NextDoors 2026

We are happy to share this schedule of the upcoming edition of NextDoors 2026. NextDoors is an interdisciplinary project week at the Royal Conservatoire Antwerp that takes place between 9-13 February 2026. During this week, various activities will take place in an open and adventurous environment.
During this lesson-free week, we want to turn the building into an experimental playground.

We welcome all participants at the official Kick-off session on Monday at 9h45 at the Witte Zaal! Everyone is expected to attend this session. This also means that all sessions on Monday start at 11h instead of 10h!

You can sign up for an activity via the button on the right. Be on time, some projects work with a limited number of participants. You are expected to be available for the entire duration of the project you are registering for. For exceptions, please contact the workshop organiser.

Morning = 10h-13h / Afternoon = 14h-17h
On the afternoon of Friday 13/2, there will be a walking tour in which some of the projects will share something.

We are looking forward to a new NextDoors edition full of exciting projects!

See you soon,

The NextDoors team

Isaak Duerinck, Naomi Beeldens, Jeroen Malaise

Visit the other art disciplines

Experience the other art disciplines and witness the working process and artistic approach of artists within dance, drama and music. Have a look around and find out what goes on behind the otherwise closed doors.

PROGRAMME

KICK-OFF / lecture "Violon de Stromae" (obligatory)

During this session, we would like to officially welcome you and kick off the Next Doors week. We open the week with a lecture by Pieter Matthynssens, in which he will share a number of ideas about interdisciplinarity. Starting from the work of French photographer Man Ray and Iraqi media artist Wafaa Bilal, he also explains a number of examples from his practice as a cellist and artistic director of the Belgian Nadar Ensemble.

When:
Mon morning 9h45-11h00

Where:
Witte Zaal

Public events to attend during NextDoors

During NextDoors week, there are also a number of activities that you can attend as a spectator. You do not need to register for these.

Sharing Moment NextDoors projects I 13/02 15u I KCA,
Jazz Jam (TBC) I 10/02, evening I Club Cons
Ashtar Theatre (Palestina) I 11/02 20u I Gele Zaal
Performance Breathing Project Jazz department I 12/02 20u30 I Rataplan (extern - more info in the program below)
The non-winning game I entire week I
(more info in the program below)
BA Open Dance Studio I pop-up events during the week except on Tuesday 10/2 I Room 501 (more info in the program below)

When:
Entire week

Where:
Witte Zaal

"The Personal is Political" workshop door ASHTAR Theater (Palestine)

Initiated by ASHTAR Theatre and Drama Department.
Everyone can participate.
Workshop participants are expected to attend the performance on Wednesday evening.
More information or questions? nextdoors.kca@ap.be
https://www.ashtar-theatre.org

What we experience individually never stands alone.

Our bodies, memories, fears, joys, and silences are shaped by systems: family, borders, gender, war, class, language, power.

This workshop helps participants explore the boundary between their personal experience and its political context.

When:
Maandag namiddag

Where:
Gele Zaal

Performance 2077 by ASHTAR Theater (Palestine)

Geïnitieerd door ASHTAR Theatre and Drama Department.
Iedereen kan meedoen.
Meer informatie of vragen? nextdoors.kca@ap.be
https://www.ashtar-theatre.org

A Palestinian-German co-production

It is the year 2077. Humanity has conquered poverty, disease and hunger and abolished nation states. The world's elite now strive for immortality, eternal happiness and biotechnological optimisation.

The more successful they are in this, the more people become superfluous. With the help of cyborgs and artificial intelligence, the elites get rid of this “useless mass” and lock millions of people in enclaves that are sealed off from the rest of the world by high walls. In these mega-ghettos, poverty, disease and hunger are making a huge comeback – a normal life is unthinkable there. Detective Harold Harrison investigates in the moloch of such an enclave.

The performance will be followed by an aftertalk.

Acting: Emile Saba

Text: Bayan Shbib/Simon Eifeler

Direction and concept: Simon Eifeler

Music: Christian Beppo Peters

Dramaturgy: Iman Aoun

When:
Wed 20h00!

Where:
Gele Zaal

/Moving/Sounding/

Initiated by Ekerold Leala-Domini (student)

Anyone can join
maximum number of participants is 15
More info or questions? s139163@ap.be

As part of the research I undertook in my master paper I explored physicality and vocality as ways to compose space and time and alleviate tension within my instrument, in the context of this workshop I would like to extend the term vocality to "sounding" to include anyone willing to experiment sounding and moving.

I will propose exercises mixing embodiment and improvisational practices to explore and experiment the spaces within and between each other.

#interdisciplinarity, #interactivity, #improvisation, #embodiment, #experiment, #reflection

When:
Tue-Wed morning

Where:
Studio L

The Flower Dialogues

Initiated by Sinon Pineiros Leone (researcher)

10-15 participants open to performing
More info or questions? sinon.pineirosleone@student.ap.be

The Flower Dialogues is part of the Master's research project by Sinon Pineiros Leone, which started in October 2025. It is a creative methodology and artistic practice consisting of sensorially engaging with flowers and exploring which emotions are surging from within us, going through different steps such as affect awareness, body scanning and exploring imagination. These lead to constructing new emotions, enlarging our emotional granularity, that are the source for interdisciplinary collaboration and results. They will translate through expansion through costume, movement, sound, allowing us to re-sense, re-bloom and activate emotions collectively, forging a new social reality.

For this project we will follow this methodology, leading to the construction of emotions within a group. We will collaborate with the people who joined in October and have been participating in The Flower Dialogues. We will experiment and research on the performances that will embody and reenact the emotions that surged during this creative process.

There will be a restitution of the results made that will be pursued for the performances in public space taking place in April.

#interdisciplinarity, #improvisation, #embodiment, #experiment, #co-creation, #reflection, #somatic #emotion #alexithymia

When:
Entire week
morning & afternoon

Where:
712

Ludic Musicking: Musical Game Design for Distributed Creativity

Initiated by Nicholas Cornia (researcher)
Basic musical skills are required, but the principles apply to any performing art. Participants can work in small groups to design their musical games.
Max 16 participants
Questions or more info? nicholas.cornia@ap.be

This workshop is open to students and staff members interested in applying principles of game design into their performance, composition, and teaching.

The goal of this workshop is to provide playful and interactive modalities for music making, blurring the divide between composers, performers and audience.

