghent.

Let’s start celebrating, let’s dance!

Milan Tomášik

Milan Tomasik

Milan Tomášik (SK/SLO) is a choreographer, performer and teacher dedicated to teaching, creating and performing. His training includes the Conservatory J. L. Bellu (SK), the Academy of Performing Arts, Bratislava (SK) and P.A.R.T.S (BE). Milan has performed professionally for twenty years, collaborating with artists across Europe. He is co-founder of the Les SlovaKs dance collective with whom he created and performed critically-acclaimed works internationally. His choreographic experience includes commissioned work for companies, theatres and schools, solo productions and a trilogy for his own company, Milan Tomášik & Co. Milan is regularly invited as a guest teacher around the world to deliver his signature workshops ‘Happy Feet’ and ‘Playful Presence’ (also at Out of the Toolbox 2021). He was a recipient of the Dance Web Scholarship at ImpulsTanz Festival (AT) and was awarded the Prize of the City Prievidza (SK) for representing contemporary dance at home and abroad.

www.milantomasik.com