The 27th edition of the Festival will feature the now traditional Croatian Choreographic Platform including 3 premiere titles each produced in partnership with the Croatian Institute for Movement and Dance. Also featured will be productions from 14 different international companies originating from approximately this number of countries. Following the festival program will be festival guests: international choreographers, festival directors and promoters of several leading European centers for dance including those from Portugal, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands and Denmark – with a number of which the Festival partners in an EU funded project Choreoroam

Arriving to the Festival are some new talents from Europe as well as from the States, as well as the Festival audience’s favorites:  Thiery Smiths, Yasmeen Godder, Daniel Léveillé, Matijaž Farič and  Lanònima Imperial, while the work of  Nada Kokotović is awaited in eager anticipation.
One of the highlights of the Festival will most definitely be the Belgian Compagnie Thor with the performance ‘To The Ones I Love’, which critics have already determined to be one of this season’s best works. Choreographer   Thiery Smiths in celebration of his 20th anniversary has decided on a radical  move – a return to pure, highly anesthetized dance executed by nine dancers of African origin and all to the remix of  Bach’s music.

Love and desire are themes  which permeate also the work of one of Israel’s most cherished dance artists, and winner of several international awards including a Bessie – choreographer    Yasmeen Godder, who returns to the Festival with two new works : ‘Singular Sensation‘ and ‘Love Fire‘.

The honor to open the Festival belongs to Slovene Author Matjaž Farič and his most recent work «Shiver» which question the male-female relations, all to the music of TOP a percussionist group and pianist Milko Lazar.
Combining live music and physical theater is a specialty of Spanish stars, the ensemble Lanònima Imperial, whose  performance  ‘Variacions Al_leluia‘, the critics refer to as the «dance out pocket rock and roll opera».

Lanònima Imperial was awarded with the Audience Award at the 8th edition of Dance Week Festival in 1991 the very year that Nada Kokotović last visited Zagreb. This year she returns with a new production by her own Theatre TKO from Köln, and based on a novel by controversial Peter Handke -  – ‘Spuren der Verirrten’.

The first of three festival premiere titles will be European co production within the framework of the program Beyond Fronta and entitled ‘To Whom It May Concern‘  by Slovene dance artists Rosana Hribar & Gregor Luštek, performed by a group of Croatian dancers who were chosen through auditions.

Following closely on this project is homage to research of the impact of cult choreographer Pina Bausch. This is(n’t) my wood…. represents the questioning of the impact of cult choreographer Pina Bausch, through This (is)n’t my wood …,  by authors  Silvia Marchig and  Darko Japelj, while the third premiere title «Critics» is underwritten by Katarina Đurđević.

Alongside the program of the 27 Dance Week Festival, dance artist will be able to engage in workshops and lectures, including film projections. In general, 27th Dance Week Festival will have on offer an array of ancillary programs, film projections, artist run talks and which will take place in our new home base ‘ Zagreb Centre for Dance.
Tickets for all performances, as well as special festival passes and subscriptions to the full festival program will go on sale at the Zagreb Dance Centre as of Wednesday 12, 2010, while the tickets to performances in either Rijeka or Split, while tickets to performance taking place in either Rijeka or Split can be purchased one hour prior to start of the show at HKD Sušak and Gradsko kazalište lutaka

For a third year running, the Croatian Institute for Movement and Dance features a guest performance by an internationally acclaimed dance company as an intro to its major project Dance Week Festival. Following on the trail of Ballet Preljocaj’s performance “N” and then

“Shaker” by Inbal Pinto Dance Company, also from Israel,  this year’s presentation in Zagreb features “Monger” by choreographer Barak Marshall a production of Israel’s Suzanne Dellal Centre.

Zagreb audiences first encountered Barak Marshall at the start of his international carreer in 1998 the 15th Dance Week Festival which featured his performance “Emma Goldann’s Wedding”, which was in that same year awarded with the prestigious Bonnie Byrd choreographic award and the ADAMI award of Bagnolet’s choreographic competition.

With ‘Monger‘  Barak returns to the international stage, and Zagreb audiences will see this performance  on May 18, at 9pm at the Concert Hall Lisinski. The performances is a special commission by Suzanne Dellal Centre, which through his renown highly theatrical, visually stunning and emotionally charged choreographic vocabulary  Barak investigates the dynamics of hierarchy, power, freedom of will and the compromises we agree to in order to survive. It’s a story about 10 servants locked up in the basement of the home of a cruel mistress.