After a brief theoretical and historical framework, the participant will work together to design musical games (also called game pieces) that will be tested during a public performance at the end of the NextDoor week.

Despite the musical focus of the workshop, participants coming from other disciplines are encouraged to apply.

#interdisciplinarity, #interactivity, #improvisation, #experiment, #co-creation, #repertoire

When:
Entire week morning and
afternoon

Where:
160

Borders and Belonging

Initiated by Olga Uzikaeva (student)

For anyone interested
Some exercises will combine movement with writing and drawing, so please bring a notebook and pencils
Questions or more info? olga.uzikaeva@student.ap.be

As part of the NEXT DOORS Festival, I would like to share my ongoing master’s research through a workshop/laboratory, preceded by a 30-minute movement warm-up session.

Introduction to the research project 'BORDERS and BELONGING'

In this workshop, I aim to create a space for interdisciplinary and multicultural dialogue around socio‑political, cultural, and geographical borders. Through metaphors in dance, sound, drama, and visual expression, we will develop a collective score that still leaves room for individual expression, allowing each participant to respond according to how they feel in the moment.

What forms of freedom can be found within these borders? Together, we will search for possible answers.

Please bring musical instruments and objects or props that you personally associate with the theme.

The workshop is open to everyone. Participants with a migration background, especially those from outside the EU/EEA, are warmly encouraged to join.

#interdisciplinarity, #improvisation, #embodiment, #experiment, #co-creation, #reflection, #collaboration, #borders, #action

When:
Entire week mornings

Where:
Room 436

UNITY AND DISSARAY, FLOW, VIEWPOINTS

Initiated by Rino Sokol and NextDoors Team
For people interested in using their bodies and senses as their instrument on stage.This includes musicians who want to jump into it from a musical point of view, engaging with the group from a improvisational point of view
Max 25 participants
Questions or more info? r.sokol@live.nl

During the introduction week of this school year, I gave a short workshop on contemporary performance tools. A handful of people were interested in continuing to explore these tools on the floor.

I would like to focus again on things we can do (internally and externally) that bring about changes in how we perceive, act, behave, and relate to space, our bodies, the flow of time, speaking, emotions, other performers, narrative, and other basic elements of the performing arts.

Through all of these doings, we will encounter creative output. Sometimes we will be able to catch it; more often, it will pass by. We will practice both letting go and developing ideas and material.

The spirit of the week is training and collective improvisation.

We will freely draw from and explore the following practices:

Viewpoints, Butoh, Meisner, Chekhov, Chubbuck/Stanislavski, Meg Stuart, flow theory, games, mimicry, and negative space.

We want to take these existing tools as starting points, not as dogma, play with them, and see what they can do to enrich our artistic processes.

A sense of curiosity will help us make the most of our time together. We are not working toward any goal other than getting to know our disciplines and each other. Since the spectator’s gaze changes things, we may find it useful to do a showing of whatever we discover.

We will work as one large group, using our numbers to our advantage: moving together, giving each other impulses, inviting and challenging, sharpening and releasing the performative state, while allowing space for surprising moments of individuality.

#interdisciplinarity, #interactivity, #improvisation, #embodiment, #experiment, #creation, #co-creation, #reflection, #education, #PLAY!

When:
Entire week mornings, except Tue

Where:
Zwarte Zaal

Teacher on Demand - Take a lesson from a jazz teacher

Initiated by Els Smedts (coordinator Jazz department)
Open to anyone
more info or questions? els.smedts@ap.be

Take a lesson from a Jazz teacher! During NextDoors, various jazz teachers will be available to meet, chat, teach, answer questions, listen to music together... Anything is possible.

Teachers: Antoine Pierre (jazz drums), Nico Schepers (jazz trompet), Bram de Looze (jazz piano), Teun Verbruggen (jazz drums), Lennert Baerts (jazz compositie en arrangement), Barbara Wiernik (jazz zang), Inge Minten (complete vocale technique), Frederik Leroux (jazz gitaar en vrije improvisatie), Jan de Haas (jazz drums), Kurt van Herck (jazz sax), Nicolas Thys (jazz bas), Nathan Wouters (jazz contrabas), Christoph Erbstösser (jazz piano), Hendrik Braeckman (jazz gitaar), Nicola Andrioli (jazz piano) en Free Desmyter (jazz piano)

If you are interested in meeting someone, you can register via this spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hCErGLjL4BvPy_06hTipwlO4aFF7Rg1B4526SDZcBW4/edit?usp=sharing

When:
Mon-Tue-Wed-Thu morning and afternoon

Where:
Various rooms

Skills for (Y)our Future: shaping the School of Tomorrow

Initiated by Sonja Spee, Sarah Rohaert and Marie Caeyers (staff)

More info will follow.

When:
...

Where:
Room 155

Short Movie

Initiated by Spelen en Maken 1 (students)
Open to Drama and Music students

Max 10 participants
Questions of more info? leni.meskens@student.ap.be

Spelen en Make 1 makes a short movie, which will be shown on the Kunstenplein at the end of the week. More info follows.

#experiment, #co-creation

When:
Entire Week morning and afternoon

Where:
Room 162 except Tuesday morning

Moordkunst: fiction podcast

Initiated by Jisse Böhne (student)
Open to Dutch-speaking musicians, composers, cabaret artists, spoken word artists and actors.
Maximum 12 participants.
Contact: jisse.bohne@student.ap.be

This week, we will start by devising a murder mystery story, which we will record together later in the week using the Schwartz technique. We will divide up the tasks: Who will perform? Who will record? Who will edit? Who will do the sound design and music? There will be opportunities to draw inspiration from locations around the city. We will go on walks or stay at school to make recordings in the studio. We will get to know each other and each other's artistic practices better. At the end of the week, we will deliver a 10 to 15-minute podcast with a murder mystery story from start to finish. We will organise a listening session for anyone interested in coming to listen.

The podcast will be recorded in Dutch. This project is open to Dutch-speaking musicians, composers, cabaret artists, spoken word artists and actors. We want to work as an ensemble and are open to exchanging each other's talents and technical qualities. Would you like to dive into an intensive week-long project and work with a diverse group of creators? Then sign up for this project!

