By Jovana Rakić

Dance for young audiences is a constantly changing, vibrating field that offers the possibility of questioning, examining, researching, and problematizing various social issues. Contemporary dance gives us (the artists) the possibility to constantly develop, changing our point of view on issues like accessibility, togetherness, equality, freedom, sharing space and responsibility, inclusion and full participation in our practices.

In a month in which ASSITEJ Serbia honors its birthday (7th of April) and later the International Day of Dance is celebrated (29th of April), it is the right moment to think and write about dance for children and young audiences in Serbia. Although it has existed for decades, dance as an independent field, as an art separated from the theater, present in the performing arts for children and young people is still understood as new, young, developing, attractive, but often too abstract- just like a teenager, misunderstood young rebel, still emerging and unestablished. At least that’s how the performing arts institutions in my environment still understand it. Given that this year at AAG in Novi Sad and Belgrade we are dedicating ourselves to hear the voices of young creators as much as young audiences, here is an opportunity to devote some time to this young art, which is still looking for its place in theater institutions throughout the Balkan region.