PALINDROME
DANCE
COMPANY e. V.
PALINDROME
DANCE
COMPANY e. V.
Founded in New York City in 1982, Palindrome moved to Germany in 1991, first Nürnberg, and then Weimar, where they remain busy with choreographic matters. Its founder and artistic director Robert Wechsler applies his fascination with science and technology to the art of dance. As the computer age dawned in the 1990's, Palindrome became a pioneer in the use of interactive technology, creating dance pieces and operas earning them critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. Palindrome won first prize at the Berlin Transmediale, first prize at CynetArt Dresden and, most recently, a special recognition award from the Margaret Guthman Musical Instrument Competition at Georgia Tech University.
Since 2012, most of Palindrome's activities have surrounded the MotionComposer, an inclusive musical expression device for persons of all abilities. Palindrome is responsible for its artistic content.
Interactive Technology
Since their inception, Palindrome has been concerned with interaction -- which means a back-and-forth of impulse and expression. Everyone knows that dance and music are connected, but what is that connection? Nietzsche said, "We hear music with our muscles!" Somehow music _is_ dance, and yet as natural as this may seem, no one really understands it -- at least not in any scientific way. With the help of new technology, Palindrome explores this mysterious and delightful connection.
The Team
In 2022, the creative team includes composers, dancers, designers and therapists -- some of whom are also engineers! Andreas Bergsland, Josepha Dietz, Ekmel Ertan, Delphine Lavau, Ives Schachtschabel, Philipp Schmalfuss, Frieder Weiss and others. As mentioned above, they work in close association with MotionComposer GmbH.
A Little History
Palindrome has appeared at theaters, museums and festivals of dance, video, electroacoustic music and art around the world. 48 Stunden Neukölln, Berlin, 2018; HI:Dance Festival, Rome, 2015, 16 ; New-York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, 2014; AMBER Festival, Istanbul, 2008, 2014; Centre Culturel Saint Exupéry, Reims in France; Zentrum für Kunst u. Medien Technologien (ZKM) in Karlsruhe; Transmediale, Berlin, Gasteig Theater München; STEPS Festival Switzerland; Ludwigsforum, Aachen; Staatsschauspiel Dresden; Deutsche National Theater, Weimar; The Place Theater, London; Washington Square Theater, NYC; Forum für Neue Musik Stuttgart and venues and festivals in Budapest, Prague, Tokyo, Oslo, and Buenos Aires.
Palindrome and its artists have been invited to international conferences, including among which Ringvorlesungsreihe, Hochschule für Musik, Hamburg, 2018; MOCO London, 2017; ORFF Institute, Salzburg, Austria, 2016; NIME, 2004, 2009, 2012, 2015; ICMC 2014, 2010, 2008; CynetArt, Dresden, 2006, 2010, 2014; Hörzu, Bremen, 2007, 2008; ISEA, 2006.
2017 - Guthman Musical Instrument Competition,"Special Recognition Award"
2016 - Leben Pur, Innovationspreis 2015
2006 - Jury Selection, Monaco Dance Forum
2002 - Berlin Transmediale, First Prize best interactive art
2001 - CyNetArt Dresden, First Prize for best multimedia creation
1999 - City of Nuremberg, Innovation Prize
1982 - Fulbright Fellowship (Robert Wechsler)
Palindrome Dance Company e.V.
Lärchenweg 29
99428 WEIMAR
+49 179 511 0400
palindrome@palindrome.de
Vereinsregister Nr.: 131385 (Weimar, Germany)
UstrNr: 162/142/10588 - Finanzamt Jena
Bank: Sparkasse Mittelthüringen
EU VAT Number: DE 222 858 331
IBAN: DE3282 0510 0001 6305 5394
BIC: HELADEF1WEM
Palindrome is a non-profit cultural organization, registered in Germany and in the United States.
It is a membership organization with a Board of Directors.
All text, images, graphics, animations, videos, music, sounds and other materials on this website are subject to copyright and other intellectual property rights of Palindrome and its affiliates. Contact us for use.
