Watching a dance performance usually comes with certain behavioural expectations from the audience: whether in a traditional theatre venue or an alternative open space, usually one is expected to seat or stand, as still and quiet as possible. Cough or move around on your squeaky seat and you will be met with some annoyed glances!
This is not the case for Muzike Family Concept – Dance Editions, based in Thessaloniki, Greece. Conceived as family-inclusive dance performances, the project brings kids and adults together as equal members of an audience, watching a dance solo in an open space, free to move around, sit or stand or crawl, dance, cry or breastfeed. Maybe ‘watching’ is not even the correct term, as the performer essentially co-exists with everybody else in the given space and time.
‘Co-existence’ and connection are the main goals, according to project initiator Lena Moscha. ‘Oftentimes, we as parents make it difficult to co-exist with our own kids, because we have the need to constantly fill up their time creatively, to teach them to be productive and not bored. We forget that children have inherent knowledge, they know how to be in a space, how to discover things and have fun on their own. And we forget that the most important thing is the connection we cultivate with them.’
Moscha initiated Muzike Family Concepts back in 2017, when as a new mum she was denied access to a concert with her baby. She began organising family-friendly music concerts of different genres in various spaces around Thessaloniki. ‘I was inspired by similar events happening abroad and decided that I would do it myself, for myself and for all the parents who are excluded from things they enjoy because they have their kids with them. It was important to me that the parents or caregivers and the kids could watch something together that was addressed equally to all of them, and have fun, primarily for the connection.’
Like most cultural events, Muzike stopped during the pandemic. ‘Recently I felt the need to restart and I decided that it was the moment to include dance. I received a small funding from the Ministry of Culture, which helped to invite some dancers from Athens to begin with.’
The first Dance Edition happened on a sunny Sunday in October 2024, featuring dancer Martha Passakopoulou and I was happy to host it in my own space, KINOUME dance studio. The morning session, addressed to children under 11 and parents or caretakers, gathered a big cheerful group that filled up our main studio, which was prepared with bright-coloured pillows and mattresses on the floor. On entering, Moscha handed out small pieces of paper with questions like ‘What is the colour of a happy dance?’ and ‘how would your favourite toy dance?’, which people answered with colourful markers and pasted on the walls and mirrors as they found their spots around the space. Passakopoulou danced an improvised solo, guided by an immersive soundscape. At times soft and quiet, at times sharp and distorted, her movement created different ambiences and images as she delineated various paths around the space and amongst the audience.
Of course, she was not the only one moving! Several kids followed her around, accompanying her dance with their own kinaesthetic interpretations, joining in and leaving as they wished. Others lay around close to their parents, watching bits of the dance or completely ignoring the performer. There was coughing, there was commenting and there were runs to the bathroom. Adults and older kids though, mainly kept the usual well-mannered audience behaviour of quietly watching, until Passakopoulou invited everybody to join into a kind of follow-the-leader dance for the last part of the event.
Passakopoulou’s movement and music choices didn’t feel ‘made for kids’. There were no narrative or show-off elements to it, as is often the case in performances made for children. This was a clear intention, formed through discussions with Moscha: ‘Lena was clear that the performance is not addressed exclusively to the kids, but equally to the adults, and I really appreciated this approach,’ she explains. ‘I intended to do what I do anyway in my practice and let any input from the audience – mainly the kids – inform my improvisation on the spot. Which is what actually happened, I felt the kids’ interest in following me around. I didn’t know what to expect, so the interaction was a surprisingly pleasant experience.’
