A gift for International Dance Day – a discount on tickets and 3 free performances in Vilnius microdistricts Culture

“The International Dance Day allows me to imagine a perfect – that is, dancing – world in my eyes. Today is the day of the free and creatively moving – dancing person in every country. The impulse to dance is usually obtained by watching another person dancing inspiringly, therefore, in order to infect everyone with dance, I invite you to our just-started festival and give a discount for all performances of the festival that will take place for two weeks”, – Gintarė Masteikaitė, the head of the festival, congratulates the current and future dance community.

Also, G. Masteikaitė, who has been fostering the culture of contemporary dance for many years, shares the news that she will invite the audience to dance for free in three places in Vilnius microdistricts during the second week of the festival. The dance stages will be the central square of Šeškina, Paupios square on Aukštaičių st. 12 and Giedraičiau-Kintų st. of Šnipiškių microdistrict. square, where the duo from Sweden “Land Before Time” will perform.

A total of 10 contemporary dance troupes from all over the world will dance in this year’s festival program – other performances will take place at the Lithuanian National Drama Theater and the Arts Printing House.

Gintarė says that by expanding the boundaries of the dance scene, we want to show that modern dance is not limited by the walls of the theater and can integrate into any space. In this way, the festival reaches those who have not seen a contemporary dance performance and do not know what to expect.

“Inviting the audience to the outdoor spaces, we encourage them to experience the world in a new way – to open up to the art of dance and its impulses in the everyday places of the city, which we often pass by while drowning in our thoughts. That’s why modern dance is wonderful, that there are no rules and requirements for what it should be”, says G. Masteikaitė.

The creative Swedish duo “Land Before Time” consists of dancers Joanna Holewa Chrona and Yered Tilahun Cederlund. Since 2016, the artists who have been creating together are not only dancers, but also choreographers, DJs and composers. They are actively involved in the street dance scene, organize dance battles and contests and thus contribute to fostering the self-expression of different communities.

Photo of the organizers/Modern dance

The dancers say that because of the different location, the performance Land before time is active with […it is contained in…] every time is different. It adapts, transforms and changes, so the creators themselves can’t wait to see what the neighborhoods of Vilnius will give to their work.

“The new space gives us the opportunity to meet a new audience that might not have come to the theater. Outdoor spaces are full of different energies, which also give us new impulses and inspiration during the performance. For the most part, the outdoor performance takes place in daylight and is very raw, which we really appreciate. We let the dance speak for itself without complicated technique.”

In the center of the performance is water – the most important source of life. The theme of water connected the dancers of the current duo, so when they merged into one creative unit, they decided to continue the theme of water, which allowed them to discover common movement qualities. Joanna and Yered explore the various properties of water and how to stay connected to nature and relearn some of the basic human needs: to feel, to adapt, to remember, to communicate, to be.

“In creating this show, we dance the qualities of water from a scientific, emotional, and spiritual perspective: water is caring, powerful, adaptive, vulnerable, flowing, and dynamic.” This is also our performance, come!”, a duo from Sweden invites people to the squares of neighborhoods.

Photo by David Wong/New Baltic Dance/Frederick Gravel

The performance will be shown to the audience even 3 times – on May 11. 13:00 and 16:00 and on the 12th 1 p.m. The duration of the show is 30 minutes.

Being the largest event of its kind in the Baltic States, NBŠ performs a triple mission: to inform, educate and gather people interested in dance art. More than 6,000 spectators visit the festival every year.

In total, more than 270 troupes from 37 countries of the world participated in the “New Baltic Dance”, which showed over 480 dance performances. Festival organizers: Lithuanian Dance Information Center and Vilnius Festivals.