Platform for young dancers
We offer dance education as a lever to give young people opportunities.
Platform for young dancers
We offer dance education as a lever to give young people opportunities.
Platform for young dancers
We offer dance education as a lever to give young people opportunities.
Platform for young dancers
We offer dance education as a lever to give young people opportunities.
Platform for young dancers
We offer dance education as a lever to give young people opportunities.
Platform for young dancers
We offer dance education as a lever to give young people opportunities.

Dance, movement, expression, performance

Passerelle is a cultural educational organization, officially recognised and structurally funded by the Flemish government. We offer children and young people the opportunity to get to know, delve into and be surprised by contemporary dance. By bringing them together with diverse professional artists, Passerelle turns them into co-owners of the Flemish contemporary dance scene. Over the past three years, we have engaged more than 50 different coaches, who represent the diversity of the Flemish contemporary dance landscape (e.g. Rosas, les Ballets C de la B, P.A.R.T.S., Eastman,…).

Passerelle offers a range of high-quality, tailor-made activities for both educational and recreational contexts, covering the whole of Flanders. We strongly encourage cross-overs between experienced and non-experienced dancers. As we aim to have a long-lasting impact on participants, sector and society, we prefer participatory, long-term projects in which we can share our knowledge of dance education with partners and policy makers. Over the past few years, Passerelle has developed a great deal of expertise in working with socially vulnerable young people.

Below we briefly summarize a few specific examples of our knowledge-sharing, performances and projects.

Our website is only available in Dutch. However, don’t hesitate to contact us if you are interested in collaborating with Passerelle. We are always happy to share more information with you. You can reach us at info@passerellevzw.be, or send an email to our general coordinator Pol Coussement (pol.coussement@passerellevzw.be).

Knowledge sharing

Ramon Aboitiz Foundation meets Belgian partners

Cebu City, Philippines, 17 Jan 2018
In a meeting with the Ramon Aboitiz Foundation, art consultants Pol Coussement and Roos van den Dries shared ideas about how they use art and dance to promote diversity, openness, unity and engagement for the youth of Kortrijk, especially for vulnerable youngsters.
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International Dance Pedagogy Conference

Velenje, Slovenia, 6 - 8 Oct 2017
Pol Coussement took the stage at the International Dance Pedagogy Conference in Velenje, Slovenia. This event was a beautiful and interesting forum specifically hosted for sharing insights on dance education and including speakers from the United States, Croatia and Italy. Pol took the opportunity to explain Passerelle’s unique approach to and impact through dance.
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What’s your move

Glasgow, Scotland, 23 June 2017
What's your move, an international conference on dance education, was organised by the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Scottish Youth Dance in Glasgow. Pol Coussement was invited as guest speaker to explain Passerelle’s practices, focussing on our work with socially vulnerable young adolescents.
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Performances

Between you and me

Belgium
Between you and me - Whispered stories are never retold the same - is a performance about the choice of what we hide and what we reveal. What does it mean to share if we don't tell the full story? Between you and me unravels these questions using Vanhulle Dance Theater's signature movement language, their athletic contemporary dance style mixed with martial arts.
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17 semanas de dança

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 8 - 14 Sept 2014
In 2014, Passerelle was invited to Rio de Janeiro for the fourth time to participate in 17 SEMANAS DE DANÇA, a 17 week festival that welcomed international groups from Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Canada, France, Nigeria, Portugal and Spain. Passerelle presented WeAllGo of the duo Benjamin Vandewalle & Vincenzo Carta, Gnosis created by the very same Vincenzo Carta and WAAR, a choreography by Pol Coussement.

Death in the Count of 9

Austria/Belgium/Italy/Poland, 2008
In collaboration with the arts centre BUDA, Zoë Knights and Passerelle created Death in the Count of 9, a meticulously thought-out performance revolving around the number nine. The European network APAP helped the performance tour through Austria, Poland and Italy. In 2008, ‘Death in the Count of 9’ was featured on the festival Sommerszene Salzburg next to Les Slovaks, Ultima Vez and Rosas.
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Projects

Through the Grapevine XS

Belgium, 2020
A project for youngsters based on the performance Through the Grapevine by Alexander Vantournout. While working on this duet, the idea arose to make a parallel creation by and for young people. Artistic collaborator Emmi Väisänen set out with a group of 12 girls between 12 and 16 to work on their own version of Through the Grapevine. Through the Grapevine XS is a production by Not Standing, Passerelle vzw, Dansstudio Indigo and Theater Malpertuis, Tielt.
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A cross-border collaboration between a Flemish and a French school