#experiment, #co-creation

When:
Entire Week morning and afternoon

Where:
Room 341

Ethno x Early

Initiated by Liselotte Sels (researcher)

Students with interest in early music (e.g. harpsichord students or students following early music related subjects) but music students of all departments are also very welcome!
Questions or more info? liselotte.sels@ap.be

As coordinator of a research group and artistic researcher, I am looking for creative minds who can help us develop and expand our project “Early Music: A contemporary perspective on repertoire and interpretation”. As an ethnomusicologist and performer of “early music”, I invite you to join this workshop to reflect on concepts such as “classical music”, “early music”, the musical “work”, “composition”, “improvisation” and “variation”. Using methods and frameworks from ethnomusicology, as well as examples and models from artistic research, we will look for new, alternative and creative ways of dealing with the “archive” of “already composed music”. The workshop will be structured around an interactive introduction to conceptual frameworks and existing examples, followed by various experiments (a new approach each day). These include experimentation, assemblage, multiplicity, process, oral transmission, ethnography, decolonisation, interculturality, participation, non-hierarchy, etc. More information about our project can be found at https://www.ap-arts.be/project/early-music-contemporary-perspective-repertoire-and-interpretation.

#interactivity, #improvisation, #experiment, #creation, #reflection, #repertoire

When:
Mo-Tue-Thu-Fri morning

Where:
Room 138

Non-workshop invisible disabilities

Initiated by Silke Vanhoof, Dulce-Celeste Gouveia Mendonça (researcher, student)
Participants from all disciplines.
Max 15 participants
Questions or more info? silke.vanhoof@ap.be en dulce-celeste.gouveiamendonca@student.ap.be

Over the course of three mornings, we welcome anyone who identifies with living with an invisible disability, including neurodivergence, chronic illness, and psychopathology. Based on our lived experience, we will discuss what disability means to us and explore our expectations, desires and frustrations about barriers and representation in the performing arts. What specific barriers do people with invisible disabilities experience in the performing arts? We approach this question from different angles, such as communication, production logic and infrastructure, but focus primarily on representation. How do you represent the invisible? What about typecasting? How do we ourselves deal with masking, the hiding of visible characteristics of difference? These and other questions will be addressed in our non-workshop: a place that consciously goes against capitalist conditions such as productivity and consumption.

#interdisciplinarity, #interactivity, #embodiment, #experiment, #reflection, #activism

When:
Mon-Tue-Wed morning

Where:
Meeting Room

Rythm and Odd Meter Class by Stéphane Galland

Initiated by Els Smedts (coordinator Jazz)
Open to all motivated, enthusiastic and dedicated students.
Max 10 participants
more info or questions? els.smedts@ap.be

Sessions on creative, complex rhythms: five- and seven-fold subdivisions as a basis, irregular time signatures, polyrhythmic challenges and approaches. Theoretical and practical work and integration with specifically related songs, collective compositions and improvisations. Development of new directions in phrasing vocabulary and creative ideas through rhythm. Open to all motivated, enthusiastic and dedicated students who can commit to the entire week (both mornings and afternoons).

When:
Entire week 10h30-12 & 13h30-15h00

Where:
Room 161

Workshops Classical Arabic and Palestinian Music Traditions

Initiated by Jeroen Malaise and Edward Said National Conservatory of Music (Palestine)

Open to classical, jazz and kleinkunst music students
Questions or more info? Jeroen.malaise@ap.be
Questions or more info? jeroen.malaise@ap.be

Join us for a special workshop led by teachers from the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in Ramallah and Jerusalem. Explore the foundations of maqamaat (Arabic musical modes) and Arabic rhythms through guided practice and discussion.

All instruments and voice are welcome.

14:00-15:15 on Monday, workshop with group A

15:30-17:00 on Monday, workshop with group B

10:00-11:15, Tuesday to Friday, workshop with group A

11:30-12:45, Tuesday to Friday, workshop with group B

Friday: short rehearsal + concert

When:
Mon
afternoon

Tue-Wed-Thu-Fri morning

(check text for more detailed schedule info!)

Where:
Room 57

(Witte Zaal on Monday)

You have one shot

Initiated by Alie Debie (student)
Open to everyone
Max 10 participants
Questions or more info? s141486@ap.be

What if everything depended on one shot?

In a fast-changing world filled with individual digital bubbles, we’re often immersed in structures of hidden pressure and (in)visible norms/expectations about what it means to be ‘successful.

How can we translate these structures into dance, music or drama? Can we imagine them differently?

In ‘You have one shot’ we will research these questions and assemble our findings into a one shot short film of about 8 minutes, where music and (non-)diegetic sounds play a pivotal character.

On Monday and Tuesday we will brainstorm about the subject, discuss inspiration and gather material through collective improvisation, combining sound, music, movement and words. On Wednesday we will connect the material, come up with a one shot film structure on location and technically prepare for shooting. On Thursday we will shoot the film and on Friday we will edit (color grade and sound) and possibly record extra sounds/music.

When:
Entire Week, morning and afternoon

Where:
433

The non-winning Game

Initiated by Stuurgroep Wellbeing
Open for all students

Questions or more info? wellbeing.kca@ap.be; ilse.muysers@ap.be

The Conservatoire strives to create an inclusive school environment where everyone feels welcome and respected for who they are. This requires active involvement from everyone. Let's communicate transparently – this is the most important step in successfully implementing our code of conduct.

The non-winning game is a lively, social activity designed to spark conversation and raise awareness about the code of conduct in a fun and interactive way.

Reserve your spot for an engaging session full of fun, thoughtful reflection and delightful surprises.

#interactivity, #reflection, #activism, wellbeing

When:
Open for walk-ins during the Entire Week

Where:

Computer Room

Storytelling at the Letterenhuis

Initiated by Jeroen Malaise & Jurgen Delnaet (teachers)
Drama students (not for students B2 verhalen&maken) and classical music students
Maximum 10 participants
Vragen of meer info? jeroen.malaise@ap.be, jurgen.delnaet@ap.be

Students from the Drama and Music Department will come together for a unique evening of co-created storytelling in duos at the venue Letterenhuis. Through voice, music, and performance, they will explore new narratives shaped through collaboration.

