performance
The Studio Contemporary Dance Company, Zagreb, Croatia
Choreography: Ksenija Zec
Dramaturgy: Saša Božić
Dancers: Irene Dumbović, Dina Ekštajn, Petra Hraščanec, Bosiljka Vujović Mažuran, Ana Mrak, Ivana Miletić Piškor, Ana Vnučec, Branko Banković, Silvio Vovk, Jerko Marčić
Music: Damir Šimunović
Costumes: Zdravka Ivandija
Set-design: Igor Pauška
Light: Igor Pauška, Saša Božić
The show lasts 60 minutes.
The new production of the Studio Contemporary Dance Company “Sale” is a performance delineating the areas of transit, the zone of excessive sale and consumption. The motives of supply, purchase and demand are ironically twisted in the play; they draw attention to the restless body of a dancer, who - in a constant search for an ideal spectator and obsessed with the desire to be liked – becomes exposed and evaluated. Ksenija Zec’s choreography structurally imports the patterns of the consumer society deepening their complexity by documentary, private statements of the performers. The said motives erratically twist, meander, jump and replicate, breaking the laws of dance syntax only occasionally mirrored in an unusual and unexpected reflection or its own copy. In this way the choreographer does not offer, does not criticise, does not preach on the topic of consumerism and a subject as hollow, but stages the systems of consumption, analysing the ways in which consumerism generates subjects and the effects it yields.
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Ksenija Zec, is currently considered to be one of the most respectable choreographers of the Croatian dance scene. Constantly refreshing her authorial expression and combining a conceptual approach to dance with an emphasised interest for movement and theatre, Ksenija Zec experiments with the levels of a performer’s presence on the stage, winning over the Croatian theatre with each new production: “Do Not Fear, I’m Afraid Too” (Tala Dance Centre, 2008), “Nos Vamos a Ver” (The Theatre for The Blind and Visually Impaired: New Life, Zagreb, Best Performance Award of the Golden Lion Festival, Umag, 2007), “The Same” (Zagreb Dance Ensemble 2005, The Best Choreographer Award of the Croatian Association of Dramatic Artists). Her productions and projects have been staged in Austria, Germany and Great Britain.
Saša Božić, a theatre director and dramaturge, active in the field of European contemporary dance. He has authored dramaturgy for the award-winning shows such as “Denuded” (Zagreb Dance Ensemble - The Best Dance Show Award of the Croatian Association of Dramatic Artists, choreography: Snježana Abramović Milković), “Nos Vamos a ver” (The New Life Theatre, Zagreb, the Grand Prix of the Golden Lion Festival in Umag, choreography: Ksenija Zec), “The Same” (Zagreb Dance Ensemble, the Best Choreography Award of the Croatian Association of Dramatic Artists to Ksenija Zec, 2005). The joint project with Belgrade-based artist Dalija Aćin “Handle with a Great Care” was awarded with the first Prize of Jardin d' Europe, the most prestigious European Dance Festival ImPulsTanz in Vienna 2008. His projects are being staged in European theatres in Berlin, Essen, Oslo and the Belgrade Drama Theatre.
The Studio Contemporary Dance is the first Croatian company with a contemporary dance expression which was founded in 1962 in Zagreb under the artistic guidance of Ana and Vera Maletić. The artistic helm was taken over by Tihana Škrinjarić in 1868, Zaga Živković in 1979, and Bosiljka Vujović-Mažuran in 1997.
The work of the Studio is based on the tradition of innovation in the field of contemporary dance expression, which always embraces new trends in artistic and cultural communication. Besides domestic choreographers who have been active on the Croatian dance scene for years, the company has collaborated with a number of premier choreographers and pedagogues from France, England, USA, Spain, Slovenia and Holland.
The Studio has been present on all Croatian dance and theatrical stages for years, collaborating with all theatres of Zagreb and appearing in a number of domestic festivals. Their productions have been performed in Germany, Austria, Italy, Sweden, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, South Korea, Slovenia, Portugal, Peru, Greece, Armenia, Macedonia, Slovakia and Egypt. The Studio Contemporary Dance received the Best Production as a Whole Award of the Croatian Association of Dramatic Artists for 2004 for the show “Kaputt” choreographed by Mirjana Preis.