Gedeelde grond (‘Shared ground’) 16: Listen to a new episode with Inge Lattré (Platform K)
Gedeelde grond (‘Shared ground) is a series of conversations with art professionals from Flanders. What do they dream about? What are they worried abou? We asked Inge Lattré from Platform K, a workplace and company for dancers and performers with disabilities.
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Summary
Platform K is a workplace and company for dancers and performers with disabilities. Through the workplace, people receive training in contemporary dance, and with the company they participate in artistic projects. At the beginning of January, their new performance premiered: Where is everybody?, in collaboration with Thomas Hauert and his ZOO Company. “What you see are six dancers on stage. Three dancers from ZOO and three from Platform K. Thomas created the performance, but only the outlines were fixed. A lot of improvisation was involved,” says Inge.
One of Platform K’s core tasks is to support the dancers. On the one hand, this requires artistic sensitivity: “For us, this involves translating what an external artist brings to the table. This is often abstract language: you have a goal, you want to achieve something, and you express this in words that are often abstract. Not all of our dancers understand this.” At the same time, it requires great intuition to pick up on unspoken signals. “How is the dancer doing? What is the atmosphere like here? That is something that many dancers at Platform K are really sensitive to. When you enter a stressful production process, that stress is often absorbed like a sponge. This often has a negative impact on a dancer’s creative process.”
The Platform K team knows the dancers very well. Due to their workplace and training programmes, they often accompany them and their environment for many years. “We are in contact with the parents, the family, the carers. With non-verbal dancers, we cannot always pinpoint a problem, but by communicating with the network, we can sense that something is not right. And then we know what to pay attention to.”
While the organisation followed a traditional production logic in its early years – short processes, intensive programmes, long working days throughout the week – today they recognise that this is not feasible for every dancer, and the focus is now on individual programmes. This inclusive message is reflected in the many collaborations with external artistic partners such as WISPER, Danspunt, CAMPO, and De Grote Post.
“We rarely do anything alone; we need partners. Moreover, many people with disabilities do not have access to any form of art experience. If they end up in a dance school as children, this often works for a few years until an adaptation is needed in a lesson, which many teachers are reluctant to do or do not know how to do. Then that collaboration is discontinued. By working with WISPER and Danspunt, we are trying to send the message that it is possible and that something has to change if we really want to move towards an inclusive art world.”
“There is a lot involved, and extra support is needed,” Inge admits. “If you have to teach and also provide that support, it’s an extra challenge. In the professional circuit, we want to make it clear that this also requires a budget, for example, to see those artistic coaches or support staff as a fully-fledged function, and not as a nice-to-have. No, it’s really a necessity to have them.”
This additional support also translates into administrative barriers. Various performers from different artistic disciplines are sometimes not allowed to work because of their entitlement to benefits, or in order to prove that they are entitled to benefits. “Loopholes were created in the system to allow people with disabilities to be paid in addition to their benefits. But it is very individual; you almost have to submit each case to the government to see what is and is not possible. And the difficulty with artists is that they usually do not have a permanent contract.”
“The challenge is also to involve the dancers’ entourage in this narrative, as we are not the sole decision-makers. Many parents or communities ask themselves, but what if my daughter or son loses their benefits? Nobody wants that, and it is a complex situation, as even the government cannot provide any certainty. It’s also about parents who are afraid, people who are still on the waiting list and will remain there for years: what are the implications of that? Will they ever be eligible for benefits [if we let them work now]? For us, the logic of a business person is also different. Because if that person has to figure out how things work for each individual, each dancer, it takes a lot more time. The logic of production processes that have to slow down is so often a greater investment of time.”
Nevertheless, Inge sees positive developments, both in the cultural field and in the welfare sector. “A lot has changed. When I started, not everyone was convinced that people with disabilities would ever be seen as professionals on stage. There is much more openness towards different bodies, different minds, different ways of being, as it were. Looking back on the twelve years I have worked for Platform K, I see an evolution. The arts are more open to it. We are at the beginning of something, and I hope that continues.”
