Date: 21/11/2006
Place: Her house/Kitchen

Heike Langsdorf lived and worked in Amsterdam for several years before she moved to Brussels but inspite of having a lot of work opportunities she did not like the way Amsterdam was organized nor the way the dance scene functioned. She experienced the Dutch dance scene and the cultural field in general as an extremely formal system where it was difficult to find her own space. Furthermore, the self-image of the Dutch scene does not correspond to reality : Dutch theater and dance have a lot of prestige in the Netherlands, but that does not correspond to their position in the international scene.

In Brussels, she saw more opportunities. What she likes about Brussels is that there exist so many initiatives next to each other, although this coexistence can create problems as well. On the one hand, she feels a sense of belonging through her work relations but on the other, she sometimes wonders whether the whole community is maybe just an illusion. The interpretation of the nature of the Brussels dance community depends on each person and his intentions. Some dancers come to Brussels with unrealistic expectations : they expect for example that they will be able to enter a big company. Then they get lost because their expectations do not meet reality. Heike Langsdorf is always suspicious of conventions that are taken for granted and likes to question patterns that are considered as self-evident. Why should someone for example organize his whole life in one city ? For her it has always been an interesting option to live in two cities.


Life and work tend to conflate because her work is very much present in her life. What she values very much is when people give an honest opinion about her work. She does not strive for the big recognition but wants to participate in a continuing project, a development in the dance field. She is trying to find out for herself how interesting collaboration really is and is exploring looser ways of working together with other artists. She used to feel most visible on stage; now that visibility is shifting to a discursive presence. An important evolution in the performance world is the increasing role of Ť online visibility ť. It happens more and more that people read about a performance on the internet instead of going to see it. The internet became a useful platform to discuss work and it is an alternative way to receive recognition when your projects are mentioned.

urgently – too formalized – a lot of opportunities – urge – configurations – serious – conglomerate – fertile – stressful – venue – protocol – concierge instead of curator – live in two cities – mobile – detectable – suspicious of any kind of rhythm – super – supported – transmitted – interesting and exciting offer – trigger – intervene – under his shelter – praxis – retrospectively – schizophrenic feeling – illusion – bridge – integration – jetsetter – high-profile companies – underground – dance development policy in the Netherlands– extremely formal – funky – “networking nature” – daughter – online visibility – best-selling – magician – awareness