Roubaix, France, 2013 - present
Passerelle has regularly worked with École Jules Michelet in Roubaix for the past six years. Passerelle would typically develop a project with the Roubaix students within their school hours. Simultaneously, they would create the same project in a Flemish school. The schools maintain contact with each other via a closed Facebook Group, where they can share pictures, ideas, comments and questions. The schools also visit each other, thus creating a framework for both children and parents to share art, culture and insights. In 2017, with the support of Le Gymnase, this project led to the foundation of the socio-artistic company Miroir D’Eux.
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Young & Furious

Münster, Germany, 2011
As part of a cultural cooperation between West Flanders and the Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe, Passerelle collaborated with the Brugse Entrepot, Theater im Pumpenhaus (Münster) and the dance company Unusual Suspects to set up a project with four dancers from each region. Young & Furious promised to be an outburst of young enthusiasm and passion. Above all, it proved to be a catchy project in which a group of German and Flemish youngsters shared their view of the world. The final performance was shortlisted as one of the most remarkable youth performances in Germany in 2013.

Practice guide social-sports work

The UGent chair Frans Verheeke published testimonials of 125 social-sports workers from all over the country about their visions, needs and dreams. Pol Coussement testified about his experiences and insights. 

Mission

Passerelle believes in the power of artists and puts a face to contemporary dance, its artists and methodologies. Dance education and artistic skill go hand in hand.

We help to develop talent in children, young people, coaches, organisations and their environments and make them move. This is done in a challenging but accessible way, tailored to the young person’s context.

Our focus is on the personal experience of dance and co-ownership of all participants. If you can feel it, you can embody it!

Together with the choreographer, young people engage in an inspiring creative dialogue. That way, they acquire artistic and generic competences which make them stand stronger. Agility and resilience.
Passerelle often cooperates with other socio-cultural organizations and schools, but also offers a wide range of workshops during leisure time.

Vision

Passerelle takes time to create depth and to make ideas more comprehensible. We do not teach dance classes, but seek to offer young people insights. We make them move, drawing from their own talents. That’s why we invest in time as well as in-depth processes rather than the quick bite. Our artistic and pedagogic vision complies with Dēmos’ model of ‘participatory art practices’, based on the following four core qualities:

  • Participatory: We expect commitment and input from our participants. This makes young people grow, both artistically and on a personal level. It stimulates them to take ownership of the process.
  • Contextual: Our practice breaks down barriers and rigid structures, and reaches those groups for whom arts education is not self-evident. We create smart contexts and include young people’s social environments in the overall story. Passerelle educates, connects and expands horizons.
  • Artistic: Our coaches’ artistic skills make up the essential foundation of our activities. Because of their approach, young people discover, learn to think creatively out-of-the-box and develop themselves through physical expression. Passerelle works with a large team of coaches who represent a unique mirror of the Flemish contemporary dance scene.
  • Transformative: Passerelle has an impact on the participant and his or her environment. However, we prefer the term ‘enduring’ over ‘transformative’. Each project has an enduring impact on the individual, the organisations involved and their environment.

Passerelle is constantly expanding by developing new types of dance education in Flanders, possible collaborations with other socio-cultural partners and inspiring cross-overs between different art disciplines. The organisation stands for an optimal artistic and personal experience of each participant.

Passerelle finds it important to respect everyone’s freedom of opinion, regardless of gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religion or convictions. We treat everyone equally and think each culture is an enrichment for society. Therefore, we make sure to provide everyone with the best possible opportunities for self-development, irrespective of their origins. We think openness is an extremely important value and consider freedom of speech a fundamental aspect of our daily activities.

About us

The driving force behind Passerelle is a small team of employees, supported by a wide group of freelancers and volunteers. Important decisions are taken by the board of directors and the general assembly.

Employees (in alphabetical order)

Judith Clijsers
Artistic Coordinator
judith.clijsters@passerellevzw.be

Pol Coussement
General Coordinator
pol.coussement@passerellevzw.be

Joke Swennen
Administration / Office Manager Genk
joke.swennen@passerellevzw.be

Koen Moerman 
Administration / Buda tower 
koen.moerman@passerellevzw.be

Sabine Vanhoutte
Administration / Office Manager Kortrijk
sabine.vanhoutte@passerellevzw.be

Elise Willaert
Communication
elise.willaert@passerellevzw.be

Contact

Where to find Passerelle vzw?

Passerelle vzw, platform for young dancers
Kapucijnenstraat 10
B-8500 Kortrijk
T. +32 56 25 50 77
F. +32 57 61 22 26

C-Mine 10 bus 1
3600 Genk
089 21 72 16

E. info@passerellevzw.be
https://www.passerellevzw.be

Feel free to get in touch

Call us during office hours from 09:30 until 16:30 at +32 56 25 50 77 or send us an email at info@passerellevzw.be.
You can reach our general coordinator Pol Coussement at pol.coussement@passerellevzw.be.

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