In the past two years, the programming of the Festival focused on the presentation of artists from one country. This time, the spotlight will shine on Belgian contemporary dance. „Belgian creators like to experiment and use the expressive means of theatre, film, visual arts and new technologies. For many years, they have been setting trends in the development of contemporary dance in Europe, thanks to their strong background and significant institutional support,“ explained Festival artistic director Miroslava Kovářová.
The Festival will open with the Flemish company Ultima Vez with Hands Do Not Touch Your Precious Me. This acoustically unique and visually monumental work by the renowned choreographer and director Wim Vandekeybus is on the program on October 2, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. in the Slovak National Theatre. Dancers will be pushing the limits of their physical capabilities during this special evening, highlighted by an appearance on stage by Vandekeybus.
A counterpoint to the complexity of Ultima Vez will be the affectionate, intimate duet Sweat Baby Sweat by another legend of Flemish dance, Jan Martens. He created this work 12 years ago and it is one of his most presented choreographies, having been performed in 20 different countries. Bratislava spectators will be able to immerse themselves in the in the immediacy and mutuality of the slow movements of a permanently connected pair of dancers on October 9 at 7:00 p.m. in the SND Studio.
Another headliner at the 27th edition of the Festival is the ensemble of the successful Slovak creator Anton Lachký who lives and works in Brussels. His ecological work The Others, in which he appeals to people to love our planet and help heal it, has charmed international critics and is touring throughout Europe. The choreography was declared the best dance production at the 2022 Prix Maeterlinck de la Critique and won the Prize of the Minister of Education and the Coup De Foudre De La Presse award. The performance is scheduled for October 16, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. in the DPOH (Municipal Theatre). Taking advantage of the work’s educational message, the Festival will organize a morning performance for school groups on October 17, 2023 at 10:00 a.m.
Female energy explosions in A4
On October 13, 2023 at 8:00 p.m. in A4, Space for Contemporary Culture, two exceptional female dancers will create a special atmosphere. Both are among the twenty most promising upcoming European choreographers as selected annually by the international Aerowaves network. After a solo marathon of extremely fast and precise movements by the Belgian artist Loraine Dambermont in her Toujours de ¾ Face!, the talented Taiwanese-British dancer Ching-Ying Chien will perform. Chien has been associated with the world-famous Akram Khan Company for years. Fans of the hip-hop musician Plan B and the Chemical Brothers may know her choreography from video clips. In her work Vulture, Chien seeks the extremes of human body movement, turning animal in one moment and human being the next.
When dancers and musicians meet live on stage
It has been a rule that the Bratislava in Movement Festival presents dance performances outside theatres and its regular venues, thus creating opportunities to play with the distinctive connections unusual links between live art and genius loci. This time the festival will welcome Italian artists Camilla Monga and Emanuele Maniscalco on the premises of the newly renovated Slovak National Gallery. Their improvisational work Sull’attimo, in which four dancers and one musician will meet, is a continuous dialogue of movement and music inspired by jazz and Brazilian popular music. The performance will bring the audience into a meditative state on October 20, 2023 at 7:00 p.m.
The connection of dance and live music is present not only in the aforementioned Vulture performance, but also in the works of the celebrated Slovak dancer and choreographer Eva Klimáčková. With her company Cie E7KA, Paris-based Klimáčková will premiere the production Migrations Invisibles in which the audience will witness new dimensions of movement. Nina Rosa, a Slovak musician and singer working in Prague, will accompany the dancers on stage.
The result of the collaboration of two Hungarian artists – choreographer, performer and dancer László Fülöp and multidisciplinary artist Vince Varga – for the Divadlo Štúdio tanca in Banská Bystrica is the probing work At the Horizon of No Return about the state of our planet and civilization. The performance is scheduled for October 14, 2023 at 8:00 p.m. in A4.
Tickets and season tickets for all performances of the main program can be purchased via www.abp.sk/en/ or www.predpredaj.zoznam.sk/en/tickets/bratislava-v-pohybe-2023/
Bratislava in Movement – International Festival of Contemporary Dance
2 – 21 October 2023
Bratislava in Movement – www.abp.sk/en/
The Festival is held under the auspices of the Mayor of Bratislava, Matúš Vallo. The Festival is supported by public funding from the Slovak Arts Council. Strategic partners are the City of Bratislava and the Tatra Bank Foundation. The partner of the Festival is the Bratislava Tourist Board, with financial support by the Ministry of Transport of the Slovak Republic. The presentation of Peeping Tom, Ultima Vez and Jan Martens is supported by the Delegation of the Flemish Government. Selected artists are presented in the framework of Aerowaves, a project co-financed by the European Union. The Anton Lachký Company tour in Slovakia is organized by the Bratislava in Movement Association in partnership with Malý Berlin Cultural Centre and made possible with financial support from the SPP Foundation.