Open Your Mind Play Dates (London) began in 2019 as an open platform for artists to explore their ideas. Affiliated with the international experimental dance network of Open Your Mind, the aim was to actively support the experimental dance community in the U.K. The space provided dancers with opportunities to develop and enrich their own artistic journey through active inquiry and exploration. The monthly sessions provided a space for artists from all sorts of backgrounds including set designers, technology specialists, fine artists, and sculptors to come together and collaborate, allowing a mixing and stirring of creative energies to occur.

Emi, alongside her partner Svantje Buchholz, created the Play Dates to foster the growth of an experimental artist community in London. Pulling inspiration from the greater international network of Open Your Mind, Emi facilitated the workshops to allow for the greatest amount of space for attending artists to explore, inquire, and test. Using creative prompts and exercises, artists were able to self-guide their creative investigations as they participated in the workshops. As a result, artists gained as much value as they invested and many walked away with new insights and ideas. It is the empowered network of artists that was built that remains the richest result of the Play Date; and now continues to be built as Emi establishes herself in new communities such as Dallas, TX, USA.

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