When:

Entire Week morning & afternoon

Where:
Letterenhuis (external)

Ik haat alle mannen, behalve jou

Initiated by Luc Teepe & Toon Pilet (students)
Max 10 participants
Questions or more info? luc.teepe@student.ap.be, toon.pilet@student.ap.be

Luc (drama - verhalen en maken) and Toon (drama - muziek en maken) are two theatre makers who have written texts about male friendship. They would like to bring this to the stage accompanied by jazz music and explore how music and text can reinforce each other. Inspired by Joost Oomen and Kruidkoek (link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ou7LTMMeBiY).

The texts are yet to be written, but they will be about how Luc and Toon find the statement “I hate all men” complicated, but at the same time they understand why people say it. The performance will be about gentleness, football and gossip. We want to talk about how a friendship between two “gentle” men takes place in today's world and male friendship when you are transgender.

We are looking for musicians to create the music for this, with a lot of freedom. Ultimately, we want to work towards a small performance, but the emphasis is on experimentation.

#interdisciplinarity, #embodiment, #experiment, #creation, #reflection, #activism

When:
Entire Week,

mornings and afternoon

Where:
Room 213

Scoring scrolling: an investigation on choreographic patterns on TikTok

Initiated by Maria Luigia Gioffre (researcher)

Open to dance students (BA and MA, PhD); drama students; performers or movers with a basic knowledge of dance
Max 10 participants
More info or questions? marialuigia.gioffre@stagiair.ap.be

This doctoral research workshop invites dance and drama students to investigate how choreographic patterns circulating on TikTok (reels, dance challenges, micro-dances) can be translated into embodied, live performance. Working through a practice-as-research approach, participants begin by selecting and analysing short videos from their personal feeds, identifying micro-gestures, faciality, spatial conventions, rhythmic and temporal patterns shaped by the algorithmic “scroll.”

From this material, participants will generate a gesture map that will serve to engage in a structured process of transduction: amplifying selected movements into full-bodied actions, dislocating TikTok score-gestures across different body parts, and altering their temporalities (slow-down, glitch, loop). Small groups then compose short duets or trios integrating at least three extracted gestures, a rupture of frontal screen-based orientation, and one instance of “embodied editing” such as freeze, rewind, or jump-cut performed live.

Each composition is documented in two versions: a scenic recording and a vertical 9:16 reel-style adaptation, enabling comparative analysis of spatial presence and camera-consciousness. The workshop will conclude with a critical discussion and brief peer interviews exploring the transformation of movement when going from screen to live staging.

All generated materials (gesture maps, videos, notes, interviews) will serve as qualitative data to pursue the doctoral research.

#interdisciplinarity, #improvisation, #embodiment, #experiment, #co-creation, #reflection, #digital

When:
Mon-Tue-Wed

morning & afternoon

Where:

Room 435

Broken Narratives Laboratory

Initiated by Davide Paolillo & Furkan Ak (teacher, researcher)
Music and Drama students
Max 8 participants
Questions or more info? davide.paolillo@ap.be, furkan.ak@ap.be

Broken Narratives Laboratory is an immersive workshop-performance where sound, text, and embodied action meet in unstable terrain.

Led by PhD researchers Davide Paolillo (Music) and Furkan Ak (Drama), the laboratory invites music and drama students to co-create fragile, shifting narratives through feedback systems, spoken language, movement, and improvisational performance strategies.

Here, storytelling does not unfold along a single path — it splinters, loops, collapses, and reforms. Noise becomes a narrative material, voice becomes texture, gesture interrupts and reshapes meaning.

Participants work with sonic feedback, DIY technologies, writing fragments, performative prompts, and collective improvisation to generate a living space where story and sound negotiate each other in real time. No previous experience is needed from both the musical and drama world.

The workshop embraces unpredictability and malfunction as creative partners. Immersive technology acts not as a tool to control, but as an active agent that resists, interrupts, and speaks back. Text breaks apart, bodies respond, circuits misbehave, and narrative emerges only to fracture again.

Through guided exercises and shared experimentation, students explore presence as composition, and instability as artistic resource. Rather than telling a story, we inhabit its ruins — building, breaking, and reassembling meaning together in a continuously shifting stage of sound, voice, and action.

#interdisciplinarity, #improvisation, #embodiment, #experiment, #co-creation, #technology, Instability, Ghostly narratives, DIY, Not-knowing, Un-virtuosity

When:
Entire Week, morning and afternoon

Where:
Room 147

Echo Lines

Initiated by Lingyi Zhao (student)
This project is ideal for students curious about improvisation, sensory connection, and collaborative creation across disciplines.
max 10 participants
Questions or more info? s166210@ap.be

Echo Lines is an experimental performance exploring the real-time translation between sound and image. This project brings together musicians and visual artists to investigate how musical gestures and drawn lines can reflect, influence, and transform one another.

The performance is based on a simple idea: music and drawing share similar structures. Rhythm can become the speed of a stroke; density can appear as texture; dynamic changes can shift into colour or pressure. By translating these elements live, we make the “shape” of sound visible and the “movement” of drawing audible.

At the same time, this project invites participants to explore how perception works. How does a sound suggest a line? How does a visual impulse guide musical improvisation? The performance becomes a living experiment in cross-modal perception.

Rather than creating a final artwork, we focus on the unfolding process. Musicians and visual artists respond to each other in real time, creating a unique, unrepeatable event. The audience witnesses an open dialogue where sound and image continuously reshape one another.

#interdisciplinarity, #improvisation, #experiment, #co-creation, #reflection

When:
Entire Week, mornings

Where:
Room 430

Tactile Scores

Initiated by Can Boyan (researcher)

For music students of all departments
max 10 participants
Questions or more info? can.boyan@ap.be

In this workshop, we won't start from a written score; we will build one from a set of materials and objects that will force decisions about timing, density, color, and silence.

Your ensemble will then rehearse the scores until they become short performable pieces, and you will discover interpretation as a compositional method.

#interdisciplinarity, #improvisation, #embodiment, #experiment, #creation, #co-creation, #reflection, #education

When:
Mon-Tue afternoon

Where:
Room 436

Balance Space

Initiated by Veranika Hnatsiuk (student)

The practice is open to people from a range of movement- and space-related disciplines. This includes dancers, actors, architects, urbanists, musicians, performance artists, and anyone interested in exploring spatial awareness through embodied experience. People without formal training but with curiosity for movement or spatial practices are also welcome.
max 20 participants
Questions or more info? veranika.hnatsiuk@student.ap.be

This workshop is a meeting point between architecture and dance with the help of theatre and music. It's an exploration of how space is shaped, inhabited, and continuously rewritten by the bodies within it. How do we sculpt the world around us, and how does it sculpt us in return? Through movement, we investigate architectural principles and translate them into living, shifting forms.

