Baltic Connect Exchange Residency is a curated initiative aimed at cultivating meaningful connections and dialogue among dance artists from across the Baltic region. Rooted in the values of partnership, mobility, and artistic exchange, the residency offers a platform for artists to engage deeply with questions of identity, belonging, and shared cultural narratives within the Baltic context. Central to the residency are two workshops led by artist and curator Tanel Rander and dramaturg Kerli Ever, and wrap-up session with performance artist and dance critic Kärt Koppel.

Tanel Rander’s workshop “Damn Rake!” delves into the complex relationship between identity and subjectivity – exploring topics of being, belonging, and becoming. The title is drawn from a folk tale found in various European traditions, in which a returning student, changed by time abroad, no longer recognizes the familiar. Only a sudden moment of pain – a rake striking her forehead – restores her connection to her mother tongue and her origins. There is something that connects all these stories – pain! It is the pain that sometimes welcomes you at home and makes you remember where you come from and who you are. Perhaps, also, what you have been running from and where you don’t want to belong!

The workshop will focus on the different aspects of collective identity and belonging in the region known as “the Baltics”. Often, when we go abroad, it is the label that is given to us by others. We will see how it affects our personal identity and personal path in life. Is it something that supports and empowers us? Do we even relate with that? Together, we will try to find it out by using expressive artistic practices.

Kerli Ever’s workshop “The (future) archives of Baltic identity” explores the intersection of personal and collective identities through the affective role of material heritage. Objects, in this workshop, are seen as material manifestations of various narratives, sticky with affects and dreams. They inform our identity as much as our identities influence how we see these objects.

Taking the role of experimental archivists, we can ask: what do we need to remember to support the future that we want? How to bend the inherited narratives according to the current collective needs? Using the tools of speculative fiction, storytelling and dramaturgical thinking, we will collectively create a situated and open-ended version of Baltic identity.

The participants are asked to bring to the workshop any material object that is connected to a family story that is important to them and that they are willing to share. The objects will not be used in a way that would damage them.

The residency will be concluded with a wrap-up session facilitated by artist and critic Kärt Koppel, who will participate in the residency together with the selected artists. With her moderation, the session will allow all participants to reflect on the workshops, discuss some key topics which emerged during the residency and exchange new perspectives on Balticness.