Shows
Wednesday, November 10 at 7pm: Special Edition
Venue: Old Power Station - Elektro Ljubljana
Concept and project execution: Andreja Rauch Podrzavnik
Performing: Zlatko Kaučič, Eduardo Raon, Giorgia Belotti, Luke Thomas Dunne, Tomaž Lapajne Dekleva, Andreja Rauch Podrzavnik
Lights: Borut Cajnko
Production: Zavod Federacija
Coproduction: DUM društvo umetnikov, Moderna galerija
Photo: Nada Žgank
The performance takes place mostly without words, but partly also in Slovene and English.
Special Edition is a series of short improvisations, movement-sound and sound-movement images created by performing artists of various media: dance, music and theatre. Within the frame of set configurations - duet, trio, quartet or quintet, the performers compose instantly. With increased attention, responsiveness, following and manipulation, they continuously create structures of images, from which patterns emerge, which are transformed into visual-sound impressions as well as potential narratives.
“Special Edition in various constellations opens up different potentials. The moment of unpredictability and sudden connection is always fascinating. It is such a joy to follow the process of instant creative shocks… «
(a part of the letter from Suzana to Andreja)
Andreja Rauch Podrzavnik is a choreographer and a pedagogue, the creator of many projects as well as co-creator of collective projects. In 2009, she co-founded Zavod Federacija and is a member of the Federacija collective. In her projects she collaborates with artists of various different media - musicians, dancers, designers, actors, singers. She conceives dance as a way of behaving and at the same time as a visual artistic potential. She explores what movement and dance offer to different contexts. Her big interest in composition is followed up by close collaborations with musicians and designers, exploring the points of contact between different media.
She studied at the London Contemporary Dance School, at the California Institute of the Arts, at the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana and at seminars in Slovenia and abroad. She teaches dance composition and improvisation at SVŠGUGL and at workshops in Slovenia and abroad. She occasionally lectures at the Academy of Dance. She has received several awards for her work: Dance Europe Award, Critics' Choice (2003 for Tipke), Povodni mož Award (2004 for Kostanjevo rjava), expert jury Award at the Gibanica festival (2007 for Tkalci), Ksenija Hribar Award in choreographer / author category (2015), as a member of the Federacija collective she received Meta Vidmar Plaque (for the work with youth, 2014), Župančič Award (2021), Ksenija Hribar Award in choreographer / author category (2021).
Zlatko Kaučič celebrated forty years of work within the field of jazz and improvised music and mentoring young musicians in 2018. He started his professional music career in 1978, at the Tres Tristes Tigres club in the Spanish city of Valencia, where he got a job as a house drummer. But even before that, in the early 1970s, he swept it across the border, recorded and performed in Italy, participated in the music cooperative Swiss in Switzerland, where he also played with Radu Malfatti, moved to Barcelona in 1976 and began playing in clubs and festivals as a soloist and in collaboration with various musicians, including Steve Lacy. From 1981 to 1983, Zlatko taught drums at the Taller de musicos jazz school in Barcelona. Since 1984, when he moved to Amsterdam, he has become involved in the extremely strong improvised music scene there and has established himself as a composer in the field of performing arts and dance in particular. After independence, he settled again in Slovenia and stepped into an extremely fruitful creative period.
He has released over 60 albums, some of them have been recognized at home and abroad. From his extensive opus, quite a few of them were ranked on various top selections. The East West Daydreams album received 5 stars in All About Jazz magazine, the work Zvočna polja za T. S. was named Album of the Month in 2012 in the same magazine. The triple album entitled Koncerti ob 30. letnici ustvarjanja was ranked among the top 10 albums in 2009 by British magazine JazzTimes and by Italian magazine JazzColours. The album Round about one o’clock, which he created together with Evan Parker, was also ranked among the top 10 albums in 2011. The solo project PAV was ranked among the 100 best albums in the online magazine All About Jazz in 2007, and the album entitled Emigrants was ranked among the 100 best albums of 2011 by music critics.
Eduardo Raon is a Portuguese classically educated harpist, composer and sound designer living in Ljubljana. In addition to his international activities, he also works in Slovenia. He creates contemporary and improvised music and plays with a kaleidoscope of ethno, noise, pop, retro, rock, ambience and electronic music. He has collaborated with musicians and ensembles: I-Wolf, Powertrio, Turbamulta, Maria João & Mário Laginha, Bypass, Ela Não É Francesa Ele Não É Espanhol, Hipnótica, O Espectáculo d'Ontem, Bratko Bibič, Vid Drašler, Goran Krmac Quartet, Tomaž Grom. He creates music for contemporary performing arts. He collaborates with local and international artists: Teja Reba, Barbara Kapelj Osredkar, Marta Navaridas, Janez Janša, Bojan Jablanovec, Olja Grubič, Alvaro García de Zúñiga & Teresa Albuquerque, Caroline Bergeron, Clara Andermatt and Teresa Sobral. He is intensively active in the field of film music, as a composer and a performing musician, especially in Slovenska kinoteka: Entuziazem. Simfonija Donbasa (Dziga Vertov), Metropolis (Fritz Lang), Die Puppe (Ernst Lubitsch). Together with Bratko Bibič and Vid Drašler, he co-created music for Bibič's film Na domačem vrtu 3 (2016). He has composed music for films by directors: Filipe Abranches, Isabel Aboim Inglês, Nuno Amorim, João Nicolau.
Luke Thomas Dunne comes from Leicestershire, UK. In 2006, he graduated in dance from the Trinity Laban Conservatoire in London. In the summer of 2007, he joined the EN-KNAP Group, of which he has been an integral member ever since. He recently became an assistant artistic director of EN-KNAP, within which he has worked over the years not only as a dancer but also as a choreographer. Luke is a versatile performer who has gained his wide experience by working on projects within the group in collaboration with renowned choreographers, artists and directors. He has also led numerous workshops across Europe. Luke is a family person who in his spare time likes to crochet, play basketball and enjoy video games.
Giorgia Belotti was born in 1996 in Italy. She graduated in 2018 from Codarts University of the Arts in Rotterdam, where she performed in pieces Club Guy and Roni, Liat Magnezy, Ben Wright, Nicolas Cantillon and Laurence Yadi. She was a member of the EN-KNAP Group for two years. She currently performs in various performances across Europe, including the performances Carry On and Special Edition by choreographer Andreja Rauch Podrzavnik.
Tomaž Lapajne Dekleva is an award-winning theatre creator working in the field of contemporary performing arts, excellent especially in theatrical improvisation. So far, he has toured in Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Georgia, Croatia, Italy, Canada, Lithuania, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. He has written a number of published or staged theatre plays, sometimes he also writes prose or even poetry. Otherwise, he lives a peaceful life with his wife, three children and a cat.
Concept and project execution: Andreja Rauch Podrzavnik
Performing: Zlatko Kaučič, Eduardo Raon, Giorgia Belotti, Luke Thomas Dunne, Tomaž Lapajne Dekleva, Andreja Rauch Podrzavnik
Lights: Borut Cajnko
Production: Zavod Federacija
Coproduction: DUM društvo umetnikov, Moderna galerija
Photo: Nada Žgank
The performance takes place mostly without words, but partly also in Slovene and English.
Special Edition is a series of short improvisations, movement-sound and sound-movement images created by performing artists of various media: dance, music and theatre. Within the frame of set configurations - duet, trio, quartet or quintet, the performers compose instantly. With increased attention, responsiveness, following and manipulation, they continuously create structures of images, from which patterns emerge, which are transformed into visual-sound impressions as well as potential narratives.