Moving together as if drawing invisible blueprints in the air, building rooms with gestures, dissolving walls with breath, and tracing pathways that open and close like doors. The space will become elastic: expanding, contracting, fragmenting into layers of simultaneous “rooms” that overlap, collide, and coexist.

Music weaves through this landscape like an architectural material of its own, shaping rhythm, pace, and texture. Theatre offers voice to the space between bodies—the unspoken negotiations, the subtle influences we exert on one another, the collective architectures we create without noticing.

How a room can be built by a gaze, how a connection can be evoked from a simple step, and how, together, we continuously reshape the worlds we inhabit? Let's explore it together...

#interdisciplinarity, #improvisation, #embodiment, #experiment

When:
Wed-Thu afternoon

Where:
Room 436

Introduction to South-Indian Carnatic Music

Initiated by Uma Ramakrishnan and NextDoors team
Open to anyone with a voice or instrument
max 30 participants.
Questions or more info? nextdoors.kca@ap.be
Bring your own instrument!
België School van de Indische Muziek: https://amrithavarshini.be/

Carnatic Music is an ancient and traditional art form that originates from the South Indian Peninsula. This unique art has evolved through ages and shaped itself aesthetically and theoretically as we see it today. The period from 17th century to 19 th century, referred to as the golden period in Carnatic music, brought some significant changes in this art through the contributions from eminent composers, which helped it to gain a structured classical status.

Through these sessions, we would explore some of the basic melodic scales and related compositions in Carnatic music. The stand-alone feature of Carnatic music which are the ‘Gamakas’ (ornamentations) would be introduced to the participants. We would also familiarize with the fundamentals of the South Indian Rhythm called ‘Konnakkol’.

At the end of the series of learning sessions, the participants would be equipped to present a carnatic composition in voice or instrument along with few cycles of konnakkol

#interdisciplinarity, #experiment, #creation, #co-creation, ensemble, ancient texts, folk, heavy music

When:
Mon-Tue-Thu-Fri afternoon

Where:
Zwarte Zaal

Creative Orchestra Lab

Initiated by Kobe Vancauwenberghe (researcher)
Open to music students from the classical and jazz department
max 20 participants
Questions or more info? kobe.vancauwenberghe@ap.be

This project invites music students from both classical and jazz departments to collaborate in a boundary-pushing large ensemble. Together, we’ll explore experimental works that fuse orchestral textures with improvisational freedom, inspired by innovative traditions that reimagine what an orchestra can be.

Featuring repertoire by visionary AACM composers such as George Lewis, Wadada Leo Smith, and Douglas Ewart, the Creative Orchestra Lab offers a rare opportunity to engage with music that challenges hierarchies, blurs genre lines, and redefines the role of the performer.

Participants will rehearse, interpret, and transform graphic scores, conduction systems, and open-form pieces—developing skills in collective creativity, listening, and leadership. The project culminates in a public performance showcasing the vibrant energy and radical potential of this hybrid ensemble.

Join us in reimagining the orchestra for the 21st century.

#interactivity, #improvisation, #experiment, #creation, #co-creation, #repertoire

When:
Mo-Tue-Fri afternoon

Where:
Room 57

Deep dive into the artistic work of Kaito Winse and Aurélie Lierman

Initiated by Eva Rodin, Lou Cintrat, Foteini Saxoni, Aurélien Mauborgne, Lucile Bourrin, Maya Mavanga, Farma Ka (studenten)
Open to anyone
Questions or more info? eva.rodin@student.ap.be lou.cintrat@student.ap.be foteini.saxoni@studen.ap.be aurélien.mauborgne@student.ap.be lucile.bourrin@student.ap.be maya.mavanga@student.ap.be fama.ka@student.ap.be

After the artist and society class, we took time to have a conversation with Kaito and Aurelie about their approach and experience of embodying their culture. We felt really inspired by their testimony and found interesting to have the opportunity to continue these reflections. Kaito would love to give a workshop about traditional African dances and music and Aurélie would share her documenting skills as a means to nurture the performative field (singing, dancing, mise en scène).

#interdisciplinarity, #interactivity, #improvisation, #embodiment, #experiment, #co-creation, #reflection

When:
Mon-Tue-Wed morning and afternoon

Where:
Room 101

à VOIX CAdanséES ° Polyphony and mouvement

Initiated by Sarah Klenes (teacher)
Open to all dancers, musicians, actors
Max 16 participants
Questions or more information? sarah.klenes@ap.be

This one-day-workshop is open to everyone interested in diving in polyphonic voice pieces along with the support of a moving body.

From a body warm-up to sounding bodies, improvisation, rhythmic and harmony games, bodypercussions and dance will be some of the ingredients to explore music in a holistic way.

#interdisciplinarity, #interactivity, #improvisation, #embodiment, #experiment, #co-creation

When:
Tue

morning & afternoon

Where:
Room 501

A Subtle Conversation

Initiated by Sam Hawkes (student)
Open to people who are interested in a body-based practice and exploration.
Max 25 participants
Questions or more information? s154535@ap.be

‘Subtle Communication’ is a 3-day immersive workshop exploring how the gentlest touch can spark the biggest shift. We’ll dive into the power of subtlety: how a slight look can speak the loudest, how the smallest gestures in our bodies can communicate the strongest truths.

Through writing tasks, meditation, conversation, and other sensory explorations, we will shape a collective landscape rooted in delicacy - a place where we meet not as polished social beings but as curious creatures. We’ll gently peel back the layers of our societal body and edge closer to our natural instinct.

What happens when an unfamiliar presence enters your field of sight, touch, smell…? How do you respond when curiosity is your only guide?

Across these three days, we’ll train our attention to catch the tiniest sparks - the fragments of information that set something larger into motion. Together, we’ll follow these small impulses and let them carry us toward something far grander than we imagined.

It is a body based practice, but open to all, not only dancers.