The narrative structure of the performance is based on the works of Bruno Shultz, the drama  “Maids” by Jean Genet , and Robert Altman’s film “Gosford Park“. The music is composed of   gypsy, balkan and  indonesian influences  mixed with rock and techno sound - the soundtrack composed of works by Taraf de Haidouk, Balkan Beat Box, The Yiddish Radio Project, Margalit Oved, Shye Ben Tzur, Shandor, Handel, Goran Bregović, Verdi, Tommy Dorsey, Terry Hall, Ray Noble…

This guest performance is made possible through the support of the Israeli Embassy in Zagreb and in collaboration with the Israeli Friendship Association – Zagreb and the Croatian Institute for Movement and Dance. The performance is a tribute to the celebration of the 61st Independence Day of the State of Israel as well as announcement of the upcoming 26th Dance Week Festival (May 25 to June 02). Tickets for Monger are available through the box office of Concert Hall Lisinski.

The  program of the 26th Dance Week Festival features 14 contemporary dancer works from around the world as well as a selection of local dance productions. The highlight of this year’s festival program is the presentation of renown Nederlands Dans Theater  (NDT), with choreographies by this year’s Venice Biennale laureat  Jiri Kyliana. The Company arrives to Zagreb through the assistance of the Netherlands Embassy in Zagreb and the support of the City of Hague.

At the special request of audiences, returning to Zagreb already in this year is Portuguese choreographer Paulo Ribeiro with two new productions: Masculine and Feminine.

The legend of international contemporary mime, Karina Holla returns with her latest performance award winning  Being Hurt Bieng Blessed. Also,  one of the forefront figures of the new generation of European choreographers Gilles Jobin returns to Zagreb with his most recent performance Black Swan which premiered barely a month ago.

Lucy Guerin, award winner of a Bessie, arrives to Zagreb from Australia with her performance Love Me. Arriving from Belgium this year is Vanesse Van Durme long time collaborator of Alain Platel with the performance Look Mummy I’m Dancing. Also from Belgium is Michael Lazic with Staging Reality.

Slovenian authors at this year’s Festival are   Goran Turnšek, with performance Being Blanka Vlašič,and Snježana Premuš with  Silent Body. Pal Frenak from Hungary will present the work Mennono, while  Claire Granier will present Lost on the Shoreline an Austrian-Swiss production – both authors are featured under the banner of Beyond Fronta project.

Alongside the announced program, the 26th edition of Dance Week Festival will also present a diverse and rich ancillary program comprising of discussions, workshops, film and video and meet-the-artist opportunities.

Program details and related information are updated daily, and are available through the Festival web-site: www. danceweekfestival.com

Tickets are available as of May 11th,  through the festival box-office located in the lobby of Mamut Stage of Theatre Gavella.

Now in its third year, The Croatian Institute for Movement and Dance, features a major work by an international company as an introduction to its major program: Dance Week Festival (DWF). Following the trail of Ballet Preljocaj, and Zagreb’s favourite Inbal Pinto Dance Company, this year’s introduction to the 26^th edition of DWF presents the opportunity to see the performance “Monger”, most recent production of Suzanne Dellal Centre and choreographer Barak Marshall.

Barak Marshall,  one time house choreographer of acclaimed  Batsheva Dance Company, brought Zagreb audiences to its feet with his first choreography   ’Emma Goldman’s Wedding‘, which was featured at the 15^th DWF edition in 1998.  gostovala. ‘Monger‘, the work which premiered in October 2008 already an international hit and is inspired by the works of Bruno Shultz,  Jean Genet’s “Maids” and Robert Altman’s ‘Gosford Park’, will be featured in Zagreb on May 18^th.

Only seven days later, the 26^th DWF scheduled for May 25 to June 3, will officiall kick off with the spectacular presentation of Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT); spearheading the festival programm to take place for the first time in Split as well as in Zagreb and Rijeka.

NDT, a leading European and world acclaimed contemporary dance company, last performed in   Zagreb 18 years ago under the Artistic Direction of   Jirya Kylliana , and it was also the only time the   as well at DWF. This is a long overdue and much anticipated return of this major Company and the presentation is made possible through an exceptional support of The Hague City and The Embassy of the Netherlands Kingdom.

Following the trail of NDT, as part of the 26 DWF are several other equally attractive contemporary dance titles and authors from around the world including   Karina Holla, Carolyn Carlson, Tero Saarinen and Lucy Guerin. Due to an overwhelming request by audiences, DWF will also bring back Paulo Ribeiro this time with two new titles:   ’Feminine’ and ‘Masculine’.

An important part of the DWF each year is the Croatian Choreographer Platform. 45 applications received this year is record breaking and will result in an exceptionally rich program featuring local dance makers who will also be considered for a special production prize awarded by the Festival, as well as a series of works not in competition under the banner Panorama.