“Special Edition in various constellations opens up different potentials. The moment of unpredictability and sudden connection is always fascinating. It is such a joy to follow the process of instant creative shocks… «
(a part of the letter from Suzana to Andreja)
Andreja Rauch Podrzavnik is a choreographer and a pedagogue, the creator of many projects as well as co-creator of collective projects. In 2009, she co-founded Zavod Federacija and is a member of the Federacija collective. In her projects she collaborates with artists of various different media - musicians, dancers, designers, actors, singers. She conceives dance as a way of behaving and at the same time as a visual artistic potential. She explores what movement and dance offer to different contexts. Her big interest in composition is followed up by close collaborations with musicians and designers, exploring the points of contact between different media.
She studied at the London Contemporary Dance School, at the California Institute of the Arts, at the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana and at seminars in Slovenia and abroad. She teaches dance composition and improvisation at SVŠGUGL and at workshops in Slovenia and abroad. She occasionally lectures at the Academy of Dance. She has received several awards for her work: Dance Europe Award, Critics' Choice (2003 for Tipke), Povodni mož Award (2004 for Kostanjevo rjava), expert jury Award at the Gibanica festival (2007 for Tkalci), Ksenija Hribar Award in choreographer / author category (2015), as a member of the Federacija collective she received Meta Vidmar Plaque (for the work with youth, 2014), Župančič Award (2021), Ksenija Hribar Award in choreographer / author category (2021).
Zlatko Kaučič celebrated forty years of work within the field of jazz and improvised music and mentoring young musicians in 2018. He started his professional music career in 1978, at the Tres Tristes Tigres club in the Spanish city of Valencia, where he got a job as a house drummer. But even before that, in the early 1970s, he swept it across the border, recorded and performed in Italy, participated in the music cooperative Swiss in Switzerland, where he also played with Radu Malfatti, moved to Barcelona in 1976 and began playing in clubs and festivals as a soloist and in collaboration with various musicians, including Steve Lacy. From 1981 to 1983, Zlatko taught drums at the Taller de musicos jazz school in Barcelona. Since 1984, when he moved to Amsterdam, he has become involved in the extremely strong improvised music scene there and has established himself as a composer in the field of performing arts and dance in particular. After independence, he settled again in Slovenia and stepped into an extremely fruitful creative period.
He has released over 60 albums, some of them have been recognized at home and abroad. From his extensive opus, quite a few of them were ranked on various top selections. The East West Daydreams album received 5 stars in All About Jazz magazine, the work Zvočna polja za T. S. was named Album of the Month in 2012 in the same magazine. The triple album entitled Koncerti ob 30. letnici ustvarjanja was ranked among the top 10 albums in 2009 by British magazine JazzTimes and by Italian magazine JazzColours. The album Round about one o’clock, which he created together with Evan Parker, was also ranked among the top 10 albums in 2011. The solo project PAV was ranked among the 100 best albums in the online magazine All About Jazz in 2007, and the album entitled Emigrants was ranked among the 100 best albums of 2011 by music critics.
Eduardo Raon is a Portuguese classically educated harpist, composer and sound designer living in Ljubljana. In addition to his international activities, he also works in Slovenia. He creates contemporary and improvised music and plays with a kaleidoscope of ethno, noise, pop, retro, rock, ambience and electronic music. He has collaborated with musicians and ensembles: I-Wolf, Powertrio, Turbamulta, Maria João & Mário Laginha, Bypass, Ela Não É Francesa Ele Não É Espanhol, Hipnótica, O Espectáculo d'Ontem, Bratko Bibič, Vid Drašler, Goran Krmac Quartet, Tomaž Grom. He creates music for contemporary performing arts. He collaborates with local and international artists: Teja Reba, Barbara Kapelj Osredkar, Marta Navaridas, Janez Janša, Bojan Jablanovec, Olja Grubič, Alvaro García de Zúñiga & Teresa Albuquerque, Caroline Bergeron, Clara Andermatt and Teresa Sobral. He is intensively active in the field of film music, as a composer and a performing musician, especially in Slovenska kinoteka: Entuziazem. Simfonija Donbasa (Dziga Vertov), Metropolis (Fritz Lang), Die Puppe (Ernst Lubitsch). Together with Bratko Bibič and Vid Drašler, he co-created music for Bibič's film Na domačem vrtu 3 (2016). He has composed music for films by directors: Filipe Abranches, Isabel Aboim Inglês, Nuno Amorim, João Nicolau.
Luke Thomas Dunne comes from Leicestershire, UK. In 2006, he graduated in dance from the Trinity Laban Conservatoire in London. In the summer of 2007, he joined the EN-KNAP Group, of which he has been an integral member ever since. He recently became an assistant artistic director of EN-KNAP, within which he has worked over the years not only as a dancer but also as a choreographer. Luke is a versatile performer who has gained his wide experience by working on projects within the group in collaboration with renowned choreographers, artists and directors. He has also led numerous workshops across Europe. Luke is a family person who in his spare time likes to crochet, play basketball and enjoy video games.
Giorgia Belotti was born in 1996 in Italy. She graduated in 2018 from Codarts University of the Arts in Rotterdam, where she performed in pieces Club Guy and Roni, Liat Magnezy, Ben Wright, Nicolas Cantillon and Laurence Yadi. She was a member of the EN-KNAP Group for two years. She currently performs in various performances across Europe, including the performances Carry On and Special Edition by choreographer Andreja Rauch Podrzavnik.
Tomaž Lapajne Dekleva is an award-winning theatre creator working in the field of contemporary performing arts, excellent especially in theatrical improvisation. So far, he has toured in Armenia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Georgia, Croatia, Italy, Canada, Lithuania, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. He has written a number of published or staged theatre plays, sometimes he also writes prose or even poetry. Otherwise, he lives a peaceful life with his wife, three children and a cat.
Photo: Nada Žgank
Wednesday, November 10 at 9pm: Us Two Between Us: Improviser's Cut
Venue: Old Power Station - Elektro Ljubljana
Concept and performing: Luka Piletič, Sara Šoukal
Music: Rok Zalokar
Lights: Borut Cajnko
Producer: Eva Jus
The performance is in Slovene.
Sara Šoukal and Luka Piletič created a theatre performance Us Two Between Us. Unable to include everything they wanted, they also developed the performance’s improvised cousin – Us Two Between Us: Improviser's Cut. In it they explore the functionalities and dysfunctionalities of life in partnership. They play with different aspects of a relationship between two people, in which love is supposed to be the main point of contact. What introduces elements of dysfunctional and disruptive into a relationship and what gives it a fundamental stability and rhythm? The performers are not trying to bring up a magnificent universal story or answer the eternal question “What is Love?” because admittedly they know nothing about it. Instead they address the merging of the seemingly incompatible dichotomies that form relationships.
Luka Piletič is a young performing artist who specializes in devised, clown and street theatre. He is the winner of the awards for the best rookie and the best improviser of the Slovene Impro League in the 2019/2020 season. He studied at the French theatre academy École Philippe Gaulier.
Sara Šoukal is a mature theatre artist, as an actress and as a pedagogue she is most active in the field of theatrical improvisation. Lately, she has been setting her foot on other performative fields with joy and interest. She is active in Slovenia and abroad, in many impro collectives, theatres and associations.
