The Core Principles

DNS (Necessary Teacher Training College) combines experience-based learning, communal living, and student-driven education. The programme grants an academically accredited diploma from a university in Mozambique — a deliberate choice that reflects its decolonial approach to knowledge and education.

Year One: A 12-Metre Bus to Guinea-Bissau

The first year begins with an extraordinary project: 13 students buy a public transit bus, convert it into a travelling home, and drive it through West Africa for four months. "You just start, without any specific knowledge," says Asia from Italy. "And then you learn how to cut wood, how to cut iron — things you'd never normally do."

The route runs from Denmark through Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, The Gambia, and into Guinea-Bissau — with the intention of meeting people and understanding first-hand why the world looks the way it does.

Year Two: European Reality in Graz

In the second year, students experience Europe from a new angle — twelve people in a shared apartment, a shared economy, and jobs at McDonald's or Foodora. The programme is entirely student-funded: everyone earns, everything is pooled, and all decisions are made together.

"I only worked at McDonald's for one month, but I saw things I didn't expect to go through. It shows me on a very different level how inhumane the capitalist system lets us treat each other." — Sarah

Communal Life and Mutual Support

Students share not just housing and income, but their daily lives. "I had a terrible day at work at McDonald's and I messaged the group — guys, can you please stay up until midnight because I'm coming home and I need support," Sarah recalls. "And people got up to support me afterwards."

Eric from Catalonia also notices who actually works these jobs — people for whom McDonald's in Graz is a dream, a destination he first encountered in Africa. "That's a reality you can only fully grasp when you've actually been there."

The Tvind Controversy

DNS grew out of the Danish teacher movement Tvind, founded in 1972. In the 1980s, the community lost its government funding, followed by years of lawsuits and media reports of embezzlement and cult accusations. Sarah investigated before applying — going "undercover" for a volunteer week: "I arrived and found a very wholesome, green community with happy young people. And I started asking different students — have you heard about this? Can you leave? Do they have your money? And everyone was a bit disappointed."

Damir explains the political context: the community's shared economy created a legal grey zone that was used as a pressure point — not because any lawsuit succeeded, but because constant litigation wore the founders down until they left the country.

The DNS Campus in Denmark

The programme's home is a self-governed community of around 100 people in the countryside, fifteen minutes by bicycle from the nearest town. Decisions are made by consensus democracy — 100% agreement, not a simple majority. Students take on responsibility for the garden, the windmill, bookkeeping, or event organisation, driven by their own interests.

Teaching as Political Action

"I think many of us believe that being a teacher is not an apolitical position," says Sarah. "If you're a teacher, you will be shaping the next generation." This runs through the whole programme: the McDonald's shifts, the communal life, the West Africa journey — all designed to prepare future teachers to navigate systems they can't change, and make a difference anyway.

As Sarah puts it: "I am at McDonald's and McDonald's really want me to behave like all the other minimum wage workers who will just follow what is told and put up with bad treatment. And I am here trying out — how can I stand up against this system that is obviously not made for me? And I think that is a struggle many teachers also face."

Five-Year Visions

Asked what they hope for in five years, the students answer in similar terms: to be surrounded by people they love and who empower them; to do work that doesn't feel like work; to be proud of their students. "Everything is going great because I finally became the person I was wishing to become some years ago." — Asia

DNS Teacher Training College: www.dns-tvind.dk

Participants: Eric (Catalonia), Sarah (Netherlands), Asia (Italy), Damir (trainer)

Programme duration: 4 years

Academic diploma: University of Beira, Mozambique

Jaka Škapin is a Slovenian vocalist, researcher, and facilitator currently based in London. A conversation about collective vocal improvisation, relationality, and the ancient technologies we keep forgetting.

From Classical Choir to Vocal Improviser

Jaka's musical journey moved in 5–7 year cycles: classical choir singing in Slovenia, music studies in London, and then a turn toward free vocal improvisation — sparked by a Facebook ad for a voice improvisation course. He went deep into the American tradition around Bobby McFerrin, studied with Meredith Monk and has since been weaving Slovenian folk singing traditions into his work.

