Ensemble
IDEA AND CHOREOGRAPHY
Jasna L. Vinovrški
PERFORMED BY
Branko Banković, Koraljka Begović,
Ema Crnić, Dina Ekštajn, Nastasja Štefanić,
Martina Tomić, Ana Vnučec
STAGE SUPPORT
Pravdan Devlahović
LIGHT DESIGN
Bojan Gagić
COSTUME DESIGN
Ana Savić-Gecan
COSTUME DESIGN ASSISTANT
Ozana Gabriel
STAGE DESIGN
Clément Layes
MUSIC ASSOCIATE
Milorad Stranić
PRODUCTION
Studio Contemporary Dance Company in coproduction with Platforma HR and collaboration with Zagreb Youth Theatre and support of Cie Public in Private
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Bosiljka Vujović-Mažuran
PRODUCER
Branko Banković
PRODUCTION SUPPORT
Koraljka Begović
PREMIÈRE
25.05.2018. at Cultural centar Histrionski dom
SPECIAL THANKS TO
Toni Andrijanić, Bruno Fetze, Nina Violić, Studenti plesnog odsjeka ADU, generacija 2016 / 2018
The performance is funded by the Zagreb Office for Culture and Ministry of Culture of Republic Croatia
ABOUT PERFORMANCE
If we redirect our attention from the familiar word ensemble with its usual meanings of “an artistic group of actors or musicians” or “a group of things considered as a whole” towards the same word in the donor language where it means both together and simultaneously, I find that the performance material of Studio’s Ensemble and its interpretative power cluster around these two characteristics: working together and working simultaneously. Considering our past, an ensemble can be regarded as some sort of a relic which is the result of a clash of mass, folk culture and elite, civic culture. When togetherness was imposed as the index of state organisation and an incentive to social progress, after an eight-hour working day, usually in a working collective, even the free time intended for “cultural enlightenment” and relaxation was organised and regulated in accordance with the same unifier. That is the time when various folk, singing, acting and other groups start appearing, offering an opportunity for workers to come together and connect through their joint effort. As early as the 1950s, and especially the 1960s, political changes and economic reform favour the emergence of the so-called socialist consumerism. Though this is reflected in the growing interest for the modernities of the West, such as for music festivals and music stars, values of the pre-war civic culture are also gradually becoming established. That is how contemporary dance (then as modern dance), which is at the time strongly characterised by individualism, starts existing in groups – ensembles – which are the only places where it will develop on a professional level until the end of the 1980s. The collapse of state organisation enables the democratisation of the dance scene, which imposes new functioning parameters. Unlike other dance subjects, the work of an ensemble gains new meaning: while pulling towards the new, it is still holding on to the old. In addition, commonality happens only in the period dedicated to the commitment, interrupted by other engagements of members and existential burdens. Although we cannot really talk about the art market in this region, but rather of its warped version, we have not been bypassed by commodification processes. The artist has to be accessible at all times, adaptable, resilient, persevering, ready for simultaneous and multiple collaborations. By focusing on the changes of the method of working and creating and on their consequences to which both (and not only) the artist and art have been exposed in the era of neoliberal capitalism, Jasna L. Vinovrški and the Studio members explore what it means to work in an ensemble today, what the common motive of the members is, and what the coherent tendencies that make an ensemble are.
– Ivana Slunjski
ABOUT AUTHOR
Jasna L. Vinovrški grew up in Zagreb, Croatia, but has lived and worked abroad since the disintegration of Yugoslavia. In the early 90s she studied in Essen, at the Folkwang University of the Arts, and worked as a dancer and performer with various European choreographers (Groupe Dunes, J. Schömer, C. Sagna, O. Duboc among others) after graduating. During that period she created her first shorter choreographies, including the solo work „Which Club?“, which has won several awards. After moving to Berlin in 2008 with her partner Clément Layes, she co-founded the company Public in Private where the two artists continue developing separate choreographic signatures while closely supporting each other artistically. In 2012, Jasna received her MA in Choreography at the Inter-U University Center for Dance (HZT) in Berlin. Her recent work „Staying Alive“ has been touring all over Europe and was also presented in New York, US, in 2017. www.jasnavinovrski.com