Rok Zalokar is a pianist and a composer from Ljubljana, receiving the Jazzon Award for the best composition and performance and the Erasmus Jazz Prize. After years of studying and living in Rotterdam and Copenhagen, he is now an important artist in the Ljubljana (off)jazz scene. He regularly plays at festivals in Slovenia and abroad. Since 2011, his main focus has been the piano trio, with which he presented himself to the Slovenian scene in 2012 at Klubski maraton. In addition to the trio, Rok explores various different music formats and ensembles that challenge conventional genre parameters.
Concept and performing: Luka Piletič, Sara Šoukal
Music: Rok Zalokar
Lights: Borut Cajnko
Producer: Eva Jus
The performance is in Slovene.
Sara Šoukal and Luka Piletič created a theatre performance Us Two Between Us. Unable to include everything they wanted, they also developed the performance’s improvised cousin – Us Two Between Us: Improviser's Cut. In it they explore the functionalities and dysfunctionalities of life in partnership. They play with different aspects of a relationship between two people, in which love is supposed to be the main point of contact. What introduces elements of dysfunctional and disruptive into a relationship and what gives it a fundamental stability and rhythm? The performers are not trying to bring up a magnificent universal story or answer the eternal question “What is Love?” because admittedly they know nothing about it. Instead they address the merging of the seemingly incompatible dichotomies that form relationships.
Luka Piletič is a young performing artist who specializes in devised, clown and street theatre. He is the winner of the awards for the best rookie and the best improviser of the Slovene Impro League in the 2019/2020 season. He studied at the French theatre academy École Philippe Gaulier.
Sara Šoukal is a mature theatre artist, as an actress and as a pedagogue she is most active in the field of theatrical improvisation. Lately, she has been setting her foot on other performative fields with joy and interest. She is active in Slovenia and abroad, in many impro collectives, theatres and associations.
Rok Zalokar is a pianist and a composer from Ljubljana, receiving the Jazzon Award for the best composition and performance and the Erasmus Jazz Prize. After years of studying and living in Rotterdam and Copenhagen, he is now an important artist in the Ljubljana (off)jazz scene. He regularly plays at festivals in Slovenia and abroad. Since 2011, his main focus has been the piano trio, with which he presented himself to the Slovenian scene in 2012 at Klubski maraton. In addition to the trio, Rok explores various different music formats and ensembles that challenge conventional genre parameters.
Photo: Anže Jesenovec
Thursday, November 11 at 7pm: Voices
Venue: Old Power Station - Elektro Ljubljana
Concept and performing: Mistral Majer, Olivija Grafenauer, Sara Šoukal, Urša Strehar Benčina
Music: Luka Seliškar
Lights: Veronika Hana Grubič
Production: Improške, Društvo Impro
The performance is in Slovene.
The performance Voices touches on the topic of inner voices and the different ways in which they manifest themselves to the outside world.
Voices were born out of the quarantine loneliness. Most of the stage characters and real people have been isolating lately and various inner and external voices have been keeping us company: those from the news, those from friends at a distance, voices of our own emotions and thoughts, as well as screams and silence that spreads between them. Every now and then we wondered about being in or out of tune with ourselves and also about the level of attunement with the world. Are we safe, are we free, can we feel our own integrity? Do we exist as holistic personalities? Can someone hear us? Do our voices contradict each other? Can we still achieve things together?
Inner voices are a part of us all, they are scaring us, encouraging us, blaming us or admonishing us. They come in different forms, at different times, sometimes as our friends, sometimes as our enemies. We find multiple ways to deal with our own voices: listen to them, suppress them, overhear them or hug them. The creators of the performance are looking for ways to express inner voices and to respond to the voices of others. They are exploring how to seek or avoid harmony. They are also interested in what the decision to place your voice against another brings with it.
Improške is an open, non-hierarchically organized group of improvisers, operating under association Društvo Impro. Within the group, they research gender topics and tackle various projects where they play with subversion. Improške represents a safe community for its members in which they can explore, develop, test their limits and seek different forms of expression through improvised performance. The members met in 2014 at an inspiring workshop on gender in theatrical improvisation. They connected and activated and since then they have carried out several productions, performed at festivals Rdeče zore, Igraj se z mano, Naked Stage, Sindikat odklonskih entitet, Evenings in ŠKUC, Rdeči revirji etc.
Olivija Grafenauer is a seasoned theatre artist, a member of the Improške and Gverila Teater collectives. She works at the association Društvo Impro where she is enabling and encouraging young people to dive into impro already in primary and secondary schools. She explores different roles by improvising and she enjoys making this possible for many others. She loves puzzles and the sea.
Mistral Majer is a seasoned theatre artist, in recent years one of the most prominent and active figures in the Slovenian impro scene. She tirelessly and constantly tries to make space for impro theatre in the Slovenian theatre world, in this respect she is indispensable. She is also a member of the Improške collective. Last year she completed her education at ŠUGLA, the street theatre school of Ana Monro. She loves good debates and dancing.
Urša Strehar Benčina is also a seasoned theatre artist and a pedagogue. She has been active in the Slovenian Impro League for several years. She works at Pionirski dom where she teaches theatre and improvisation and where she is currently preparing various projects researching the applicability of impro theatre for different target groups. With the idea of where and how impro can help educational and creative processes, she also travels around Europe. Last year she played the title role in the anti-fairytale musical Mojca Rockraculja. She loves incense sticks and summer.
Sara Šoukal is also a seasoned theatre artist. You could say she grew up with impro theatre. Today she performs and teaches both at home and abroad, collaborates with many impro collectives and associations. Lately she has a desire to connect with various performative fields, for example she recently co-directed a theatre-dance event Cypher at Mladinsko gledališče in Ljubljana. She loves tea and mornings in general.
Luka Seliškar is as well a seasoned improviser, only that in recent years his seasoning was taking place mostly within the music area. For the last decade, he has been creating sound and music for performances by many impro collectives. He has the Improvizija 2019 First Prize statue in his living room. He likes to get up late and he loves the smell of rain.
Concept and performing: Mistral Majer, Olivija Grafenauer, Sara Šoukal, Urša Strehar Benčina
Music: Luka Seliškar
Lights: Veronika Hana Grubič
Production: Improške, Društvo Impro
The performance is in Slovene.
The performance Voices touches on the topic of inner voices and the different ways in which they manifest themselves to the outside world.
Voices were born out of the quarantine loneliness. Most of the stage characters and real people have been isolating lately and various inner and external voices have been keeping us company: those from the news, those from friends at a distance, voices of our own emotions and thoughts, as well as screams and silence that spreads between them. Every now and then we wondered about being in or out of tune with ourselves and also about the level of attunement with the world. Are we safe, are we free, can we feel our own integrity? Do we exist as holistic personalities? Can someone hear us? Do our voices contradict each other? Can we still achieve things together?
Inner voices are a part of us all, they are scaring us, encouraging us, blaming us or admonishing us. They come in different forms, at different times, sometimes as our friends, sometimes as our enemies. We find multiple ways to deal with our own voices: listen to them, suppress them, overhear them or hug them. The creators of the performance are looking for ways to express inner voices and to respond to the voices of others. They are exploring how to seek or avoid harmony. They are also interested in what the decision to place your voice against another brings with it.
Improške is an open, non-hierarchically organized group of improvisers, operating under association Društvo Impro. Within the group, they research gender topics and tackle various projects where they play with subversion. Improške represents a safe community for its members in which they can explore, develop, test their limits and seek different forms of expression through improvised performance. The members met in 2014 at an inspiring workshop on gender in theatrical improvisation. They connected and activated and since then they have carried out several productions, performed at festivals Rdeče zore, Igraj se z mano, Naked Stage, Sindikat odklonskih entitet, Evenings in ŠKUC, Rdeči revirji etc.