What Does "Sounding Good" Even Mean?

How important is it to sound good during improvisation? In the communities Jaka works with, the operative word is relationality, not "good or bad". How does this music relate to oneself, to others in the space, to the more-than-human, to ancestors, to the land. Technical quality is not the point. The point is what opens up in the space between people.

"In many cultures, there's no such thing as a word for improvisation — because it's not needed."

The Anthropos Project

Jaka is part of Anthropos, a vocal quartet that creates complete collective improvisations — nothing pre-planned, using only invented language (no spoken language of any member). The project aims for a pre-modern context for music-making: before music was a commodity, before it was a profession. Their debut recording Songs of Humanity happened in three hours, in the middle of the pandemic in July 2020.

The project is also a technology for transcultural exchange — exploring how collective vocal improvisation can facilitate communication across diverse groups, including in dementia care settings.

Developing a Language Through Other Bodies

Since 2016, Jaka has worked with people with Parkinson's disease and dementia in various social settings. This, he says, was the real groundwork for how he improvises:

"I had to sing in such a way that another body could express, or move, or kind of feel supported — feel like they can link with other bodies in the space, feel like they can open up and relate."

He is also part of the The Well - Global Vocal Improvisation Network, which experiments with vocal improvisation as a transformative social tool, like for example in a recent experiment in Canada — making politicians sing and improvise together.

Ancient Technologies

The conversation turns to what Jaka calls the "technological spectrum" — and the importance of repositioning ancient or embodied practices alongside (not against) modern technology. Somatic and eco-somatic practices, he notes, are largely rooted in Indigenous knowledge — a lineage that needs to be named, not erased.

"The right kind of technological emptiness can then mean that everything else does reorient itself in the way that is needed."

A Note to Close On

Jaka's closing invitation: you don't need a course, a workshop, or even a song. You need a moment in your day. Start with humming — to yourself, to someone in the room, or to your phone. It grows from there.

Jaka Škapin — vocalist, facilitator, researcher. Based between Slovenia and London.

Anthropos — collective improvised vocal quartet.

Music played: Ote Taya Ko (Rising) — Anthropos, Songs of Humanity EP

The Well.- Global Vocal Improvisation Network

Hawkwood College

Braziers Park

Topics

• [00:00–02:00] Meeting through Movement: Jing Hong introduces her transnational practice and a recent "Makers Lab" workshop, where she provoked participants to "stop being nice to each other".
• [02:00–08:00] Shedding Social Conditions: The philosophy behind accessing the "not nice" aspects of ourselves in creative work. It is not about harming each other, but tapping into the full spectrum of human experience as artistic material while maintaining a professional framework.
• [08:00–15:00] From Singapore to New York to Everywhere: Jing Hong discusses her foundation learning ballet from her mother in Singapore, her studies in the US, a rough period in New York, and her five years living out of a backpack across Asia. She explains finding freedom in the theater community, where perfection is viewed as a reference point rather than an absolute physical demand.
• [15:00–21:00] Singapore as a Social Laboratory: An exploration of Singapore's highly sanitized, organized environment—where even nature is controlled and earth is considered dirty—and how this hyper-comfort can slowly numb an artist's physical sensibility.
• [21:00–25:00] The Boundaries of Dance: A philosophical inquiry into defining dance. Jing Hong notes that typical keywords for dance, like "clear form, precision, embodiment," could just as easily describe a Shakespearean actor, leading her to embrace a more open, individualized definition as she grows older.
• [25:00–29:48] Silver Lining and the Layers of Exile: Her current piece is based on a Singaporean play about WWII spirits. She focuses on a mother character to explore modern forms of exile—physical, political, and emotional—through movement that uncovers "10 gestures within this one gesture".