#improvisation, #experiment, sensorial

When:
Tue-Wed
morning & afternoon

Thu afternoon

Where:
Room 437

Baroque your Body

Initiated by Korneel Bernolet / WHIPP (teacher)
open for music and dance students
Questions or more info? korneel.bernolet@ap.be

In this workshop, international choreographer, stage director and musicologist Sigrid T'Hooft will explore with us the interaction between Baroque dance and Baroque dance music, and how the one can (and should!) influence the other. By experiencing the music through movement, we gain deeper insight into appropriate tempi and accents, as well as into large- and small-scale musical forms. And of course, we will dance ourselves.

We invite musicians to bring and play dance movements from a Baroque suite: Courantes, Menuets, Gigues, Gavottes, Passepieds, Passacailles, Chaconnes, Bourrées, etcetera. This can be solo music or music which requires a basso continuo (there will be a harpsichord in 415 and 440 and a harpsichordist available). Non-musicians are very welcome as well, and dance students are particularly encouraged to join, whether or not they have prior experience with Baroque dance. Sigrid will work with all this material as a coach, after which we will all get moving and bring the music to life through dance.

The workshop begins with a shared warm-up and an introduction to Baroque posture, providing the ideal foundation for aligning body, music, and style.

When:
Thu morning & afternoon

Where:
Witte Zaal

The Sound of Connection- Empowering your vocal performance through Vulnerability

Initiated by Katrien Van Opstal (teacher)

Open to all students that work with voice, be it from the music or drama departments
Max 20 participants
Questions or more info? Katrien.vanopstal01@ap.be

The Sound of Connection – Empowering Your Vocal Performance Through Vulnerability

In this workshop, we explore how genuine connection in performance arises: the connection with yourself, with your body, and from there, with the audience. Using tools from The Singer Inside Out, we learn to know, recognize, choose, and use emotions as an expressive force, while remaining rooted in ourselves.

Through an embodied approach, we investigate how the autonomic nervous system can guide expression. We learn to perceive and regulate signals so that emotion and technique support each other rather than compete.

Through vocal-technical exploration we examine how technical choices — breath, timbre, resonance — are shaped by emotional state and physical presence. Vocal technique becomes not a form of control, but a pathway to connection: a way to sustain expression without losing oneself.

In this way, vulnerability becomes a source of strength, where authenticity and technical mastery reinforce one another.

#interdisciplinarity, #embodiment, #reflection, #education

When:
Thu morning

Where:
Room 101

Garden of Wonders

Initiated by Ioli Kaskani, Olga Uzikaeva, Gloria Carobini, Gaeun Kim, Gabrielė Bagdonaitė, Šesto Dora (students)
The session is open to anyone interested in improvisation and instant composition, and we welcome participants to join us and experiment together. Also, open to anyone who would like to watch.
Max 15 participants, but another 15 are welcome to watch.
Questions or more info? ioli.kaskani@student.ap.be, olga.uzikaeva@student.ap.be, gloria.carobini@student.ap.be, gaeun.kim@student.ap.be, gabriele.bagdonaite@student.ap.be, dora.sesto@student.ap.be

Improvisation session- movement and sound explorations. Participants are free to drop in and out of the space or simply observe whenever they wish, and we also welcome those who prefer to watch only.

garden of wanders unfolds as a space for movement and sound explorations. With the body as a central element, we invite movers and musicians to enter this improvisation, where play, experimentation and connection arise through movement and sound.

#interdisciplinarity, #interactivity, #improvisation, #embodiment, #experiment

When:
Fri
afternoon

Where:
Room 463

Move the Sound ! A Dance-Music improv Lab

Initiated by Nicolas Kummert (researcher)
Dance and music (jazz or classical) students. Ideally 5 dancers / 5 musicians.
Questions or more info? nicolas.kummert@ap.be

Enter a playground where movement bends, twists, and reshapes live music in real time.

During this session, Nicolas Kummert (jazz saxophonist, electronic artist, and artistic researcher at the conservatory) invites music and dance students into a playful exploration of how movement and sound can shape one another. Musicians will improvise freely on their instruments, while dancers literally take hold of the sound—modulating it in real time through motion-sensor wristbands and handheld controllers.

As dancers sculpt the music through their movements, musicians respond to the shifting sonic terrain they co-create. The duos we will create become an open, research-driven playground to explore intersubjectivity, responsiveness, and real-time artistic dialogue.

Together, we will bring chimeras to life: audio-tactile, shape-shifting creatures in which choreography and music emerge simultaneously—through spontaneous interaction where gestures, sounds, and energies continuously influence and transform each other.

#interdisciplinarity, #interactivity, #improvisation, #embodiment, #experiment, #technology

When:
Thu afternoon and Fri morning

Where:
Room 435

Co-Creative Improvisation With New Technologies - Convergence Start-up

Initiated by Umut Eldem, Sara Simionato, Dago Sondervan, Giusy Caruso (researchers)
Open for Music students, Composition students, Live Electronics & Jazz students.
Max 10 participants
Questions or more info? umut.eldem@ap.be, sara.simionato@ap.be, dago.sondervan@ap.be, giusy.caruso@ap.be

During this workshop we will explore how to use new musical technologies in improvisation and composition, utilizing IRCAM’s Somax2 and other generative systems as co-creative agents. Across two days, participants will gain both theoretical understanding and practical experience with this interactive system. Composer Alberto Gatti will join us to introduce Somax2 and guide you through its creative use in improvised settings. We will investigate how the system listens and responds to musical input in real time. Afterwards, we will rehearse with Somax2 in different groups and ensembles, deepening our exploration of the human-machine interaction and experimenting with new creative strategies. The workshop will serve as a laboratory to prepare a performance for the Convergence seminar, where participants will showcase the potential of co-creating with new technology.

#improvisation, #embodiment, #experiment, #co-creation, #digital, #technology

When:
Thu-Fri morning & afternoon

Where:
Room 316

Inkless

Initiated by Gaeun Kim (student)
This project is open to all disciplines — Dance, Drama, Music, Education — and to anyone who wishes to participate, regardless of background. The installation is intuitive and requires no prior knowledge, allowing people to join freely at any moment.
Max 30 participants
Questions of more info? s165758@ap.be

“Is a pen without ink no longer valuable?”

Inkless is a participatory and reflective project exploring invisible value and transformation through the act of writing without ink.

An inkless pen becomes a symbolic object, questioning whether something that has lost its function truly loses its meaning and worth.