Olivija Grafenauer is a seasoned theatre artist, a member of the Improške and Gverila Teater collectives. She works at the association Društvo Impro where she is enabling and encouraging young people to dive into impro already in primary and secondary schools. She explores different roles by improvising and she enjoys making this possible for many others. She loves puzzles and the sea.
Mistral Majer is a seasoned theatre artist, in recent years one of the most prominent and active figures in the Slovenian impro scene. She tirelessly and constantly tries to make space for impro theatre in the Slovenian theatre world, in this respect she is indispensable. She is also a member of the Improške collective. Last year she completed her education at ŠUGLA, the street theatre school of Ana Monro. She loves good debates and dancing.
Urša Strehar Benčina is also a seasoned theatre artist and a pedagogue. She has been active in the Slovenian Impro League for several years. She works at Pionirski dom where she teaches theatre and improvisation and where she is currently preparing various projects researching the applicability of impro theatre for different target groups. With the idea of where and how impro can help educational and creative processes, she also travels around Europe. Last year she played the title role in the anti-fairytale musical Mojca Rockraculja. She loves incense sticks and summer.
Sara Šoukal is also a seasoned theatre artist. You could say she grew up with impro theatre. Today she performs and teaches both at home and abroad, collaborates with many impro collectives and associations. Lately she has a desire to connect with various performative fields, for example she recently co-directed a theatre-dance event Cypher at Mladinsko gledališče in Ljubljana. She loves tea and mornings in general.
Luka Seliškar is as well a seasoned improviser, only that in recent years his seasoning was taking place mostly within the music area. For the last decade, he has been creating sound and music for performances by many impro collectives. He has the Improvizija 2019 First Prize statue in his living room. He likes to get up late and he loves the smell of rain.
Photo: Maruša Alice
Thursday, November 11 at 9pm: Choose Your Shoes
Venue: Old Power Station - Elektro Ljubljana
Concept and performing: Billy Kissa, Elvira Lingris
Music: Goran Završnik
Lights: Borut Cajnko
Production: BE
The performance is in English.
The performers Billy and Elvira are very different people who have a lot in common. Yes, that happens. Actually, it happens quite often if you only give a chance to people. During difficult times in both their lives, everything that Billy and Elvira shared brought them close. So close that it allowed them to better understand their differences, their sharpest edges and annoying behaviours. They observed them all without judgement or the need to change each other. They created a bridge of empathy. And they want to share this bridge with us, with the audience, through the medium of a performance. Inspired by controversial characters and difficult behaviours, the performance invites us to wear other shoes, shoes of various characters and people who interest us for one reason or another. So wear your best socks, come take a walk, choose your shoes!
BE is a Greek improvisational duo consisting of Elvira Lingris and Billy Kissa from Athens. They both have cats. They both have an older brother. They both suffer from low self-esteem. They both love Queens of the Stone Age. They are both extremely emotional and empathetic. One is vegetarian, the other eats meat passionately. One has a dog, the other loves dogs only from afar. One knows how to
use Photoshop, the other knows only one definition of a lasso. One loves camping, the other
would rather die. Billy and Elvira are BE because they quite frequently ask themselves
"Ugh, why can't we just be?". But mostly because an acronym was easy. And sometimes easy is
nice.
Billy Kissa is an actress won over by improvisational theatre. She lives in Athens, but has been travelling around the world extensively since 2012, teaching, learning and performing. She is a part of the European network for improvisers The SIN, a member of the European collision for women in impro Project.Eve and a co-creator of the international ensemble 3 Deadly Sinners. Back in Greece she is a teacher at HoI, House of Improv.
Elvira Lingris is part improviser, part web developer, always a cat mother. When not in front of a computer, she improvises in Athens as a member of the collective Poochoomeow and within the duo BE together with Billy Kissa. She struggles to take up space both on stage and in life, but being a member and co-founder of the Greek Women in Improv group has helped a lot in that direction.
Goran Završnik learnt piano as a child and after three years he ran from music school and never came back. Then he discovered the synthesizer with lots of buttons and everything became fun again. Now, after thirty years, he works with incredibly interesting impro artists and groups, musically co-creating events like the Improvision Song Contest in Ljubljana and Graz, Moment festival in Vienna or Improvention festival in Canberra, Australia. He is trying to push the right button or key at the right moment, not to interrupt too much the almighty impro action on stage. The best accompanying music, they say, is music you don’t hear. But sometimes impro musicians need to be loud and full of initiative. From a punk singer and a keyboard player in a high school band of the Yugoslavian Army to the biggest (110 kg) Slovenian impro theatre musician.
Concept and performing: Billy Kissa, Elvira Lingris
Music: Goran Završnik
Lights: Borut Cajnko
Production: BE
The performance is in English.
The performers Billy and Elvira are very different people who have a lot in common. Yes, that happens. Actually, it happens quite often if you only give a chance to people. During difficult times in both their lives, everything that Billy and Elvira shared brought them close. So close that it allowed them to better understand their differences, their sharpest edges and annoying behaviours. They observed them all without judgement or the need to change each other. They created a bridge of empathy. And they want to share this bridge with us, with the audience, through the medium of a performance. Inspired by controversial characters and difficult behaviours, the performance invites us to wear other shoes, shoes of various characters and people who interest us for one reason or another. So wear your best socks, come take a walk, choose your shoes!
BE is a Greek improvisational duo consisting of Elvira Lingris and Billy Kissa from Athens. They both have cats. They both have an older brother. They both suffer from low self-esteem. They both love Queens of the Stone Age. They are both extremely emotional and empathetic. One is vegetarian, the other eats meat passionately. One has a dog, the other loves dogs only from afar. One knows how to
use Photoshop, the other knows only one definition of a lasso. One loves camping, the other
would rather die. Billy and Elvira are BE because they quite frequently ask themselves
"Ugh, why can't we just be?". But mostly because an acronym was easy. And sometimes easy is
nice.
Billy Kissa is an actress won over by improvisational theatre. She lives in Athens, but has been travelling around the world extensively since 2012, teaching, learning and performing. She is a part of the European network for improvisers The SIN, a member of the European collision for women in impro Project.Eve and a co-creator of the international ensemble 3 Deadly Sinners. Back in Greece she is a teacher at HoI, House of Improv.
Elvira Lingris is part improviser, part web developer, always a cat mother. When not in front of a computer, she improvises in Athens as a member of the collective Poochoomeow and within the duo BE together with Billy Kissa. She struggles to take up space both on stage and in life, but being a member and co-founder of the Greek Women in Improv group has helped a lot in that direction.
Goran Završnik learnt piano as a child and after three years he ran from music school and never came back. Then he discovered the synthesizer with lots of buttons and everything became fun again. Now, after thirty years, he works with incredibly interesting impro artists and groups, musically co-creating events like the Improvision Song Contest in Ljubljana and Graz, Moment festival in Vienna or Improvention festival in Canberra, Australia. He is trying to push the right button or key at the right moment, not to interrupt too much the almighty impro action on stage. The best accompanying music, they say, is music you don’t hear. But sometimes impro musicians need to be loud and full of initiative. From a punk singer and a keyboard player in a high school band of the Yugoslavian Army to the biggest (110 kg) Slovenian impro theatre musician.
