Kalejdoskop Festival 2022 by Pionirski Dom

The festival offered combination of children’s and youth productions, dance performances by internationally renowned names in the field of expressive dance, dance workshops and public intervention. This edition took place as part of the Creative Europe project, Liberty EU. Main aim of the festival was to present artwork of the performers, give them a chance to taste the stages in foreign countries, opportunity to work abroad and to build their professional careers as well as explore and learn about different cultural ecosystems. Workshops were also a great opportunity for public, since they were free of charge and they offered wide range of dance genres. Intervention in public space also gave the festival higher recognition. We have also offered 2 performances to be seen online – live screening was possible for the performance Evolution and The Moment. We have also published booklets with the festival’s programme in English and Slovene language.

Dance Workshops

As part of the Kalejdoskop dance festival, we prepared admission free dance workshops in collaboration with 3 young artists.

Authentic Movement (workshop leader: Aleksandra Arizanović, SRB)

Through several fun and different tasks and questions, we  explored and found an original movement for every participant and then developed a communication between them using only body language, movement, gestures, and dance.

The Captured Moment (workshop leader: Kristýna Šajtošová, CZE)

We journeyed inside our bodies and explored the functioning of our bones, muscles and joints. Through various practices, we will tried to reach a deeper understanding of our body, which allows us to express ourselves in unique ways.

Movement and Improvisation through Jazz (workshop leader: Ona Elzbieta Visnevskyte, LIT)

Improvisation is at the core of jazz music and dancing, but it can also be tricky to let ourselves go and be in the moment. In this workshop we learned the fundaments of jazz and swing music, movement and expression. We explored different techniques and exercises that can help us improvise better. Through movement and exploration, we will also learned about the swing dance history, culture and core values of the dance.

The Movement of Intervention

This was a site-specific performance created with and performed by young participants at the Train Station in Ljubljana.

When Nobody becomes Somebody, but in reality, it is still Nobody Each collective sacrifices the individual… We are individuals who form a collective. Thoughts of freedom stir our imagination. This mere thought, however, makes it clear that we are prisoners of our own minds. Where is then this three-dimensional freedom which liberates psychology, body and spirit. Are these merely expression that we constantly rearrange and abuse. The enchantment of our complex thoughts will never grant us freedom. We can, however, within our confinement, sing our song and devote it to the passers-by. Let us fill the infinitely long moment with the movement of our bodies. Let us enliven the moments, which are slipping through us and disappearing, with a momentary spark of liberated purpose. Every such experience is a borrowed truth, but if we are responsible for it, it is already a step into our own consciousness, which may smell of freedom.

Project Author: Ana Romih

Consultancy by: Saša Lončar

Costume design by: Urška Medved

Performers: Ema Sirotić, Kiša Janković, Lara Matos, Lana Kariž Meško, Uma Žnidaršič, Pika Črnič, Larisa Sinovčić, Živa Kecelj, Alja Jovan, Eva Pirnat, Filip Štepec, Mirjam Kastelic, Lucija Čermelj, Jernej Šmid, Urška Medved, Zarja Tepina

Dance Performances

A number of dance performances also formed part of the festival.

Òwe (artist: Mufutau Yusuf)

Òwe is a solo work inspired by meditations on Yoruba proverbs, proverbs that acts as an archive of ancestral knowledge, intuitions, and values of Yoruba people.

Choreographer/performer: Mufutau Yusuf

Visual designer: Luca Truffarelli

Lighting designer: Matt Burke

Sound designer: Riccardo Vecchiarelli

Costume/prop designer: Nina Lopez Le Galliard

The Moment (artist: Ana Romih)

With Moment (Trenutek), the artist continues to explore, as well as create tactics and strategies for balancing the body in its full presence. Insofar as in her previous work the author sought ways of Being lighter (Lightness, 2021), in her new work, she seeks to find ways of immersing oneself in the immediacy of being, grounding oneself in the present through the cultivation of mindfulness, and thus also of returning to and building the habit of Being present. In her work, she will explore questions of the plasticity of our body and mind.

Concept, choreography and performance by Ana Romih

Dramaturgy by Jasmina Založnik

Movement and light design consultancy by Beno Novak

Consultancy by Saša Lončar

Costume design by Tina Pavlin

Voice consultancy by Eva Moškon

Technical sound design by Slavko Stojaković

Video documentation by Domen Dolenc

To Ressurect (artist: Beno Novak)

The fact is that our environment is permeated and saturated with digital, but invisible clouds. As such, these invisible concentrations of algorithms and choreographed commandments direct and regulate every physical presence of all organisms, living and non-living alike. The physical presence seems to be especially paradoxical, and in the function of invisible choreographic appropriations. Conversely, it is exactly this physical presence that is conditioned by the physical experience, an experience in time of a particular heartbeat and the exchange of O₂ and CO₂.

In the space between the visible and the invisible, between the audible and the heard, between something that can be caught and something that cannot, the dancer and the musician cross paths. In it exactly in this in-between space, devoid of coincidence or surprise, that this paradox becomes the driving force behind the performers’ physical presence.

Rhythm and sound by Elvis Homan and Boštjan Simon

Choreography by Beno Novak

Backing by Matej Keržan

Acrobatic-dance performance: Evolution.

At first there was nothing, emptiness, darkness, vacuum. Then one fine day – bang – and the earth began to spin. Life began to develop on this carousel, and over time, so did man. How? Where from? Who are their ancestors? What was their path like from swinging on a tree branch to walking on the moon? How did they evolve, change, and where are they today?

In co-production with the Godot Cultural Institute, Pionirski dom – Centre for Youth, staged a theatrical performance of human evolution. Under the direction of director Tadej Pišek, the extensive topic, which spands millions of years, was approached in an entertaining, original and not at all didactic way. The stage of the Festival Hall will be transformed into a circus venue, where actor Tadej Pišek and masters of partner acrobatics Mojca Špik and Inan du Swami will take us through the seven-million-year journey of human evolution with acrobatic and dance antics, coupled with a humorous circus approach. The circus of humanity will be transformed into a circus on stage.

Directed by Tadej Pišek

Text by Tadej Pišek

Choreography by Inan Du Swami and Mojca Špik

Music by Marjan Peternel

Performers: Inan Du Swami, Mojca Špik and Tadej Pišek

Produced by Pionirski dom – Centre for Youth and Godot Cultural Institute

Gibogib: dance production

11 dance groups from the Pionirski dom, KUD Qulenium and guests performed on the stage.