Throughout the week, participants are invited to use inkless pens and thick paper placed in the open public space — writing, drawing, or pressing freely to leave invisible traces that quietly accumulate over time.

Anyone can join at any moment, and the installation remains open for both individual and collective participation.

On the final day, a collective revealing session will take place at the same location where the installation unfolded. Using pencils as a medium, participants will uncover the traces left behind, witnessing together how invisibility transforms into presence.

At its core, the project asks: “Must something be visible to be valuable?”

It creates a shared space where absence becomes presence — where new meanings and subtle connections emerge through silent interaction.

What would you choose to leave behind?

#interdisciplinarity, #interactivity, #experiment, #co-creation, #reflection

When:
Entire week

Sharing moment Fri afternoon

Where:
Guitar Corridor

The House of Babel

Initiated by Rune Mertens and Juliette Briand
We're looking for a drama student who wants to spend a day or two with us to help us with the dramaturgy of our creative project and give us some acting coaching. It's a music theatre piece about language, communication, community and loss.
Questions of more info? rune.mertens@student.ap.be and juliette.briand@student.ap.be

All the singers start in the same language -English-, singing about how great their life as a unified community is. A community wide argument breaks out, one thing leads to another, and everyone gives everyone the silent treatment. Slowly but surely however, they all start to develop “symptoms”. More and more, the community starts losing the ability to understand the others as they all develop their own -native- language. They try to work around it, until the point where they have all lost the ability to speak any language but their own. Throughout the story, they explore trying to speak each other’s languages. They now need to find a way to live on as a community, and find a new common ground.

participants: Rune Mertens – singing and project, Juliette Briand – singing and project, Dimitri Lerner Benderski – singing and project

José de Kercadio - accompanist, Adam Suga – singing, Beatriz Silva – singing, Emma Barton-Smith – singing, Lissy Aydoslu – singing, Nikita Zhernosiekov – singing, Shamay Scheff – singing

When:
Mon afternoon

Tue & Thu morning & afternoon

Fri morning

Where:
Room 152

BA Dance Open Studio

Initiated by BA dance
Open to anyone
Events will be communicated during NextDoors week
Questions of more info? elsa.chantre@student.ap.be, nienke.reehorst@ap.be

For this year's edition of NextDoors, the BA dance opens the doors of studio 501 wide open to share, exchange, meet and move together. From open jams, practice sharings or massage sessions, anything might come up - the idea is to have a space where spontaneous gatherings can happen along the week, initiated by dance students - in collaboration with the other departments of course. And fear not: you do not have to be a mover to come along! The exact timing and content of activities will be communicated throughout Nextdoors' week, so stay tuned to see what you could join on the conservatoire’s grooviest floor!

See you there :)

#interdisciplinarity, #interactivity, #experiment, #co-creation, #openspace #jam

When:
Entire week except Tuesday

Where:
Room 501

WARM-UP SESSIONS

Gyrokinesis warm-up / Hatha Yoga

Initiated by Gloria Carobini (student)
For anyone interested
max 20 participants
Bring your own yoga mat for Hatha Yoga
Questions or more info? gloria.carobini@student.ap.com
Joining a warm-up is not enough to count for a participation to NextDoors

A daily morning warm-up session based on the principles of Gyrokinesis, a movement practice that integrates breath, flow, and body awareness to awaken the senses and activate the center. Through circular and spiraling sequences, the work aims to “create space between the bones,” lengthen the spine, and cultivate both stability and freedom of movement.

A key element of the practice is the narrowing of the pelvis—the gentle connection between the pubic bone and the navel during exhalation—which brings support to the lumbar spine and neck, often our weakest points. Finding this inner connection before moving allows the body to gain space, stability, and a sense of grounded expansion, preparing participants for a day of artistic exploration.

In alternation I also propose Hatha Yoga sessions focused on awakening the body, meditation, and activating the circulatory system. Through breath and mindful movement, the practice fosters balance, presence, and openness—creating a shared physical and energetic foundation for students of dance, drama, and music.

Monday - Hatha Yoga

Tuesday - Gyrokinesis

Wednesday - Hatha Yoga

Thursday - gyrokinesis

Friday - Hatha yoga

#bodyawakening

When:
Entire week 9h00-10h00

Where:
Studio L

Warm-up "Movement Research: space & play"

Initiated by Olga Uzikaeva
For anyone interested
Questions or more info? olga.uzikaeva@student.ap.be
Joining a warm-up is not enough to count for a participation to NextDoors

This session is grounded in movement research and guided improvisation. For 30 minutes, we will move continuously between vertical and horizontal levels, exploring the geometry of space and the geometry of our own bodies while defining their boundaries. Some exercises will combine movement with writing and drawing, so please bring a notebook and pencils.

#bodyawakening

When:
Tue 9h15-10h00

Where:
Room 436

Ludic Musicking warm-up

Initiated by Nicholas Cornia
For anyone interested
Questions or more info? nicholas.cornia@ap.be
Joining a warm-up is not enough to count for a participation to NextDoors

The goal of this workshop is to provide playful and interactive modalities for music making, blurring the divide between composers, performers and audience.

As warm-up Nicholas presents a short musical game.

#bodyawakening

When:
Wed 9h15-10h00

Where:
Room 160

UNITY AND DISSARAY, FLOW, VIEWPOINTS warm-up

Initiated by Rino Sokol
For anyone interested
Questions or more info? r.sokol@live.nl
Joining a warm-up is not enough to count for a participation to NextDoors

Rino will give a warm-up based on his workshop Unity and Disarray, flow, viewpoints.

During the introduction week of this school year, I gave a short workshop on contemporary performance tools. A handful of people were interested in continuing to explore these tools on the floor.

Through all of these doings, we will encounter creative output. Sometimes we will be able to catch it; more often, it will pass by. We will practice both letting go and developing ideas and material.

The spirit of the week is training and collective improvisation.

#bodyawakening

When:
Thu 9h15-10h00

Where:
Zwarte Zaal

PROJECTS NOT OPEN TO PARTICIPATE BUT WELCOME TO PAY A VISIT

Creative Project 2 Rehearsals

These are the rehearsals for the Creative Final Projects. You cannot participate, but definitely worth a visit!

