TRIBUNE // Dance Your Self!
“Cracks” | Grėtė Šmitaitė (Lithuania)
Ah! I am stepping on my fear. Jeez! I see that you are also here.
“Cracks” starts from the dystopia that we are alone, clear and defined. Yet, the person on stage cannot manage to stay ‘one’. Being cracked and multiple, the person on stage hides one’s complexity and so violates oneself. Scratching one’s robustness, one meets oneself fragile and striving to relate.
Grėtė Šmitaitė is a dancer and choreographer working and living between Berlin and Kaunas (Lithuania) where she was also born. She graduated from HZT Berlin and has worked with choreographers such as Doris Uhlich, Min Tanaka, Anna Aristarkhova. Since 2014 she has been a practitioner of the Body Weather technique. During the last years, Grėtė has been researching change and relations. “Cracks” is the second solo work that stems from this research. It approaches the body as a participant of its constantly changing environment.
“(di) Sperare – Duo” | Giovanni Zazzera / Compagnie Z Art (Italy, Luxembourg)
There is much worse than believing only what you see: seeing only what you believe!
Confronted with a society where information exceeds our daily lives and where we no longer differentiate the true from the false, belief is called into question. “Credere” is a project based on the exploration of human beliefs which guide his convictions, visions, and ideals. “(di) Sperare,” which will be performed in the “ConTempo” Festival, is a fragment of the choreographic extract from the triptych “Credere” which explores the intricacies of human beliefs and the vital need to believe. Thus, in “(di) Sperare” one tastes the contagion of two bodies which allow themselves to be transported in a dialogue of concordance and oppositions, of extremes and excess, of connection and disconnection, of hopes and despair. It leads them to get lost and find each other to become aware of the invisible links that connect them.
Dancer and choreographer Giovanni Zazzera trained at the Conservatory of Dance in Luxembourg and obtained his higher diploma there. He continued his training in Brazil, where he was asked to work for various companies and deepen his experiences by doing various internships and training abroad (Paris, New York, and Tel Aviv). Since 2010 he has performed regularly on stage, working for multiple projects and companies in Luxembourg, France, Germany, and Finland. In 2013 he was awarded the Luxembourg Dance Prize for his numerous commitments. For several years he has been creating his pieces as a choreographer and signs several creations such as: “If I,” “T.r.U.s.t,” “Secrets,” “Quand le silence parle,” “Flowers grow even in the sand,” “Until you fall.” Active in the cultural field, G. Zazzera runs and directs the company Z Art Dance and is one of the founders of the new Luxemburgish dance collective Lucoda.
Project “TRIBUNE // Dance Your Self!“ is developed in partnership with “Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022” and “Esch-sur-Alzette European Capital of Culture 2022”. Partners TROIS C-L Centre de Création Chorégraphique Luxembourgeois, Lithuanian Dance Information Centre, Kaunas Cultural Center, “Kultūros platforma”.