Background ∙ City Hoppers

Background

City Hoppers is inspired by the Cuban dancefestival Habana Vieja: Ciudad en Movimiento and Transit – City in motion, a previous outdoor dancefestival arranged by Memory Wax together with Rörelsen – choreographers in Skåne in Malmö during 2006, 2007 and 2008.

Based on that experience we now present City Hoppers, a smaller, more flexible and mobile arrangement. We are aiming to create opportunities for other cities in Skåne and its inhabitants to rediscover their landscape and architecture through the art of dance.

City Hoppers is also an important meeting point for artists to exchange experiences and present cutting edge works in accessible and creative ways.

2006 Johanna Jonasson and Miguel Azcue, artistic directors of Memory Wax, travelled to Habana, Cuba, to cooperate and participate in the outdoor dancefestival Habana Vieja: Ciudad en Movimiento. The same year the first edition of Transit – City in Motion, a colourful cavalcade of dance and music, was presented during Summerstage Malmö (Sommarscen Malmö) program a warm summer day in the West Harbour in Malmö – Sweden. The program included 26 local artists, and 2 international guest performances from Denmark/Israel and Israel/France.

2007 Transit – City in Motion became a member of Ciudades que Danzan (Dancing Cities), a network of more than 30 festivals around Europe and Latin America. This opened up for new interesting international collaborations. The program could offer the Malmö audience 41 local and national artists and 3 international guest performances from Cuba, Holland and Spain. The festival was inaugurated with a show at the amfi theatre in Pildammsparc in Malmö and continued the following day along the Sundspromenaden in the West Harbour. A photo exhibition of images from the festival took place later in the fall at Inkonst Theater.

2008 Transit – City in Motion continues to grow this year to 68 musicians and dancers. This was the first year we also made an appearance in Lund. The program included artists and musicians from Denmark, Greece, Holland, Japan, Norway, Spain and Sweden.