Grip

Mon-Tue-Wed afternoon, Thu-Fr full day I Studio L
Sharing moment Friday afternoon

Ekerold Leala-Domini

s139163@ap.be

Breath of Freedom

Mon-Tue-Wed-Thu mornings I Room 136

Sofiia Dubii & Mykhailo Ilienko

mykhailo.ilienko@student.ap.be / sofiia.dubii@student.ap.be

Bach Reimagined

Mon-Tue-Wed-Fri I Room 58

Lissy Aydoslu

lissy.aydoslu@student.ap.be

‘México Multisonoro’ — Territories, Memory & Sound

Mon morning I Room 57

Abraham Sotelo, Israel Reyes, Lorena Benítez & Andoni Pedone

abraham.santiagosotelo@student.ap.be / israel.reyesmartinez@student.ap.be / lorena.benitezvazquez@student.ap.be / andoni.pedone@student.ap.be

Breaks “n” Resonances

Monday and Friday morning and afternoon, Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon I Room 431

Ignacio Álvarez Lamolda

ignacio.alvarezlamolda@student.ap.be

The Thread Between Us

Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday-Thursday I Room 140

Maria Petrou & Inga Godea

maria.petrou@student.ap.be / inga.godea@student.ap.be

Composing Kafka

Full week I Room 164

João Sá, Julie Syne, Teresa Seabra, Sofia Azevedo, Mariana Maia & Rodrigo Cardoso

joao.ferreiradesa@student.ap.be / julie.syne@student.ap.be / teresa.machadoseabra@student.ap.be / sofia.oliveiradeazevedo@student.ap.be / mariana.monteiromaia@student.ap.be / rodrigo.cardoso@student.ap.be

Brushstrokes & Bowstrokes

Full week I Room 163

Sara Simões / s119809@ap.be

Twenties Desire

Full week, afternoons I Room 103

Meinse Verhulst

meinse.verhulst@student.ap.be

Tower of Babel

Monday afternoon, Tuesday & Thursday morning and afternoon, Friday morning I Room 152

Rune Mertens & Juliette Briand

rune.mertens@student.ap.be / juliette.briand@student.ap.be

Shaped or Shaper

Wednesday-Thursday-Friday, mornings I Room 150

Aude Van de Keere, José Kercadio, Tomás Bryant-Jorge & Wei-Chieh

aude.vandekeere@student.ap.be / tomas.costaladeirabryantjorge@student.ap.be / jose.dekercadiosarmentolencartesilva@student.ap.be / wei-chieh.sun@student.ap.be

Earth Resonant

Wed-Thu morning and afternoon I Room 322

Oleksandra Makarova, Antonia Gerling & Milan Peeters

antonia.gerling@student.ap.be / milan.peeters@student.ap.be / oleksandra.makarova@student.ap.be

Echoes of the Fort

Wed-Thu afternoon I Room 154

Grim Ongena, Tijs Van Looke-Merrill, Aïcha-Angelique Janssens & Robbert Van de Cloot

aicha-angelique.janssens@student.ap.be / grim.ongena@student.ap.be / tijs.vanlooke-merrill@student.ap.be / robbert.vandecloot@student.ap.be

Chinese traditions

Thursday-Friday afternoon I Percussion room Beel 3

Yilin Hu, Zijun Xiu, Haobo Sun & Benzheng Tao

yilin.hu@studentap.be / zijun.xiu@student.ap.be / haobo.sun@student.ap.be / benzheng.tao@student.ap.be

Entre raiz y ruido: lo que olvidamos devolver

Mon-wed-thu morning and afternoon Fri morning I Room 161

Ana Bueno, Jan Badia, Roser Ramos, Agustin Maestre and Núria Marcote

nuria.marcotetorres@student.ap.be

When:
Entire week

Where:
Different locations

Breathing

Initiated by Els Smedts (Jazz coordinator)
Not open for external participants, but open to the public
Performance in Rataplan on 12/2 at 8:30 p.m.
Contact: els.smedts@ap.be

In this project, led by Ben Sluijs, the focus is on the music of Bill Frisell. Frisell is a prime example of how an interdisciplinary approach can work in the arts, because his music constantly builds bridges between genres, art forms and contexts. Frisell thinks beyond genres and moves freely between jazz, folk, country, rock, blues, classical music and Americana. He treats these styles not as separate disciplines, but as fields of language that are in dialogue with each other. He has composed and improvised extensively for film (including Buster Keaton films), worked with dance, theatre and visual arts, and drawn inspiration from literature and photography. In these projects, music is not an autonomous discipline, but part of a larger artistic whole, in which meaning arises through interaction between the different media. Finally, Frisell connects musical practice with historical and social contexts—a core idea of interdisciplinary thinking, in which art, history and society influence each other.

When:
Entire week morning and afternoon

Where:
Room 210

Jazz/live electronics project

initiated by Els Smedts (Jazz coordinator)
not open to external participants, but open to the public
contact: els.smedts@ap.be

Have you ever wondered what happens when the spontaneity of jazz meets the endless possibilities of live coding?

Now's your chance to find out! The combination of live coding and jazz offers a rich, unexplored terrain for artistic and technical innovation.

The Jazz/Live-Electonics ensemble is led by Dago Sondervan.

As a live coder and member of the pioneering band Namid & Sondervan, he explored how real-time algorithmic music generation can interact with

and enhance the spontaneity, improvisation and expressiveness of a jazz combo.

This research aims to push the boundaries of both disciplines, establishing a dialogue between human musicians and improvised electronic music through

instantly generated compositions.

The results of this experiment will be presented on 11 March 2027 at deSingel at the International Conference on Live Coding (ICLC).

When:
Entire week

morning & afternoon

Where:
Room 228

Open Score STOP, werkproces

Initiated by Karin de Fleyt, Stijn Saveniers, Maya Verlaak (teachers)

Ensemble XXI members (15 studenten)
More info or questions? karin.defleyt@ap.be; stijn.saveniers@ap.be; maya.verlaak@ap.be

Tijdens drie dagen gaan we aan de slag met de score van STOP, een open form partituur van Karlheinz Stockhausen. De muzikanten zijn met een open call reeds ingevuld maar de repetities zijn open voor geïnteresseerde luisteraars. Op vrijdag 13 februari gaan we in dialoog met het publiek en delen we onze ervaringen van het repetitieproces.

#improvisation, #experiment, #creation, #education, #digital, #technology, #repertoire

When:
Mon-Tue-Fri morning

Where:
Kleine Zaal

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