Divadlo Štúdio tanca/Med a prach: RE_MEMBER
The distinct creative duo—director and composer Andrej Kalinka and choreographer Milan Kozánek from the Med a Prach collective—collaborated with the Dance Studio Theater to create a compelling work: a polyphonic music-movement stage composition reflecting a state of global amnesia. Their specific theatrical language, moving at the boundaries of artistic forms and genres, suits the Dance Studio Theater ensemble exceptionally well. The absolute psychophysical presence and uniqueness of the performers’ interpretation—who are simultaneously musicians, visual artists, and actors—is fascinating. The multilayered meanings and the sensitive work with symbolism offer the audience ample space to interpret the significance of human action, one of the central themes of this piece.
Stanislava Vlk Vlčeková
Where are you running to? Why are you screaming? What are you looking at? Do you know? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Imagine a world in which you are running, screaming, talking, looking, but you have no idea why. Global amnesia has set in. Everyone is on autopilot, no one understands the meaning of their actions. We all go on because we have not forgotten. But still, we want to remember. I remember! Remember! I am a member. A member of what? I don’t remember. No one asks how to begin. Because they’ve already started. By being here, they are awakened, tehy perceive, they realize. I’m asking it, so I’m not longer at the beginning. But I feel that only now I am truly beginning. I want to start, but I don’t know how. I don’t know what to begin. I don’t know how. I don’t know what has already been.
Divadlo Štúdio tanca (Dance Studio Theatre) Banská Bystrica, Med a prach (Honey and Dust)
Directed by: Andrej Kalinka & Milan Kozánek
Music, libretto: Andrej Kalinka
Choreography: Milan Kozánek
Choreography assistance: Lívia Balážová MM
Costumes, objects: Ivana Macková
Lighting design: Ján Čief
With: Lenka Mičincová, Jack Strömberg, Martina Hájková, Ľubomír Kútnik, Cindy Ng, Jason Yap
Andrej Kalinka began in 1993 as a musician in underground and jazz bands. Gradually, he went on to study classical music (conducting and composition). Since 1996 he has begun to collaborate with various theater and musical companies/groups, first as a composer, later as a librettist and finally as a director. He had an opportunity to go through a wide range of theater, music and dance genres – drama, puppet theater, contemporary dance, opera etc. He has collaborated with more than 30 companies and has contributed to more than 70 works. Since 2006, he has begun to search and create his own artistic language, and in 2011 together with Ivan Martinka, Juraj Poliak a Michal Mikuláš founded artistic group Honey and Dust. As a librettist, composer, artist, performer, and director, he is currently working on pieces for which he is constantly looking for new performers from different countries. He considers their specific experience, aspects of their personalities and cultural contexts, their acting, musical or motion techniques as an essential part of his artistic language, which can be described as complementary art. His work has been presented in various countries and he has won several awards (e.g. New Drama Festival, DOSKY, Harmony world puppet carnival).
Milan Kozánek graduated from the Department of Dance at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava (SK). Since the graduation he has worked as a dance teacher, choreographer and expert advisor. He has developed his own particular pedagogical aproach and system throughout more that 20 years of regular teaching and researching in institutions such as Tanz Quartier Wien, Konservatorium Wien University (A), Northern School of Contemporary Dance in Leeds (UK), University of Calgary (Canada). In 1996, he and Zuna Vesan Kozánková founded the Artyci Dance Company. They have created 16 dance works that were presented in Slovakia, as well in abroad (Germany, Austria, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Canada, Thailand, China, Taiwan etc.). Since 2010 he has been developing intensive artistic cooperation with creators and theater actors who are looking for a connection between physical theater, movement, text, voice and singing. Milan has been a part of many theater research projects with theater artists from artistic groups. His main topic and fascination with his artistic as well as pedagogical work is a human. He implements his relationship with eastern philosophies.
Divadlo Štúdio tanca is the only professional theatre in Slovakia dedicated to contemporary dance with a permanent artistic ensemble. Based in Banská Bystrica for almost a quarter of a century, it has been creating original dance productions, offering movement courses for children and adults, organizing dance festivals, providing artistic residencies, and producing a variety of activities and events that bring contemporary dance closer to the public. With a diverse repertoire that caters to both discerning audiences and children, the theatre performs on its home stage as well as on tours across Slovakia and abroad. It operates in its own fully equipped building, home to an international artistic ensemble of dancers and performers from three continents. Throughout its existence, it has brought contemporary art, people, and atmosphere from around the world to the city, and it has no intention of stopping.
Med a prach (transl. Honey and Dust) is an artistic group that operates at the intersection of various art forms and genres. Under its roof, works are created that blur the lines between theater performances, concerts, and installations. Their works are presented in theaters, galleries, and concert stages alike. The basic starting point is complementary art, an artistic language rooted in the symbiosis of different means of expression. Performers are equally musicians, visual artists, actors, and dancers, striving to discover new ways of artistic expression through dynamic movement between diverse artistic communities and means. An essential aspect of Honey and Dust´s work is not only the fusion of the artistic forms but also within the individual works, the exploration of connections between art and other fields such as biology, psychology, philosophy, history, physics, and genetics.