NUMERIDANSE
The multimedia platform of dance
What is Numeridanse ?
Numeridanse is a reference platform about dance.
Numeridanse provides free, open access to a unique video collection including filmed performances, documentaries, interviews, and short and feature-length films.
All genres, styles and types of dance are represented.
The platform also provides contextualisation and fun, story-based activities to help visitors learn more about and better understand the world of dance.
Numeridanse regularly hosts events such as film projections and interactive projects.
Our main mission: to provide access to choreographic heritage for the widest possible audience.
Our ambition: to be a tool that serves the whole dance community, including major players, audiences, cultural sector professionals and educators.
About us
A theatre
Since it was founded in 2011, the platform has been managed and coordinated by La Maison de la danse de Lyon (The Lyon Dance Theatre).
La Maison de la danse opened its doors in 1980 as the first theatre devoted exclusively to dance. It showcases programming that juxtaposes and compares different types of dance and aesthetics of all sorts. The programming invites major 20th-century choreographers as well as young, contemporary artists and encourages the coexistence of creation and repertoire. La Maison de la danse features 30 to 40 companies each season for a total of about 200 performances enjoyed by over 150,000 audience members.
A national institution
The Numeridanse platform is a joint project in collaboration with the multimedia library team at the Centre national de la danse (CN D, National Dance Centre). Through this project, the worlds of live performance and documentation have come together to create a tool that serves both dance professionals and their audiences: a vibrant online database.
Partners
Numeridanse receives support from the Ministry of Culture, local and regional bodies in the Auvergne- Rhône-Alpes region and the BNP Paribas Foundation. Thanks to these partners and their commitment to providing access to culture and dance for all, Numeridanse is entirely free to use with no ads on the platform.
Contributors
Dance and live performance professionals (artists, theatres, festivals, companies, institutions, National Choreography Centres, producers and more) expand Numeridanse’s video content daily by offering to share their video collections on the platform and contributing different cultural outreach tools. The dance community is also fully involved in the site’s activity, development and funding.
Developers
The beta version and the first two versions of Numeridanse were designed and developed by the Villeurbanne-based agency Webcastor. The latest version was designed by Lyon-based agency Ladydinde in 2018. Since 2022, the Les Animals agency in Lyon has ensured corrective and adaptive maintenance for the platform.
How does Numeridanse work?
The content available on the Numeridanse platform is open to all and free to access regardless of geographic location.
By creating an account, visitors can keep tabs on their past visits and create and share playlists.
Only Numeridanse contributors can upload videos and host virtual expositions on the platform.
Learn more about contributor features:
The platform’s content can be used in classes or artistic outreach programmes. It is nevertheless crucial that access to the site remain free!
How did Numeridanse come to be?
The Numeridanse project was launched by author, director and videographer Charles Picq. He was a visionary artist who realised back in the 1980s just how important it was to film dance performances. He quickly became a valued partner for the Maison de la danse, Le Biennale de la danse and many artists in the field (Michel Kelemenis, Carolyn Carlson, Dominique Bagouet, Susanne Linke, Régine Chopinot, Andy Degroat and more).
He rapidly came to see the importance of handing down and sharing the video heritage he was creating. He also developed a wide range of tools for reaching audiences and the public.
Numeridanse is the product of the tools developed at la Maison de la danse combined with Charles Picq’s in-depth considerations on how to best use the Internet to make this video heritage accessible while ensuring respect for the artists’ work.
Charles Picq passed away in 2012. Ever since, the Numeridanse team has faithfully, passionately and ambitiously strived to carry on with the project he imagined.
To learn more about how the project came to be and get a behind-the-scenes look at the platform, visit the virtual exhibition: A Numeridanse story.