Key Insights

• The Tiger in the Studio: Creative spaces require us to drop everyday politeness and safely welcome our dangerous, subconscious traits to fully utilize our life experiences as artistic material.
• Perfection as a Compass, Not a Cage: In contrast to the strict aesthetic expectations of traditional dance, theater treats perfection merely as a reference point, allowing artists to intentionally throw obstacles in their own path to discover new creative journeys.
• The Cost of Extreme Comfort: Singapore's hyper-modern, sanitized environment—where citizens are shielded from the sun, rain, and dirt—provides absolute ease but slowly numbs the senses, forcing artists to consciously fight to keep their awareness fresh.
• The Density of Slow Movement: Slowness in performance isn't always an aesthetic choice about speed; it can be a meticulous excavation of a simple movement, revealing up to ten microscopic gestures, emotional layers, and images within a single action like pointing a finger.

Performance Info

Silver Lining A solo exploration of exile through the lens of the WWII Pacific theater, from a Singaporean perspective.

Location: Stadtpark Graz, Passamtswiese

Dates: June 21 to July 1.

Times: Every Sunday and Wednesday at 5:30 PM.

Guest

Asaf Bachrach is a cognitive neuroscientist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), a somatic dancer and teacher, and is involved in collective living in rural France. His work bridges scientific with embodied practice. Through movement and community experimentation, he explores the nature of attention, collective responsibility, and how we physically co-create our reality.

Topics

Palliative vs. Curative Approaches

The distinction between fixing problems (curative) and improving well-being while living with difficulty (palliative). How this extends beyond healthcare — being with what is rather than rushing toward solutions.

Somatics and Non-Separability

What somatics encompasses beyond specific methods — it's an attitude recognizing our ecological interconnection. "Difference without separability": we're distinct but not separate from each other or our environment.

Somatic practice

Asaf uses exercises with sticks to help people experience the responsibility of their attention. This is especially interesting for scientists, who are  trained to create artificial separations that somatic work can help illuminate.

Matter is Alive

The stick practice reveals agency as distributed in relationships rather than residing in separate beings. Drawing on Steve Paxton's insight: "The dancer always dances with the floor."

Community Living and Responsibility at Scale

Asaf lives in the community "Larret" in rural France. How smaller-scale living provides direct feedback about consequences, enabling more responsible choices. "Being responsible is being able to respond to consequences."

Ressources

Drawing on Donna Haraway's "Staying with the Trouble," Karen Barad and her insights on the entaglement of matter and meaning, and Martin Buber's I-Thou relationship — the episode covers feminist epistemology, somatic practice, and community living.

We talk about her relationship to dance and the body. What is contemporary about contemporary dance? What is modern about post-modern dance? What is the role of experience in dance? How did the role of the dancer evolve from an instrument to a sensing, living, feeling human being?

What is the role of experience in dance from the point of view of a dancer, a choreographer and the audience? How to bridge these gaps? Do we need to?

Jadi is now working on an inclusive, collaborative dance piece titled "Shadows of Freedom" which will be part of Lendwirbel on Saturday, 2nd of May 2026. 

Fabio erzählt die Geschichte eines neuen Projekts, das aus einer zentralen Frage geboren wurde: Wie können wir uns als Menschen wirklich begegnen? Wild Care will Räume schaffen, wo Kunst zur Begegnung wird — jenseits von Perfektion und Selbstinszenierung.

Philosophische Grundlagen

Das Projekt wurzelt in Martin Bubers Philosophie des "Ich und Du" versus "Ich und Es" — der Unterschied zwischen echter Begegnung und dem Reduzieren anderer auf Objekte oder Werkzeuge. Zentral ist das Konzept der Mutuality (Gemeinschaftlichkeit): das aktive Schätzen und Teilen dessen, was uns verbindet.

