It may sound complacent, but this year’s edition of Step can’t be described as anything but a success in every way possible! All in all, 39 events at ten venues and locations in five municipalities in Regions Västra Götaland and Halland were presented. Children, youth, adults, and elderly from the municipalities Borås, Göteborg, Härryda, Kungsbacka and Lerum got the opportunity to experience performances from The United Kingdom, Belgium, Denmark and Sweden.
The selection for Step 2024 was done by our curators Fiona Ferguson – creative development director at Edinburgh International Children’s Festival, Adjjima Na Patalung – Festival Director of BICT Fest in Bangkok and Peter Sunesson – Producer at Helsingborgs stadsteater in Helsingborg. The staff at Producentbyrån were responsible for bringing in local, regional, and national performances and events to the program.
Our international professionals program gathered over 60 people from The United Kingdom, Thailand, Norway and Sweden. During three days – March 6-8 – industry professionals gathered at Kungsbacka Teater, House of Possibilitas and Folkteatern to network, mingle and listen to talks about collaboration between the independent dance sector and the institutions, the connection between performing arts and schools, work with international networks and festivals, artistic processes and much more. As part of Step Extended, we also presented five West Swedish dance artists and companies for the participating industry professionals.
New for Step 2024 was the collaboration with Rum för Dans and Kungsbacka Teater where we kicked of the professionals program and the entire festival on March 6. In addition to speeches by Step’s project manager Hanko Zell and Hanna Schölander, chair of Driftnämnden Kultur och skola in Region Halland, the grand opening also featured a dance performance by students from the Angered culture school.
We would like to thank the participating companies, our partners, presenters, and funders for believing in what we do and for doing this together with us. And finally – a massive thanks to everyone who attended the performances and talks during Step 2024!