Testimonies of human fragility, identity and environmental activism.
Tantehorse presents the fifth installment of the Emergency Dances series, which gives creative space to emerging artists. Three selected works by young artists bring contemporary themes and stories about fragility, the search for identity and harmony between humanity and nature to the Palác Akropolis. Czech-Nigerian performance artist Angela Nwagbo will present a personal testimony about cultural, linguistic and social identity. Daniela Kolková explores the realm of radical subtlety through a delicate dance solo, and the pair of artists Claude Johann Čierny and Eduard Adam Orszulik will lead the audience to think about the environmental crisis. The premiere will take place on 4 and 5 November at Palác Akropolis.
The curator of Emergency Dances V. is dancer and choreographer Markéta Vacovská, together with her the dramaturge Kristýna Boháčová and the director Miřenka Čechová. "We were perhaps intrigued by the absolute difference of the individual works and yet the same need for a strong and loud call, the same commitment to the theme and the same desire to reframe it in society. All the works are based on the need to give a stage shape to their story, their trigger point and a problem that involves the whole of humanity. In one evening we will thus be able to observe the shift from the singular to the collective to the more-than-human," the curators of the project describe the selected works.
VRÁSNĚNÍ
The audience is invited on a journey through an inner landscape where they encounter fragility and ways of perceiving subtlety. Through movement, sound and interaction, the performance invites reflection on how we can integrate delicacy into our practice and open ourselves to a deeper connection with ourselves and the world around us. It is an invitation to introspect and discover the beauty in the subtle aspects of our existence.
Credits:
Daniela Kolková is a dancer and performer based in Prague. She is interested in new approaches to the creative process with an emphasis on ethics and sustainability. She graduated from the Dance Journey program under the Kibbutz contemporary dance company. She is a recent graduate of the BA in Nonverbal Theatre. She has worked with the theatre company Tantehorse and artists such as Anna Jirman, Veronika Knytlová and Alice Chauchat.
CONFLUENCE
The author's work oscillates between the genres of physical theatre, dance, documentary and anthropological theatre and reflects the journey of self-discovery of a Czech woman of mixed origin. It focuses on the themes of ethnic identity and interculturalism and is a story about the search for cultural, linguistic and social belonging. Using artistic devices such as music and fashion that fuse African and Slavic folklore, or a unique physical language that combines Western and African dance, the work brings to light what for many is still a utopian notion of harmony between African and European cultures.
Credits:
Angela Nwagbois an actress and dancer of Czech-Nigerian origin. She graduated at the department of alternative and puppet theater at DAMU, reflecting her multi-genre focus in her professional practice. She has worked in drama, alternative, musical and movement theatre, film, and is involved in contemporary dance as well as urban and African dance. In 2023, she completed a dance internship at the École des Sables in Senegal and, outside of the arts, she is doing anthropological research on African and Afro-Czech identities at the University of Hradec Králove. As an Afro-Czech, she feels the need to bring attention to themes of cultural and ethnic identity through her work in the field of performance art.
Siaka Toure is a polyvalent percussionist from Senegal. He dedicated his life to music in 2017 when he joined his first professional ensemble. Since then, he has worked as a djembe soloist in several Senegalese ensembles. As a proud representative of Mandinka culture, he plays the seouruba drums at cultural events throughout Senegambia. He teaches djembe and seourubé classes and accompanies international African dance workshops since 2023, including the prestigious l'École des Sables dance school.
XXX|||\\\
The project XXX|||\\\\\, conceived by the young Slovak artist C. J. Čierny, is created in collaboration with Czech dancer and choreographer E. A. Orszulik. Together they create a hybrid contemporary dance performance featuring him, Nicola Mascia (IT/DE) and Helén Tamaskó (HU), complemented by a virtual 3D film component by O. Konrad (CZ) and a live musical performance by experimental musician B. Tomášková (SK). The project explores metamorphosis against the backdrop of ecological collapse and confronts the entrenched anthropocentric ethos of extractivism. It imagines a symbiotic coexistence, embodied by organic sculpture-costumes by artist Moran Sanderovich (IL/DE) and movement structures that transcend anthropocentric constraints within an imaginary interactive landscape. In a post-human era, she overcomes nihilism through a hopeful narrative.
Credits:
Claude Johann Čierny is a Slovak multimedia artist and film theory student living in Prague. He works with photography, performance and film. He has created two original activist performances, which led to his nomination for the Slovak Inakosti Award in 2021. Together with his mother, the visual artist Pavlina Fichta Čierna, he has exhibited at the Artwall gallery in Prague and the Slovak Gandy Gallery. His solo photography exhibition was presented at A4 - space for contemporary art in Bratislava. His debut experimental short film premiered at the 27th International Documentary Film Festival Ji.hlava and was subsequently screened at the Art Film Košice International Film Festival, Suspaustas Laikas in Lithuania and at the IFF Zlatý Voči 2024, where he won the award for the best audiovisual essay. He is currently studying at the Department of Film Studies at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University, and completed part of his studies at Freie Universität Berlin. In the past, he also completed an artistic internship in the program "Planet B: Module for Sustainability and Civilization Issues", which is characterized as a temporary space for experimental practice and transdisciplinary teamwork at the Academy of Arts Architecture & Design in Prague (UMPRUM).
Eduard Adam Orszulik is a dancer, performer, choreographer and young dance scientist working on the Czech art scene with an international scope. He received his secondary education at the Janáček Conservatory in Ostrava and graduated with a diploma. He is currently a PhD student at the Faculty of Music and Dance at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague in Choreography and Choreography Theory program, where he also received his previous Bachelor's and Master's degrees. As part of his studies, he also completed a residency at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste in Switzerland and participated in many professional internships abroad.Last year he participated as creator and dancer in the international dance project Woods Won't Vaporize under Alice Minar and Col. premiered at Uferstudios Berlin. As a dancer and choreographer he collaborates with leading Czech companies and choreographers (BURKICOM, 420people, Tantehorse, DOT504, PocketArt etc.), and as a choreographer he has created several full-length performances performed on the independent dance scene.He founded the performance platform PO_KO_ŘEN, which supports emerging artists.His academic work has been published in major professional journals and publications.
What is the Emergency Dances project?
The aim of the Emergency Dances series is to support and develop young choreographic talents and their integration into the professional dance scene.At the same time, the emphasis is on communicating the pressing issues of our time through the language of dance.The performances premiered as part of Emergency Dances have undergone a six-month preparation process, during which Tantehorse provided the young artists with rehearsal space, dramaturgical and directorial feedback, as well as production and technical support.It is also up to the artists themselves to decide what to do with their work - whether to develop it into a full-length performance or stick to a shorter festival format.In this way, young choreographers learn not only to create a dance work that is firmly anchored in ideas, but also to navigate the independent scene, to produce their work and to receive feedback effectively.
With this project, Tantehorse wants to draw attention to unique artists who are starting to create independently. "Emergency Dances are always different, always explosive, always controversial because they are always deeply personal.
Again this year, we invite the audience to let themselves be challenged by the detail, the motif with which they resonate, to create their own unique interpretation of the choreographic reading.To embrace the openness of the performers as an offer to open up their own story," add Markéta Vacovská and Kristýna Boháčová.
With the Emergency Dances project, the Tantehorse company continues the educational lineage that can be traced in Tantelab's long-term labs, in which the company focuses on bridging the end of studies and the beginning of a career.
Premiere: 4. 11. 2024 - Palác Akropolis
Part of project: Emergency Dances