"Alles wahre Leben ist Begegnung" Martin Buber

Persönliche Reise: Vom Systemdenken zum Körper

Fabio teilt seinen Weg vom Studium der internationalen Beziehungen zur Erkenntnis, dass systemische Veränderungen an der Brutalität der Welt zerbrechen. Seine Konsequenz: "Ich muss tanzen" und die Welt auf einer anderen Ebene als nur der intellektuellen erfahren. Die Veränderung, die er sich wünschte, musste in der Veränderung unserer Erfahrung und Realität liegen.

Kontakt-Improvisation als Praxis

Der Dreh- und Angelpunkt von Wild Care ist Kontakt-Improvisation: ein spielerisches Forschen mit Schwerkraft, Gleichgewicht und Berührung. In der anarchischen Struktur einer "Jam" — ohne feste Regeln oder Hierarchien — entsteht spontane Ordnung und Kooperation.

> "Diese Abwesenheit von Regeln macht es mir möglich, Dinge zu tun, die ich noch nie getan habe. Formen zu finden, die ich mir nicht mal vorstellen kann."

Angebote

Laufender Kurs: Montags um 17:45 Uhr, Orpheumgasse 11, Graz

Einführungskurs: Ab 11. Mai, sechs Wochen kostenlos (mit Unterstützung von Askö und der Bewegungsrevolution)

Website: wildcare.space

Zukunftsvisionen

Langfristig soll Wild Care zu einer Gemeinschaft werden, die verschiedene Formate entwickelt — nicht nur Bewegung, sondern alle Arten kreativen Ausdrucks, wo Leistungsdruck abnimmt und Kunst als Begegnungsinstrument zunimmt.

Eine Sendung mit Fragen über das Sendungsmachen.

Eine Sendung.

Towards is a residency that feels like an immersive piece of art where the pristine natural environment and the people within it co-create a space for learning and expression unlike anything I have ever seen. The shift in reality is immediate. Normally, I might write two poems in a month. Here, I wrote five in a single day.

I sit down with Pip, Ido, and Liane to reflect on what we learned there. We discuss what the practice of Contact Improvisation is for us, the role of poetry and what it means to be philosophical in a world designed to be practical.

At Towards, questions are at the center of the work. Everything is designed to encourage "creative agency"—an attitude that deems the strange worth considering and the impossible a direction worth pursuing. We explore questions like:

Can we move not from you and me, but from the dance?

How do I soften myself in order to meet you?

How do I support your direction without supporting you?

Everything started with a remarkable place in Sweden—a converted school situated within a 10-meter-high theater (yes, really), overlooking a remote lake. At this place the vision to create a physical think tank where people can experience community, solve practical problems together, and develop open-source blueprints for resilient local communities is now taking shape.

In this conversation we explore why technology isn't the enemy of community, how the solarpunk movement offers positive visions of the future, and why learning to repair things might be an important step toward community resilience. From week-long hackathons focused on real-world solutions to navigating the challenges of collaboration, Adrian and Mielle share how they're experimenting with community models that don't require leaving the city or abandoning modern life.

Whether you're questioning how to find meaningful connection in urban environments, curious about technology's role in sustainable futures, or wondering what community looks like beyond traditional eco-villages, this episode offers a refreshing perspective on building resilient networks in the 21st century.

Quotes

"A lot of people see technology as evil... but technology nowadays is developed to be evil. It's used just to generate more profits, not benefit us as humans."

"We really need examples of what our future could look like... We have so many dystopian movies and books, but so little media that shows a positive future."

"Resilient local communities means we are a group of people in close proximity that can rely on each other and go through the struggle of life together."

"Those that benefit from a system, even though you might be critical of it, the most powerful thing you can do is think of how you can use those resources to elicit change."