Although we are a dance company, there are some unusual aspects to our work, namely, the "... artistic work with new technologies and people with disabilities...." (Palindrome articles of incorporation, §2, para. 2.)
This relates to a strong sense of social responsibility and goes well-beyond strong data protection at this website (see below), to include respect, acknowledgement and fair compensation for artists, engineers, use and development of open source software models, and diversity in hiring. Below you can find some of our principles and operating policies in detail:
Open Source and Community-based software development
Most of the software we use is open source. This means it allows anyone to use, study, change and distribute it for any purpose. Open source is generally collaborative, with a community-based approach to the creation of intellectual property. Open source software is better at adhering to open standards and computer ethics than proprietary software. The interactive performance systems we use, have operating system Linux, and the music software is PureData and Csound -- all open source. While a small part of the movement-into-sound and music-generation software code is patented, the vast majority is shared openly, for example, is described in academic publications. This is the overriding philosophy of the company: to work in community-based ways, sharing our innovations while profiting from the generous feedback from artists and engineers around the world.
Respect for Artists and their intellectual property
The inventor and co-founder of Palindrome is a choreographer. This may sound like a small point, but it actually has a profound effect on the path and philosophy of the company. With the motto, "everyone is a dancer, everyone is a musician", respect for this deeply human trait lies at the heart of the project. The artists who contribute are always given recognition and, in the case of the composers, royalties are paid.
Diversity in hiring
While Palindrome has no employees, its sister company, MotionComposer gmbh, has about 14 employees (ca. half of which are free-lancers). 9 are women and 5 are men. 9 are German and 5 have other nationalities. The two CEOs are female and male. For now, and in the future, Palindrome and MC preferentially reach out to and hire persons of minority races, LGBTQ and those with different abilities. Women are preferred for engineering jobs.
Data Privacy and Anti Big Data
The systems we develop and use, such as the motioncomposer and its tablet controller, normally do not connect to the internet. We do not collect, or support the collection of data.
Home Grown
The MotionComposer is made in Germany. Although many of the component parts are made in Asia, MC works as much as possible with local sources. For example, the chassis and printed circuit board are built in Saxony. Finally, the assembly and distribution is done in Saxony and Thuringia.
Website Legal Basis
Revocation of your consent to data processing
Some data processing operations are only possible with your express consent. A revocation of your already given consent is possible at any time. An informal communication by e-mail is sufficient for the revocation. The legality of the data processing carried out until the revocation remains unaffected by the revocation.
Right to complain to the competent supervisory authority
As a data subject, you have the right to complain to the competent supervisory authority in the event of a data protection violation. The competent supervisory authority with regard to data protection issues is the state data protection commissioner of the federal state in which our company's registered office is located. The following link provides a list of data protection officers and their contact details: here
Right to data portability
You have the right to have data that we process automatically on the basis of your consent or in fulfillment of a contract handed over to you or to third parties. The data will be provided in a machine-readable format. If you request the direct transfer of the data to another responsible party, this will only be done insofar as it is technically feasible.
Right to information, correction, blocking, deletion
Within the framework of the applicable legal provisions, you have the right at any time to free information about your stored personal data, the origin of the data, their recipients and the purpose of data processing and, if applicable, a right to correction, blocking or deletion of this data. In this regard, and also for further questions on the subject of personal data, you can contact us at any time via the contact options listed in the imprint.
SSL or TLS encryption
For security reasons and to protect the transmission of confidential content that you send to us as site operator, our website uses SSL or TLS encryption. This means that data you transmit via this website cannot be read by third parties. You can recognize an encrypted connection by the "https://" address line of your browser and the lock symbol in the browser line.
Server log files
In server log files, the provider of the website automatically collects and stores information that your browser automatically transmits to us. These are:
Visited page on our domain
Date and time of the server request
Browser type and browser version
Operating system used
Referrer URL
Host name of the accessing computer
IP address
There is no merging of this data with other data sources. The data processing is based on Art. 6 (1) lit. b DSGVO, which permits the processing of data for the fulfillment of a contract or pre-contractual measures.