Photo: BE
Friday, November 12 at 7pm: Backstage Pieces
Venue: Old Power Station - Elektro Ljubljana
Concept and performing: Za crknt team
Eva Š. Maurer, Jošt Jesenovec, Petra Markovič, Simeon Huzun, Tina Janežič, Tomaž Lapajne Dekleva
Lights: Borut Cajnko
Production: Društvo za sodobno klovnsko umetnost
The performance is in Slovene.
The clown is improvisation.
The clown is creating in the backstage.
The clown show is a rehearsal.
The clown is not serious art.
This time, the Za crknt clowns will defend the trenches of non-serious art, their personalities and alter identities. They will do so in given situations which will be determined in the moment itself.
What happens when the Politician finds himself in a role of a panda at a zoo, how does Jolanda cope with talking to a psychotherapist, what is the producer Klausy doing at the audition for a musical and how is Lingaling promoting smoking marijuana. These are just some of the fun suggestions that performers may be experiencing and playing with live.
The audience will experience the process of creating a clown number, when well-known clown personalities come to life in a context that is not easily fitting. Welcome to the impro clown show. Welcome to the clown backstage.
Years ago, a group of professional clowns decided to create the Za crknt cabaret in order to be able to research and develop contemporary clowning in all its dimensions and to bring it closer to an adult audience. They later formalized their activity in the association Društvo za sodobno klovnsko umetnost. Rather than to a traditional circus they offer a hand to life. Contemporary clowns break the fourth wall with humor and contact the people with their devoted play. With their naive and direct approach to today’s current topics, they address the audience members who took off their work clothes and remembered that they were human.
Concept and performing: Za crknt team
Eva Š. Maurer, Jošt Jesenovec, Petra Markovič, Simeon Huzun, Tina Janežič, Tomaž Lapajne Dekleva
Lights: Borut Cajnko
Production: Društvo za sodobno klovnsko umetnost
The performance is in Slovene.
The clown is improvisation.
The clown is creating in the backstage.
The clown show is a rehearsal.
The clown is not serious art.
This time, the Za crknt clowns will defend the trenches of non-serious art, their personalities and alter identities. They will do so in given situations which will be determined in the moment itself.
What happens when the Politician finds himself in a role of a panda at a zoo, how does Jolanda cope with talking to a psychotherapist, what is the producer Klausy doing at the audition for a musical and how is Lingaling promoting smoking marijuana. These are just some of the fun suggestions that performers may be experiencing and playing with live.
The audience will experience the process of creating a clown number, when well-known clown personalities come to life in a context that is not easily fitting. Welcome to the impro clown show. Welcome to the clown backstage.
Years ago, a group of professional clowns decided to create the Za crknt cabaret in order to be able to research and develop contemporary clowning in all its dimensions and to bring it closer to an adult audience. They later formalized their activity in the association Društvo za sodobno klovnsko umetnost. Rather than to a traditional circus they offer a hand to life. Contemporary clowns break the fourth wall with humor and contact the people with their devoted play. With their naive and direct approach to today’s current topics, they address the audience members who took off their work clothes and remembered that they were human.
Photo: Miha Fras
Friday, November 12 at 9pm: Tune
Venue: Old Power Station - Elektro Ljubljana
Concept and performing: Kasia Chmara, Órla Mc Govern
Music: Niceol Blue
Lights: Borut Cajnko
Production: Which Is Which
The performance is in English.
The creators of the performance Tune have been inspired by the observation of how tunes, melodies, short sound memories and ideas accompany us through life. We often, almost unconsciously, sing repetitive patterns of tones, fragments of familiar songs or sound sequences that are emerging within ourselves. Sometimes we create a musical background for our lives, at other times tunes serve as a tool for processing everything that happens to us. Instead of the opening sequence the performers ask an audience member for a tune which often appears in their mind. DJ Niceol then transforms it into a sound landscape and Kasia and Órla follow her with building the stories, creating the characters and diving into their wonderful messy lives, full of comedy and drama.
Which Is Which is an Irish-Polish duo consisting of impro veterans Kasia Chmara and Órla Mc Govern. They met within the international project Our Lives and after a quick acquaintance they began to work together intensively. Since then the strong creative chemistry of their relationship has not left them. The show Tune is made in collaboration with the Irish soundscape artist and DJ Niceol Blue.
Kasia Chmara studied at the International Film, Theatre and Tv School in Lodz. She performs with numerous impro groups and is involved in many projects and network: wymyWammy (Bydgoszcz), Two Sisters, Impro Atak (Lodz), European impro network Ohana, international project 7 Women of Different Ages, Irish-Polish duo Which is Which, international ensemble The Allnighters. Chmara is the artistic director of Improdrom, the international impro festival in Bydgoszcz. Currently she is finishing her PhD on creating characters for scripts through improvisational techniques. She guestperformed and taught workshops in Poland, Spain, Czech Republic, India, Ireland, Slovenia, France, Estonia, Germany,Latvia, Greece and Sweden. Nowadays she is an actress at the Kameralny Theatre in Bydgoszcz.
Órla Mc Govern is an award-winning storyteller, improviser, instructor, performer and writer based in Galway, Ireland. Her plays have been produced globally and she has written two books of stories Dublin Folk Tales For Children and Wild Waves & Wishing Wells (The History Press). She is the founder and artistic director of The Spontaneous Theatre People, of Moth & Butterfly Storytelling Collective, a trustee of Galway collective Theatre 57, a member of Connemara Artist Group Interface Inagh and a member of the European impro network Ohana. She loves swimming in the sea in all seasons.
Niceol Blue is a musician and a writer, working in theatre for ten years, specialising in the tech side of the art form with a strong focus on sound and music. Niceol DJs with Which is Which, is a member of Moth & Butterfly Storytelling Collective and a founding member of The Sky Babies Improv Troupe in Galway, Ireland. Under other personas, Niceol also works as a fantasy novelist, DJ and soundscape artist.
Concept and performing: Kasia Chmara, Órla Mc Govern
Music: Niceol Blue
Lights: Borut Cajnko
Production: Which Is Which
The performance is in English.
The creators of the performance Tune have been inspired by the observation of how tunes, melodies, short sound memories and ideas accompany us through life. We often, almost unconsciously, sing repetitive patterns of tones, fragments of familiar songs or sound sequences that are emerging within ourselves. Sometimes we create a musical background for our lives, at other times tunes serve as a tool for processing everything that happens to us. Instead of the opening sequence the performers ask an audience member for a tune which often appears in their mind. DJ Niceol then transforms it into a sound landscape and Kasia and Órla follow her with building the stories, creating the characters and diving into their wonderful messy lives, full of comedy and drama.
Which Is Which is an Irish-Polish duo consisting of impro veterans Kasia Chmara and Órla Mc Govern. They met within the international project Our Lives and after a quick acquaintance they began to work together intensively. Since then the strong creative chemistry of their relationship has not left them. The show Tune is made in collaboration with the Irish soundscape artist and DJ Niceol Blue.
Kasia Chmara studied at the International Film, Theatre and Tv School in Lodz. She performs with numerous impro groups and is involved in many projects and network: wymyWammy (Bydgoszcz), Two Sisters, Impro Atak (Lodz), European impro network Ohana, international project 7 Women of Different Ages, Irish-Polish duo Which is Which, international ensemble The Allnighters. Chmara is the artistic director of Improdrom, the international impro festival in Bydgoszcz. Currently she is finishing her PhD on creating characters for scripts through improvisational techniques. She guestperformed and taught workshops in Poland, Spain, Czech Republic, India, Ireland, Slovenia, France, Estonia, Germany,Latvia, Greece and Sweden. Nowadays she is an actress at the Kameralny Theatre in Bydgoszcz.