The producer is especially pleased that the festival program is expanding and will include in addition to the traditional presentations of select works in Rijeka also Split. This year’s program in Rijeka is supported by the City of Rijeka and HKD; DWF will present a select program in Split in partnership with the City Pupper Theatre.

The Croatian Institute for Movement and Dance is also expanding its European partnership programs with   Dance Exploration Beyond Front@, which strives to encourage greater mobility of works and audiences for contemporary dance in the region specifically bordering countries with Crotia – southeast Austria, Northeast Slovenia and Western Hungary.

Five key stakeholders (Flota (Murska Sobota, SLO), Hrvatski institut za pokret i ples / Tjedan suvremenog plesa (Dance Week Festival) (HIPP-TSP) (Zagreb, HR), cie Frenak (Budapest, HU), Dance Identity/D.ID (Pinkafeld, AT) and  OHO (Oberwart, AT)) bring together expertise and experiences of local and international artists with the public in the desire to establish new avenues and opportunities for future collaboration in the area of contemporary dance.

Through this European based project, HIPP will contribute to a migration of audience members from a variety of regional centres into Zagreb and into Rijeka to observe the programs of 26 DWF, as well as the    Dance Communication Lab (DCL) a program which encourages collaboration among professional dance artists with artists from other disciplines (architects, designers, visual artists, musicians…) resulting in intercultural evenings featuring contemporary dance improvisation.

DWF is the major program of the Croatian Institute for Movement and Dance. Through its 26 editions    the Festival has fesatured over 600 internationally acclaimed artists, and has produced the works of some 50 local authors, contributing to several generations of dancemakers and performers. ,

‘Entity’ was programmed in the Festival program for June 2^nd and 3rd, however the first presentation was postponed due to technical difficulties in mounting the performance. This postponed presentation on June 3rd, with start at 5.30pm was then disrupted twice due to lack of electric power caused by severe storm which had lighting and thunder strike the National Theatre directly. In these severe conditions it was a fortunate sequence of circumstances that due sever weather audiences had difficulty arriving to the performances, thus making it possible that all those who chose to wait for the next (now delayed) performance, to be placed and the performance was able to commence later in the evening playing to packed house and to standing ovations.

The Audience Award was handed out around midnight in the theatre Gavella, and receiving the the award was the choreographer himself – Wayne McGregor.

Receiving the Award McGregor said : « I wish to congratulate the Festival on this remarkable 25th anniversary. We are very pleased to have had the opportunity to be part of this for the third time and especially felt it was important to do so this year. I am very grateful to the Zagreb audiences for their patience and a fantastic welcome as well as to the whole Festival team that has made this possible. This reward means a lot to us ».

The audience voted after each performance, and all those who participated were able to partake in the draw for three prizes by festival sponsor ISKON. ISKON awards comprising of free 3, 6 and 12 month free internet access went to :_ Oleg Jadrešanin (3 months), Jana Kolarek (6 months) i Lina Kovačević (12 months).

The Festival direction decided to instigate a production award for a local production at the festival and which was also voted upon with highest scores by the audiences. This initial award of 5.000kn production support goes to Andrea Gotovona choreographer of « Blue Friday », produced by INK Pula.

The 25th Dance Week Festival took place in both Zagreb and Rijeka between May 26 and June 3, and the 18 presented works were viewed by more than 7000, while the adjacent program consisted of late-night « Little Dance Chats », the launch of book « Ana Maletić, biography » and the presentation of the results of a month long workshop facilitated by Robert Hylton with the School of Contemporary Dance « Ana Maletić » in Zagreb.

At the close of this year’s festival edition, the Festival team wishes to thank all its partners, sponsors, and especially the public for its continued suport and we invite all to the next 26th DANCE WEEK FESTIVAL in 2009.

