Dance in a transcultural landscape

Roundtable with five artists

Abstract

What does ‘transculture’ mean in the realm of dance and performing arts in contemporary Germany? How does Asian diaspora identity inform the creative process in transnational choreography and performance? And what factors shape the dynamic relationship between artists, curators, and audiences? These questions were explored in a stimulating roundtable discussion with five Germany-based international dancer-artists at the T(r)anzkultur Summer School in Düsseldorf in 2024. This article sheds light on the conversations that addressed issues such as cultural appropriation, tokenization, postcolonial power relations, rehearsal hierarchies, artistic visibility, and the responsibilities that emerge when working across cultural boundaries. Rather than arriving at a fixed definition of transcultural dance, the discussion framed transculturality as an ongoing process of negotiation shaped by movement, memory, power, and representation. Artistic practice emerged as a form of situated knowledge production, where dance functions not only as an aesthetic medium but also as a critical space for reflection, dialogue, and social intervention. In this sense, the roundtable provided insight into the complexities of contemporary transcultural artistic practice.