Back in March 6 2020 this work had a work in progress presentation in Bakelit MAC where (after a residency period in the frame of Be SpecACTive! 2 project) the piece was developed. We are happy to welcome the final work.

Concept & Choreography: JERCA ROŽNIK NOVAK & JOHANNES RANDOLF

Performers: JERCA ROŽNIK NOVAK & VERONIKA

Music: MATEVŽ KOLENC

Costume Design: ANDREJ VRHOVNIK

Dramaturgy: URŠA ADAMIČ

Lighting Design: JANKO OVEN

Acting Advice: ZALA ANA ŠTIGLIC

Illustrations: DORA BENČEVIČ

Creative & Executive Producer: KATJA SOMRAK

Produced by: PLESNI TEATER LJUBLJANA

Co-Produced by: ASSOCIAZIONE CULTURALE CAPOTRAVE / KILOWATT, DUBLIN THEATRE FESTIVAL COMPANY LIMITED BY GUARANTEE, GÖTEBORGS STADS KULTURFÖRVALTNING/ STORA TEATERN, BAKELIT MULTI ART CENTER

Realizacija v okviru EU projekta Be SpectACTive! 2 / Realized in the framework of the European project Be SpectACTive!2 – CapoTrave/Kilowatt (IT), Artemrede (PT), Bakelit Multi Art Center (HU), brut (AT), Buda Kunstencentrum Kortrijk (BE), CdAT- Cafè de las Artes Teatro (ES), Domino (HR), International Theatre Festival Divadelná Nitra (SK), Dublin Theatre Festival (IE), Stora Teatern / Gothenburg Dance and Theatre Festival (SE), SKCNS – Institution Student Cultural Centre OF Novi Sad (RS), Occitanie en scène Languedoc-Roussillon (FR), Plesni Teater Ljubljana (SI), Tanec Praha (CZ), Teatrul National Radu Stanca Sibiu (RO), Fondazione Fitzcarraldo (IT), Universitat de Barcelona (ES), Université de Montpellier (FR), CNRS (FR)

In collaboration with: C. O. V. CIE OFF VERTICALITY

Supported by: THE CREATIVE EUROPE PROGRAMME OF THE EUROPEAN UNION, C. O. V. CIE OFF VERTICALITY

Thanks to: VERONIKA TÖKÖLY, WILLIE WHITE, SARAH MELIN, ZSÓFIA VASI, TILEN MEJAČ & udeleženci / participants Dublin: MIA DICHIARO, PIPPA MOLON, ENYA BELAK GUPTA, MAUD HENDRICKS, MARIE O’CONNOR, CARMEL ENNIS, FABIANO ROGGIO, NANDA GRIFFIOEN, RODRIGO PRAYEDES RICALLICE, GRĀINNE HOLMES BLUMENTHAL, AOIFE CONNOLLY SULLIVAN; udeleženci / participants Göteborg: KARIN JOHANSSON, MARINA JEVDJENIC, SARA JOHNSON, ANNA SILVÉN, DEEPATI FORSBERG, LINDA BRELIN, LEX ELIOT, LINNEA JARDEMAR, PETRA HELLBERG, NAN ALBERTSSON, MICAELA BANEGA, PETER SANDSJÖ, ÅSA SANDSJÖ, FIDELI GONDENSEN, CARINA KARVANEN, SUSANNA LINDSTRÖM, MONICA FURU ELIASSON, MONA HANSSON, KARINA GUSTAFSSON, LINDA LILIAC, PATRIK JONSSON, HELENA WALLIN, študenti / students from Nordiska Folkhögskolan; udeleženci / participants Budapest: ÁBRAHÁM DOMONKOS, DUMA LILLA, LAKY BOGLÁRKA, TISZA TAMÁS, ILOSVAI DÁNIEL, PORDÁN ANNASÁRA, KOVÁCS VERONIKA, BOZSIK BELLA, NÁDOR ESZTER, BALOGH REBEKA, GYŐRBÍRÓ CSENGE, LABUS LILI, SZAKMÁRY LUCÁNAK, CZENTE ILONA, NAGY JÚLIA, SZUKY GERGŐ, SILVIA GUERRERO ROSA

The programme of Plesni Teater Ljubljana is subsidized by the Ministry of Culture RS and Municipality of Ljubljana, Department for Culture

About the performance

The performance strongly emphasizes the feeling of being left alone, although the memory of togetherness is still very present. Exploring the relation between the two leads to discovering new ways of changing the absence. The emptiness offers a platform for the co‑creation of the duet between Jerca Rožnik Novak and Veronika.

