MASKA Forum: Legalisation of the Contemporary Dance Field, or Moving from Presence to Representation

Abstract Attempting to think about the future of Slovene contemporary dance, Maska's forum took as its starting point the document prepared in 1994 by the Contemporary Dance Association Slovenia (CDAS), which states the goals and the annual plan of the association. The aim and the purpose of the forum and the follow-up discussion was to critically examine and reflect upon what points in the programme, written two decades ago, have been realised and to delineate how to think about the "future" of the abolished Center of Contemporary Dance Arts (CCDA) as the first public institution in the contemporary dance area in Slovenia - a future that never came to exist. The forum looked carefully into which plans from the 1994 document are still topical as well as ways in which to think about the future of the field that would go beyond the existing frames of cultural politics and institutional regulation of the sector. The forum enabled artists and theoreticians who have left an indelible imprint on the contemporary dance field in Slovenia to present their proposals, views and to provide insight and commentary.