To be able to maintain a good communication between the members of the committee and to insure that whatever problem arose were solved in as  short time as possible, several video conferences were implemented throughout the process. Staff meeting participation was enlarged to include all the artistic coordinators (choreographers, composers and coaches) each time their contribution was deemed  crucial for the successful implementation of the next steps of the project.

1st Kick off meeting: Valencia (ES), June 2011. In this meeting, the steering committee was established and the organization for the rest of the activities were coordinated and scheduled.

2nd staff meeting: Arnhem (NL), September 2011. A reduced steering committee met the artistic team:  2 choreographers, 2 composers and the 2 music coordinators. The purpose of this meeting was to transmit decisions made in the first months of the project to the artists, to give them information about the aim of the project itself, to get their professional feedback regarding schedules and budget matters and to make a consensus decision about the composition of the instrument for the music ensemble.

3rd staff meeting: Cologne (GER), March 1st through March  5^{th ,} 2012. Before the start of the rehearsal period a 3^rd enlarged meeting with 13 members was held to coordinate artistic and logistic matters ensuring that accommodation, catering and rehearsal timetables for the participants were organized on each location. A reduced staff meeting then finalized all details regarding f.ex. travel, accommodations, rehearsals and communication in regard to the rehearsal period in its entirety.

4th staff meeting: Valencia (ES), June 5^th 2012. arrangement of last minute details, coordination of performances and tour.

5^th staff meeting: Cologne (GER) June 16th 2012. The steering committee revisited all matters concerning the international tour such as organizing the ongoing of the tour to Germany and The Netherlands, starting to coordinate information and decisions on the next activities: The publishing of a book about the project  and the DVD documentation.

6^th staff meeting: Arnhem (NL), June 27th 2012. The  steering committee discussed the final details on the book and DVD editing and gave some draft line for a final contract between the 3 co-organizers.

In a one-year process, even before entering the studio, choreographers and composers exchanged ideas and concepts related to choreography and composition tackling issues of artistic authorship, and of collaboration between music and dance. For instance: How do you create a dialoque between music and composition both in its creation and on stage? What approaches or techniques do choreographers and composers refer to in their work and practices? How much individual freedom will be given to the musicians and the dancers in the interpretation of the compositions? And finally what impact does the meeting of dance and (live) music in the studio and on stage have on the students’ skills?

The choreographers continuously developed their concept while maintaining a dialogue with their partner composer. Ideas about the share of space between musicians and dancers were discussed and  the structure of the choreography determined.

Besides questions of artistic dialogue in such an interdisciplinary project one also needed to find a way of integrating the students. One very important choice was to allow the students to work in mixed groups from all three countries and to ensure that the rehearsals took place in all three institutions. In this way, students, artists and teachers gained an insight into the structures of the partner universities and were able to communicate intensively about their experiences.

With scholars Yvonne Hardt, Markha Valenta, Fransien van der Putt and José Enrique Lopez as well as choreographer Sara Wookey, students participated in seminars exploring modes of artistic production and their wider social implication. Gender was chosen as a guiding category for this theoretical framing. Gender – understood as a model for thinking about the power of forming the body along certain aesthetic, social and cultural blueprints – shapes performances as well as dialogical settings such as rehearsals or trainings. The seminars presented methods in order to integrate the divers cultural and the specific artistic backgrounds of the participating students both practically and theoretically in the production process while they were simultaneously encouraged to take on an outside perspective from where to give constructive feedback. In order to encourage students to creatively engage with the process, they were asked to submit responses both artistic and theoretical to the different phases of the project.

The frame further provided discussion rounds, lectures and seminars on topics pertinent to the process to encourage the students to exchange their experiences and reflect on the process. In addition, students had the opportunity to view performances, musical rehearsals and visit important cultural institutions to widen their perspectives and share their observations.

By having both the composer and the choreographer present in the studio rehearsals, talking and explaining about their work and how it was developing, students obtain a second new perspective on the relation of dance and music.  It was as if they could hear the music suddenly through the eyes of the composer, who, at that moment, as well, had a life changing experience in how his composition was visualized. The excitement of this moment had a huge impact on the creative work in the studio, due to the fact that the students were taken by this moment in the process.

During the first artists meeting in Arnhem (September 2011) an extended time was spent on finding the right formation/orchestration. Pulled out of their comfort zone, this led to discussions about the orchestration and individual wishes.

In the timeframe between the first and the second artists meeting, the composers started to develop their concept while maintaining a dialogue with their partner choreographer. In order to dicuss questions like: Is the composition leading or the dance? What are the tempi, and what is the duration of each section?