Órla Mc Govern is an award-winning storyteller, improviser, instructor, performer and writer based in Galway, Ireland. Her plays have been produced globally and she has written two books of stories Dublin Folk Tales For Children and Wild Waves & Wishing Wells (The History Press). She is the founder and artistic director of The Spontaneous Theatre People, of Moth & Butterfly Storytelling Collective, a trustee of Galway collective Theatre 57, a member of Connemara Artist Group Interface Inagh and a member of the European impro network Ohana. She loves swimming in the sea in all seasons.
Niceol Blue is a musician and a writer, working in theatre for ten years, specialising in the tech side of the art form with a strong focus on sound and music. Niceol DJs with Which is Which, is a member of Moth & Butterfly Storytelling Collective and a founding member of The Sky Babies Improv Troupe in Galway, Ireland. Under other personas, Niceol also works as a fantasy novelist, DJ and soundscape artist.
Saturday, November 13 at 7pm: Loaves and Fishes
Venue: Layer House Kranj
The show 500 Seconds was supposed to be performed during this time slot, but was cancelled due to an illness in the cast. The performance Loaves and Fishes will be staged instead.
Concept: Órla Mc Govern
Performing: Sara Šoukal, Peter Frankl, Dino Kapetanović, Matjaž Peklaj, Elvira Lingris, Órla Mc Govern
Music: Andraž Gartner
Lights: Borut Cajnko
Production: KD IGLU – Improvizacijsko gledališče Ljubljana, in cooperation with KUD Kiks
The performance is in English.
KUD Kiks is an extremely popular cultural and artistic association from Kranj, which deals with improvisational theatre, stand up comedy, screenwriting, video production and more recently also streaming events on the internet. In the performance Loaves and Fishes KUD Kiks will be represented by Dino Kapetanović and Matjaž Peklaj.
Sara Šoukal is a mature theatre artist, as an actress and as a pedagogue she is most active in the field of theatrical improvisation. Lately, she has been setting her foot on other performative fields with joy and interest. She is active in Slovenia and abroad, in many impro collectives, theatres and associations.
Peter Frankl is an improviser, a musician, dancer and performer. He is a co-founder of the most active Slovenian impro theatre IGLU (Improvisational Theatre of Ljubljana). He works as a theatre teacher, actor and performer in theatrical plays and in TV shows on the Slovenian national television and he wows the crowds as part of the hip hop, rap and trap collective SBO. As improviser he has visited numerous festivals in Europe and North America and has performed at the Naked Stage festival in the past as well.
Elvira Lingris is part improviser, part web developer, always a cat mother. When not in front of a computer, she improvises in Athens as a member of the collective Poochoomeow and within the duo BE together with Billy Kissa. She struggles to take up space both on stage and in life, but being a member and co-founder of the Greek Women in Improv group has helped a lot in that direction.
Órla Mc Govern is an award-winning storyteller, improviser, instructor, performer and writer based in Galway, Ireland. Her plays have been produced globally and she has written two books of stories Dublin Folk Tales For Children and Wild Waves & Wishing Wells (The History Press). She is the founder and artistic director of The Spontaneous Theatre People, of Moth & Butterfly Storytelling Collective, a trustee of Galway collective Theatre 57, a member of Connemara Artist Group Interface Inagh and a member of the European impro network Ohana. She loves swimming in the sea in all seasons.
Andraž Gartner is an amateur actor, improviser and theatre artist, but above all a musician and a singer who has been creating under the pseudonym Canegatto for many years. He achieved the greatest official success at Slovenska popevka 2018, when he ranked second with the song Samo mirno, samo dalje. He also performed at the music festival Melodije morja in sonca. As part of his own brand G-art he collaborates in the bands Nevergreen brothers and Andro Quartet. He is a long-term keyboard player in the performances of the IGLU Theatre.
The show 500 Seconds was supposed to be performed during this time slot, but was cancelled due to an illness in the cast. The performance Loaves and Fishes will be staged instead.
Concept: Órla Mc Govern
Performing: Sara Šoukal, Peter Frankl, Dino Kapetanović, Matjaž Peklaj, Elvira Lingris, Órla Mc Govern
Music: Andraž Gartner
Lights: Borut Cajnko
Production: KD IGLU – Improvizacijsko gledališče Ljubljana, in cooperation with KUD Kiks
The performance is in English.
KUD Kiks is an extremely popular cultural and artistic association from Kranj, which deals with improvisational theatre, stand up comedy, screenwriting, video production and more recently also streaming events on the internet. In the performance Loaves and Fishes KUD Kiks will be represented by Dino Kapetanović and Matjaž Peklaj.
Sara Šoukal is a mature theatre artist, as an actress and as a pedagogue she is most active in the field of theatrical improvisation. Lately, she has been setting her foot on other performative fields with joy and interest. She is active in Slovenia and abroad, in many impro collectives, theatres and associations.
Peter Frankl is an improviser, a musician, dancer and performer. He is a co-founder of the most active Slovenian impro theatre IGLU (Improvisational Theatre of Ljubljana). He works as a theatre teacher, actor and performer in theatrical plays and in TV shows on the Slovenian national television and he wows the crowds as part of the hip hop, rap and trap collective SBO. As improviser he has visited numerous festivals in Europe and North America and has performed at the Naked Stage festival in the past as well.
Elvira Lingris is part improviser, part web developer, always a cat mother. When not in front of a computer, she improvises in Athens as a member of the collective Poochoomeow and within the duo BE together with Billy Kissa. She struggles to take up space both on stage and in life, but being a member and co-founder of the Greek Women in Improv group has helped a lot in that direction.
Órla Mc Govern is an award-winning storyteller, improviser, instructor, performer and writer based in Galway, Ireland. Her plays have been produced globally and she has written two books of stories Dublin Folk Tales For Children and Wild Waves & Wishing Wells (The History Press). She is the founder and artistic director of The Spontaneous Theatre People, of Moth & Butterfly Storytelling Collective, a trustee of Galway collective Theatre 57, a member of Connemara Artist Group Interface Inagh and a member of the European impro network Ohana. She loves swimming in the sea in all seasons.
Andraž Gartner is an amateur actor, improviser and theatre artist, but above all a musician and a singer who has been creating under the pseudonym Canegatto for many years. He achieved the greatest official success at Slovenska popevka 2018, when he ranked second with the song Samo mirno, samo dalje. He also performed at the music festival Melodije morja in sonca. As part of his own brand G-art he collaborates in the bands Nevergreen brothers and Andro Quartet. He is a long-term keyboard player in the performances of the IGLU Theatre.
Saturday, November 13 at 9pm: Parachute
Venue: Layer House Kranj
Concept and performing: Jacob Banigan
Music: Goran Završnik
Lights: Borut Cajnko
The performance is in English.
It is wonderful to observe a master of improvisation during a free fall, or better, during a free flow. To start his improvisation and the stories that trickle out of it, Jacob reads a random article on Wikipedia. By doing this he jumps into one of the corners of the world, into a story that supposedly revolves around the kernel of truth. However, when another random Wikipedia article comes in, the situation becomes complicated. Will the new input help explain what is going on in the story or will it possibly shed light on the obscurity of our understanding of the world? This way or another, Jacob commits to his impro principle: First you jump, then you build a parachute!