Choreography developed from the unpredictable

Theatre stands on the edge of chaos. Under the cover of darkness, the audience observes the skilful bodies that embody on stage a predetermined course of events. They trust that there is an underlying plan, choreography, script, dramatic text, that the performers prepared and rehearsed their roles in advance. The more the stage form is planned and rigid, the more destructive potential mistakes may prove to be, the mistakes that break the stage illusion and act as an intrusion of the real. In the dance duet 2GETHER/AL(L)ONE, however, the real is present in the theatre situation from the very beginning.

The presence of so many people in one place is always unpredictable, and yet it is this situation that is vital to the development of the performance, or, as Nicholas Ridout puts it in his book Stage Fright, Animals, and Other Theatrical Problems: “[P]eople who are co-present to each other in the theatrical set-up are always alive, this kind of interchange, however embarrassing, however much we seek to avoid it, is always already there, built into the structure of ‘the entire situation’.” Theatre always involves so many human factors that it cannot be entirely predictable. In analysing theatrical mistakes, Ridout goes one step further, noting that in theatre, the mistake itself is somehow an integral part of every performance and, therefore, of its existence. Mistakes such as uncontrollable laughter, stage fright, feelings of shame, animals, children, and others maintain the vitality of theatre, as it is primarily the art of here and now. When watching the performance, the viewers themselves assume our role of theatre audience, regardless of what exactly we do. In doing so, we, too, become performers as we enter the physical space of the theatre.

2GETHER/AL(L)ONE also builds on this awareness. It puts the audience in the shoes of mistake. It further develops the unpredictability of the situation on stage, highlighting the important role of the audience. Out of the unpleasant and unexpected injury, from a sense of fear of abandonment emerged a one of¬ a kind theatre experience. Time and again, the performative space is faced with the unpredictable situation of absence. Absence becomes the starting point of the new presence. After all, theatre needs viewers and performers, no matter what role they are playing or when. (Urša Adamič)

About the authors

Born in 1992 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, JERCA ROŽNIK NOVAK studied at the High School for contemporary dance in Ljubljana where she graduated in 2011. In 2019 she graduated at Academy of Contemporary Dance Anton Bruckner Privatuniversität in Linz, Austria with a master’s degree in dance pedagogy. She has worked as a freelance dancer with choreographers such as Willi Dorner, Rose Breuss, Gisela Elisa Herdia, Anna Gulyás, Maria Koliopouplou, Matjaž Farič, Enya Belak Gupta, Johannes Wieland, Vita Osojnik, and Damian Cortes Alberti. She was part of the production “L’Italiana in Algeri” for Tiroler Festspiele Erl. In 2011, she participated in the project “The Daddy Project” produced by Plesni Teater Ljubljana. She created a piece “Hweōl… in the whirlwind of time” together with Leon Marič, produced by Plesni Teater Ljubljana in 2016. She has been working with editta braun company since 2014, like ways with SILK Fluegge. During work in progress of the performance 2GATHER/AL(L)ONE, Jerca received Jury Award for a promising dance piece by the International Expert Jury at Festival Ukrep: ENTER in Ljubljana, Slovenia and Award by a selected Slovenian choreographer Gregor Luštek for the best performer at Festival Ukrep: ENTER.

JOHANNES RANDOLF studied contemporary dance at the Rotterdamse Dancacademy. After dancing internationally in numerous companies, he started to create works for different companies and groups such as: Cie. Nvas, x.IDA dance company. His choreographies have been performed on different festivals and conventions such as baltyk University (PL), DJD-Dance Centre (Canada), CNDC Angers etc. He was the artistic co-director and co-founder of the CCL_choreographic centre linz for more than 5 years as well as the co-founder and artistic Co-director of the post graduate dance company x.IDA. Johannes has been part of the leading contemporary dance teachers at IDA – Institute of Dance Arts at the Anton Bruckner Private University/Linz since 1998. He is a guest teacher and guest choreographer at the University of Calgary, the Dance Academy Rotterdam and teaches contemporary dance classes across Europe.