In the artists meeting before the première the orkest de ereprijs took part in the stage rehearsals and the pieces found their final form.

During the intense tour, each performance was prepared with an on-stage rehearsal together with the orchestra. During rehearsals the recording was used and therefore the students had to get back to their responsive hearing. As well as the different acoustic of each theatre has demanded from the technician to optimize as well the lighting design as the soundscape.

Both choreographers shared an approach to dance in which form and position are not a goal in itself. Rather, the choreographers offered space to break out of known patterns, to open up to surprises and failures or to conjure internal sensations. As such, improvisation, in particular, was an important means to achieve this in both processes.

Reischl’s working method includes exercises designed to foster dancers’ awareness of their own bodies, use of focus, tempo, and the possibilities of personal interpretations. Throughout the entire process Reischl explored with the dancers concentration exercises, scene sequences and group exercises encouraging an understanding and self-contained engagement with movement principles. When he did not get the results that he was looking for he tried to approach the situation from another angle.

Pérez had a different approach towards improvisation which centered around imagery. The dancers were asked to explore the psychology of behavior created by the image given, to identify with the image as directly as possible rather then analyzing it intellectually. Improvisation thus became a vehicle to dig into what you are as a dancer and ultimately as a person. The challenge was to keep a kind of childlike enthusiasm and spontaneity going along with the improvisation but to be mature at the same time.

After two weeks – in which Reischl’s cast had worked in ArtEZ in Arnhem at the same time Pérez’ at the Centre for Contemporary Dance / University for Music and Dance Cologne – the groups swopped locations. During the entire project students were asked to adapt to new surroundings.

The première on June 5th 2012 in Valencia was the start of an intense tour in which the dancers guided by the rehearsals directors constantly had to adapt to new situations. Each theatre has its own characteristics and for that matter, each performance was prepared with an on-stage rehearsal together with the orchestra. The students needed to get familiar with the space and able to compose the piece in the new surroundings.

Two choreographic creations:

• “Pineapple” by Ivan Perez
• “Ex nihilo” by Georg Reischl

During the tour students really start to learn to rely on each other. All at unfamiliar ground for a severe period demands communication, collaboration and flexibility of mind. Body wise, it teaches the students to stay healthy, take care of themselves and their colleagues and deal with an intensive load.

The local production teams were in charge to prepare meetings supporting the choreographic and musical creation process and final rejhearsals, to take care of all the necessities linked to the tour making sure that they meet alls needs of the performance crew in order to keep the high standard of the project. Additionally the local teams were in charge of serving the necessities of the project when activities were happening in the respective country.

During the creation of the choreographies the local production teams in Arnhem and Cologne supported the artistic process and covered all the logistic matters that students, choreographers and rest of the staff needed.

The synergies and communication between the 3 production teams were a fundamental point for the success of the project on the production side.

May 2011, 1^st staff meeting: coordinating project planning in regard to organizing future tasks in each production team.

September 2011, 2nd staff meeting: coordinating organizational matters, meeting of the artistic team, coordinating music matters before starting the music composition

April 2012, music recording process: 7 musicians recorded the music for the rehearsal of the two creations “ex nihilo” and “Pineapple” in Apeldoorn (NL)

April 30th – June 5th 2012:  coordinating the activities during the final rehearsals and taking preparations for the performances, facilitating and supporting the needs of the project.

June 5th – 29th 2012: coordinating the tour , serving the logistic needs of the whole crew, responding to artistic and administrative issues.

A Corporate Identity was developed and used for all publications connected to the project both locally and internationally, a project website with all relevant information about the project has been established and linked with the websites of the partner institutions. Furthermore a Facebook page was elaborated. Throughout the entire project PR photo material, press releases, factsheets, video trailers, podcasts were gathered by the PR coordinator and shared with the local PR coordinators.  On the base of the CI posters, flyers and programs were designed in 2 languages and distributed in all three countries.

3 press conferences were held (Spain, Germany, The Netherlands) to communicate aims and artistic visions of the project. Local, national and international media partnerships were used (TV, Radio, Website, Press, Publication) to advertise and distribute the project contents.

and publications and articles were assembled in a press review. A book including a DVD was designed and provided to the participants and participating partners.

The website connected to the project was established on the base of the CI of the project linked to the websites of the partner institutions.

Furthermore links to social media such as facebook and twitter helped to distribute the content to these communication platforms as well.

The website distributes all relevant information about the project including PR photo materials, press releases, facts, video trailers, podcasts and project materials.

The website will stay online in an archived version in order to allow interested target groups to inform about the project.