Jacob Banigan is a Canadian improviser and actor living in Graz, Austria. He performs and co-creates various formats of improvisation, short-form, long-form, marathon performances by large ensembles or solo shows. He travels extensively throughout Europe and North America, where he performs and teaches. Jacob joined the Rapid Fire Theater in Edmonton, Canada in 1990, and served as Artistic Director of RFT from 1995 to 2004. He is an ensemble member of the Theater im Bahnhof in Graz, English Lovers in Vienna and Rocket Sugar Factory anywhere in the world. Character creation, world-building and challenging story structure are infinitely inspiring to him.
Goran Završnik learnt piano as a child and after three years he ran from music school and never came back. Then he discovered the synthesizer with lots of buttons and everything became fun again. Now, after thirty years, he works with incredibly interesting impro artists and groups, musically co-creating events like the Improvision Song Contest in Ljubljana and Graz, Moment festival in Vienna or Improvention festival in Canberra, Australia. He is trying to push the right button or key at the right moment, not to interrupt too much the almighty impro action on stage. The best accompanying music, they say, is music you don’t hear. But sometimes impro musicians need to be loud and full of initiative. From a punk singer and a keyboard player in a high school band of the Yugoslavian Army to the biggest (110 kg) Slovenian impro theatre musician.
Concept and performing: Jacob Banigan
Music: Goran Završnik
Lights: Borut Cajnko
The performance is in English.
It is wonderful to observe a master of improvisation during a free fall, or better, during a free flow. To start his improvisation and the stories that trickle out of it, Jacob reads a random article on Wikipedia. By doing this he jumps into one of the corners of the world, into a story that supposedly revolves around the kernel of truth. However, when another random Wikipedia article comes in, the situation becomes complicated. Will the new input help explain what is going on in the story or will it possibly shed light on the obscurity of our understanding of the world? This way or another, Jacob commits to his impro principle: First you jump, then you build a parachute!
Jacob Banigan is a Canadian improviser and actor living in Graz, Austria. He performs and co-creates various formats of improvisation, short-form, long-form, marathon performances by large ensembles or solo shows. He travels extensively throughout Europe and North America, where he performs and teaches. Jacob joined the Rapid Fire Theater in Edmonton, Canada in 1990, and served as Artistic Director of RFT from 1995 to 2004. He is an ensemble member of the Theater im Bahnhof in Graz, English Lovers in Vienna and Rocket Sugar Factory anywhere in the world. Character creation, world-building and challenging story structure are infinitely inspiring to him.
Goran Završnik learnt piano as a child and after three years he ran from music school and never came back. Then he discovered the synthesizer with lots of buttons and everything became fun again. Now, after thirty years, he works with incredibly interesting impro artists and groups, musically co-creating events like the Improvision Song Contest in Ljubljana and Graz, Moment festival in Vienna or Improvention festival in Canberra, Australia. He is trying to push the right button or key at the right moment, not to interrupt too much the almighty impro action on stage. The best accompanying music, they say, is music you don’t hear. But sometimes impro musicians need to be loud and full of initiative. From a punk singer and a keyboard player in a high school band of the Yugoslavian Army to the biggest (110 kg) Slovenian impro theatre musician.
Sunday, November 14 at 5pm: Improvocation S2E4
Venue: Old Power Station - Elektro Ljubljana
Performative conference, the fourth episode of the second season
Basic concept of the platform: Andreja Kopač, Žigan Krajnčan, Gorazd Pakozdi
Concept of the second season: Gorazd Pakozdi
Enactors: Billy Kissa, Radharani Pernarčič, Jacob Banigan, Nikolina Komljenović, Kasia Chmara
Host: Gorazd Pakozdi
Lights: Borut Cajnko
Production: International Dance Terrorist Organization
Coproduction of the fourth episode of the second season: Naked Stage
The conference is in English.
Improvocations were developed in 2016 by Gorazd Pakozdi, Andreja Kopač and Žigan Krajnčan with the aim of researching improvisation together with the local community and exploring how people in this community understand and use improvisation. Improvocations choose a different format for each season. The first season of Improvocations was in the format of a studio meeting, the second in the format of a performative conference, the third in the format of a performance and the fourth season (from October 2021 onwards) is in the format of a performative publication. Improvocation at the Naked Stage will be the fourth episode of the second season, which means it will use the format of the second season: performative conference.
The enactors of the conference will be Radharani Pernarčič, Nikolina Komljenović, Kasia Chmara, Jacob Banigan and Billy Kissa. The host of Improvocation S2E4 will be Gorazd Pakozdi.
The schedule of the conference
5pm – 6.30pm First part: Introduction and contributions by the enactors
6.30pm – 7pm Break
7pm – 9pm Second part: Performative reflection based on enactors' contributions and conclusion
In the first part each of the enactors will share their vision, experience and use of improvisation in their work. They will do so in their own way, in the medium they find most appropriate. In the second part there will be a performative discussion on improvisation based on the contributions of the enactors.
As the name of the format suggests, the conference will take place not only at the level of language, speech, statement, lecture, but also in other performative mediums.
The conference will have its conclusions which will be published first on the website and later, hopefully, also in the form of a newspaper.
Gorazd Pakozdi explores playfulness in roles such as dancer, performer, choreographer, clown, pedagogue, writer, producer, MC (to name just a few). He does so in the forms of performance, dance, play, event, choreography, experiment, installation, lecture, workshop, publication, clown number, video, score (to name just a few). He is a member of DISCOllective, which has been since 2010 playing the Game of Names, in which members exchange and borrow each other's names for their works of art. For the sake of introducing more fun to life.
Kasia Chmara studied at the International Film, Theatre and Tv School in Lodz. She performs with numerous impro groups and is involved in many projects and network: wymyWammy (Bydgoszcz), Two Sisters, Impro Atak (Lodz), European impro network Ohana, international project 7 Women of Different Ages, Irish-Polish duo Which is Which, international ensemble The Allnighters. Chmara is the artistic director of Improdrom, the international impro festival in Bydgoszcz. Currently she is finishing her PhD on creating characters for scripts through improvisational techniques. She guestperformed and taught workshops in Poland, Spain, Czech Republic, India, Ireland, Slovenia, France, Estonia, Germany,Latvia, Greece and Sweden. Nowadays she is an actress at the Kameralny Theatre in Bydgoszcz.
Jacob Banigan is a Canadian improviser and actor living in Graz, Austria. He performs and co-creates various formats of improvisation, short-form, long-form, marathon performances by large ensembles or solo shows. He travels extensively throughout Europe and North America, where he performs and teaches. Jacob joined the Rapid Fire Theater in Edmonton, Canada in 1990, and served as Artistic Director of RFT from 1995 to 2004. He is an ensemble member of the Theater im Bahnhof in Graz, English Lovers in Vienna and Rocket Sugar Factory anywhere in the world. Character creation, world-building and challenging story structure are infinitely inspiring to him.
Radharani Pernarčič is an anthropologist, a choreographer and a dancer. She works as an interdisciplinary artist. She published two poetry collections. She wrote and performed poetry for music in the ensemble Icy Noctiluca. In 2012 she founded SENSEncePICNIC, a platform for somatic practice. She collaborated in the projects Knjiga oglja and Figura doma with Mihaela Ciuha. In 2017 she had a resounding solo installation in Modena, Italy, entitled Skin-deep jag. The doors to deep skin, which was gradually expanded into a holistic visual-art-text exhibition Izumije in pra-skice Castra Fik Arke (Layer House, Kranj 2019, Cirkulacija2, Ljubljana 2021). Together with Srečko Jorš she creates visual-performative installations and improvisational performances within the project Na stalnem naslovu najinega početja (galleries MOTA, Jakopič, Simulaker, Goga, Cirkulacija2). She graduated from university with her final anthropological thesis on Improvisation as a Way of Art, as a Way of Life (2005). Lately she has also been enjoying writing essay-reviews for the online platform Neodvisni.