Practical Information

• Website: www.theoutpost.network
• Location: 2 hours from Stockholm by car/train
• Setting: Rural area, former iron mining region with art scene history

Open Mine 2026

• Format: One-week hackathon (limited to 20 participants)
• Theme: Repair
• Goal: Physical solutions for community repair capacity

How to Get Involved

• Growing community of ~25 people
• Looking for people interested in modern community experiments
• Reach out on the website

Wir erkunden die Wurzeln des Lindy Hop im Harlem der 1930er, seine Verbindung zur Jazz-Musik und afrikanischen Tanztradition, und warum diese improvisatorische Kunstform heute noch relevant ist. Es geht um die Bedeutung körperlicher Nähe in einer zunehmend isolierten Welt, die politischen Dimensionen der Jazz-Kultur und wie Tanz Räume für echte menschliche Begegnung schaffen kann.

Egal ob du neugierig auf Swing-Tanz bist, dich für Community Building interessierst, oder dich fragst, wie historische Kunstformen zeitgenössische Einsamkeit adressieren können - diese Episode bietet Einblicke in das Schaffen bedeutungsvoller Verbindungen durch gemeinsame Bewegung und Musik.

Themen

Ursprünge des Swing Dance in Graz [00:00-10:00]

• Über die Ehrenpräsidentin der Lindy Cats
• Wachstum von Wohnzimmertänzen zu einer Community von Hunderten
• Wie YouTube und neue Technologien halfen, Swing-Tanz um 2010-2013 wiederzubeleben
• Lindy Hop als "Paartanz für Individualisten"

Der Tanz & die Musik [10:00-25:00]

• Lindy Hop vs. Ballroom-Dance: Improvisation vs. Perfektion
• Der Tanz als "Social Dance" - lebend vom menschlichen Austausch
• Bouncen und Pulsen: geerdet und fließend bleiben
• Verbindung zu afrikanischen Ringtanz-Traditionen

Community Building [25:00-40:00]

• Ehrenamtlich organisierter Verein, der Events kostenlos oder günstig hält
• Fokus auf einladende Atmosphäre statt kompetitive Performance
• Generationenübergreifende Teilnahme (20er bis Pensionsalter)
• Körperliche Nähe und nonverbale Kommunikation
• Wie Berührung und gemeinsame Bewegung Bindungen schaffen

Politischer & Historischer Kontext [40:00-50:00]

• Jazz und Swing als Produkte afroamerikanischer Kultur
• Das nicht-segregierte Savoy Ballroom im Harlem der 1930er
• Jazz-Musiker, die Rassenschranken durchbrachen (Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman)
• Verbindungen zur Civil Rights Bewegung
• Parallelen zwischen den 1920er-30ern und 2020ern
• Black Lives Matter Unterstützung in der Swing-Dance-Community
• "Wir waren schon immer da" - progressive Geschichte zurückfordern

Tanz als Widerstand & Freude [50:00-Ende]

• Tanzen durch schwierige Zeiten und Unterdrückung
• Freude und Verbindung trotz herausfordernder Umstände finden
• Swing-Tanz entstand in afroamerikanischen Communities der 1920er-30er
• Die Kraft, Räume für Begegnung zu schaffen
• Lead und Follow als Dialog, nicht Dominanz
• Individueller Ausdruck innerhalb kollektiver Bewegung

Zitate

"Lindy Hop ist ein Tanz, der einfach von diesem sozialen Austausch lebt... das kann ganz ganz unterschiedlich ausschauen und das macht es so speziell."

"Bouncen hilft... Das waren einfach immer schon Tänze, die davon gelebt haben, dass Umstände schwierig waren und die so dieses in der Situation sein und Dinge gut zu machen, obwohl nicht alles gut ist."

"Paartanz für Individualisten" - einfängt die Spannung zwischen individuellem Ausdruck und kollektiver Verbindung

"Das ist eine schöne Entwicklung... eine Community, die sehr gewachsen ist... von gefühlt zehn Menschen in eurem Wohnzimmer zu hunderten Menschen."

Praktische Informationen

Regelmäßige Events

• Social Dancing: Jeden zweiten Mittwoch im Postgaragecafé (freier Eintritt)
• Workshops: Laufend neue Kurse (siehe im Kalender)