Billy Kissa is an actress won over by improvisational theatre. She lives in Athens, but has been travelling around the world extensively since 2012, teaching, learning and performing. She is a part of the European network for improvisers The SIN, a member of the European collision for women in impro Project.Eve and a co-creator of the international ensemble 3 Deadly Sinners. Back in Greece she is a teacher at HoI, House of Improv.
Nikolina Komljenović is a performing artist with a wide range of knowledge. Based on movement, starting from the subconscious, internal mechanisms that interact with the audience. She works on structures that arise from relations, from reciprocity, and builds them by weight transfer.
She works in the field of performing and visual arts, also circus arts. She collaborated with Božidar Šumi, Bruno Pocheron, Isabelle Schad, Rosalind Crisp, Sidney Leoni, Luis Miguel Felix and Ben Evans, Anne Juren, Eric Lecomte, Žak Valenta, Boris Bakal, Saša Božić, Boris Barta, Studio for contemporary dance and more. Nikolina teaches aerial acrobatics to children and adults and contemporary dance for professional dancers. She is a producer of a dance association Experimental free scene (ekscena). She holds a MA of Art History and Comparative Literature.
Performative conference, the fourth episode of the second season
Basic concept of the platform: Andreja Kopač, Žigan Krajnčan, Gorazd Pakozdi
Concept of the second season: Gorazd Pakozdi
Enactors: Billy Kissa, Radharani Pernarčič, Jacob Banigan, Nikolina Komljenović, Kasia Chmara
Host: Gorazd Pakozdi
Lights: Borut Cajnko
Production: International Dance Terrorist Organization
Coproduction of the fourth episode of the second season: Naked Stage
The conference is in English.
Improvocations were developed in 2016 by Gorazd Pakozdi, Andreja Kopač and Žigan Krajnčan with the aim of researching improvisation together with the local community and exploring how people in this community understand and use improvisation. Improvocations choose a different format for each season. The first season of Improvocations was in the format of a studio meeting, the second in the format of a performative conference, the third in the format of a performance and the fourth season (from October 2021 onwards) is in the format of a performative publication. Improvocation at the Naked Stage will be the fourth episode of the second season, which means it will use the format of the second season: performative conference.
The enactors of the conference will be Radharani Pernarčič, Nikolina Komljenović, Kasia Chmara, Jacob Banigan and Billy Kissa. The host of Improvocation S2E4 will be Gorazd Pakozdi.
The schedule of the conference
5pm – 6.30pm First part: Introduction and contributions by the enactors
6.30pm – 7pm Break
7pm – 9pm Second part: Performative reflection based on enactors' contributions and conclusion
In the first part each of the enactors will share their vision, experience and use of improvisation in their work. They will do so in their own way, in the medium they find most appropriate. In the second part there will be a performative discussion on improvisation based on the contributions of the enactors.
As the name of the format suggests, the conference will take place not only at the level of language, speech, statement, lecture, but also in other performative mediums.
The conference will have its conclusions which will be published first on the website and later, hopefully, also in the form of a newspaper.
Gorazd Pakozdi explores playfulness in roles such as dancer, performer, choreographer, clown, pedagogue, writer, producer, MC (to name just a few). He does so in the forms of performance, dance, play, event, choreography, experiment, installation, lecture, workshop, publication, clown number, video, score (to name just a few). He is a member of DISCOllective, which has been since 2010 playing the Game of Names, in which members exchange and borrow each other's names for their works of art. For the sake of introducing more fun to life.
Kasia Chmara studied at the International Film, Theatre and Tv School in Lodz. She performs with numerous impro groups and is involved in many projects and network: wymyWammy (Bydgoszcz), Two Sisters, Impro Atak (Lodz), European impro network Ohana, international project 7 Women of Different Ages, Irish-Polish duo Which is Which, international ensemble The Allnighters. Chmara is the artistic director of Improdrom, the international impro festival in Bydgoszcz. Currently she is finishing her PhD on creating characters for scripts through improvisational techniques. She guestperformed and taught workshops in Poland, Spain, Czech Republic, India, Ireland, Slovenia, France, Estonia, Germany,Latvia, Greece and Sweden. Nowadays she is an actress at the Kameralny Theatre in Bydgoszcz.
Jacob Banigan is a Canadian improviser and actor living in Graz, Austria. He performs and co-creates various formats of improvisation, short-form, long-form, marathon performances by large ensembles or solo shows. He travels extensively throughout Europe and North America, where he performs and teaches. Jacob joined the Rapid Fire Theater in Edmonton, Canada in 1990, and served as Artistic Director of RFT from 1995 to 2004. He is an ensemble member of the Theater im Bahnhof in Graz, English Lovers in Vienna and Rocket Sugar Factory anywhere in the world. Character creation, world-building and challenging story structure are infinitely inspiring to him.
Radharani Pernarčič is an anthropologist, a choreographer and a dancer. She works as an interdisciplinary artist. She published two poetry collections. She wrote and performed poetry for music in the ensemble Icy Noctiluca. In 2012 she founded SENSEncePICNIC, a platform for somatic practice. She collaborated in the projects Knjiga oglja and Figura doma with Mihaela Ciuha. In 2017 she had a resounding solo installation in Modena, Italy, entitled Skin-deep jag. The doors to deep skin, which was gradually expanded into a holistic visual-art-text exhibition Izumije in pra-skice Castra Fik Arke (Layer House, Kranj 2019, Cirkulacija2, Ljubljana 2021). Together with Srečko Jorš she creates visual-performative installations and improvisational performances within the project Na stalnem naslovu najinega početja (galleries MOTA, Jakopič, Simulaker, Goga, Cirkulacija2). She graduated from university with her final anthropological thesis on Improvisation as a Way of Art, as a Way of Life (2005). Lately she has also been enjoying writing essay-reviews for the online platform Neodvisni.
Billy Kissa is an actress won over by improvisational theatre. She lives in Athens, but has been travelling around the world extensively since 2012, teaching, learning and performing. She is a part of the European network for improvisers The SIN, a member of the European collision for women in impro Project.Eve and a co-creator of the international ensemble 3 Deadly Sinners. Back in Greece she is a teacher at HoI, House of Improv.
Nikolina Komljenović is a performing artist with a wide range of knowledge. Based on movement, starting from the subconscious, internal mechanisms that interact with the audience. She works on structures that arise from relations, from reciprocity, and builds them by weight transfer.
She works in the field of performing and visual arts, also circus arts. She collaborated with Božidar Šumi, Bruno Pocheron, Isabelle Schad, Rosalind Crisp, Sidney Leoni, Luis Miguel Felix and Ben Evans, Anne Juren, Eric Lecomte, Žak Valenta, Boris Bakal, Saša Božić, Boris Barta, Studio for contemporary dance and more. Nikolina teaches aerial acrobatics to children and adults and contemporary dance for professional dancers. She is a producer of a dance association Experimental free scene (ekscena). She holds a MA of Art History and Comparative Literature.