The honour to officially open the festival was awarded to Canadian company Daniel Leveille Danse, which received the Audience Award at the 22nd Festival. This year the Company will presents its perhaps most distinguished and most acclaimed work on its repertoire created by Artistic Director Daniel – choreography ‘Le pudeur des icebergs‘ to the Prelude op 28 by Frederic Chopin.
Among other groups featured in the Festival and who are also somewhat tied to the Festival are companies such as Belgian Thierry Smit’s Thor’ (his last work Corpse presented at DK Gavella in 1998 was true hit!); as well as that of Paulo Ribeiro, who was for a period of time Artistic Director of Ballet Gulbenkian, and who returns to the Festival also as a dancers. Amongst other names well known to Zagreb audiences is Wayne McGregor and Random Dance Company, who are third time guests of the Festival. Today, undoubtedly one of the world’s most distinguished choreographers, MacGregor’s early dancemakers days are linked to the Festival, and so it comes as no surprise to us that the Company has chosen the Festival as one of four places of an exclusive world tour with his recently premiered «Entity» that critics have determined to be a true masterpiece.
Another part of the Festival features trends related to multidisciplinary and multimedia choreographic endeavors which push the boundaries of dance expression. This part features two Bessie Award winners – Australian company Chunky Move which fuses in a most fascinating way dance with new technology; and, the gem of New Yorks experimental dance and performative scene – DD Dorvillier. Within similar sphere of interest in terms of format is Brother Karamazov – made in China – a project by choreographer Mateja Bučar already announced at last year’s and two works by japanese choreographer on the rise Hiroaki Umeda. Also announced is the Swiss Company 7273 considered as the «enfants terribles» of the French-Swiss dance scene; as well as performance by Croatian born Ivana Muller recipient of two of the three awards presented at last year’s Impuls Tanz Festival.

The remaining titles representing croatian works is traditionally grouped under the banner of the Croatian Choreographic Platform which this year features: Selma Banich, Andrea Gotovina, Aleksandra Janeva, Sanja Tropp Frühwald i Žak Valenta.

The part of the Festival which also announces artists on the rise we will have the opportunity to see works by RFI Découvertes Danse recipient Ketlly Noel, and Simone Bertozzi the award winner of Giovani Danz’Autori competition recently presented at Aerowaves, and finally one of the most promising French emerging choreographers Jasmina Prolić.

The Festival will feature 12 companies from five continents while the now traditional part of the Festival which occurs also in Rijeka will this year present a total of 6 titles a result of a strengthenign of the support of Rijeka municipality as well as with Prostor + as associate partner.

A special Festival feature is the presentation of the «Biography of Ana Maletić» the most recent publication and CD, of the Croatian Institute for Movement and Dance. This is also a multimedia edition of the Development of Contemporay Dance Series by editor Maja Đurinovi and which for the first time in history in detail documents and analyises the life and work of this author and dance artist who retains a critical position in the development of the local dance scene.

As part of the now traditional supplimentary programe, the Festival will continue to provide the audiences opportunity to meet and talk to artists and encourage artistic encounters both formal and informal in the Festival club, while the public will have an opportunity to cast their vote of this Year’s Audience Award. In voting, members of the audience also get an opportunity to win a gift package from Iskon, sponsor of the Audience Award.

25th edition of DANCE WEEK FESTIVAL is supported by:

Ministry of Culture Croatia | Office of Cultural Affairs City of Zagreb | Office of Cultural Affairs City of Rijeka| County Primorsko Goranska | Association for artistic development Prostor+ | Embassy of the Republic of Francuske | Italian Cultural Institute in Zagreb | Embassy of the Netherlands in Zagreb | Japan European Fund | Canada Council for the Arts | British Council | Pro Helvetia | CLP – Institut Camões – Centre for Portuguese culture and language | Canadian Embassy in Zagreb; and, media sponsors Metro and Teatar.hr.

The Festival box office is, as prior years, located in the lobby of the Mamut stage of DK Gavella Theatre, (tel. ++098 9484725), and is open daily Noon to 6PM except Sunday. All information is available round the clock through Festival website: www.danceweekfestival.com, as well as through YouTube, MySpace and Facebook channels.

This continues the now traditional efforts of HIPP that enables pre-professional dancers and emerging dancers to generate experience of training and working with established choreographer. This same programme will also be presented in Rijeka on June 01, in the space of Elementary shool Donja Vežica, at 1pm.

***

Robert Hylton studied dance at the Northern School Of Contemporary Dance, while his dance experience is generated through working with numerous dance groups rooted in underground dance, hip-hop and body popping scene.

Robert formed his own company Urban Classicism in 1999 launching solo projects Step and Two Steps in Urban Classicism, the latter featured at the 19^th DWF. As part of the 23^rd DWF, Urban Classicism featured the work Verse & Verses (photo enclosed).

Already in 2001 he was nominated for the prestigious choreographic Jerwood Prize, and in 2002 was awarded with The Capture for dance on screen and became bio je nominiran za prestižnu koreografsku nagradu Jerwood, and in 2002 became associate choreographer with the London based The Place, reknown for its innovative and pioneering projects. He also danced with numerous dance companies such as Phoenix Dance Company and Jonzi D, and was also guest with the JazzXchange. As a dance educator he collaborated with Dance works (Sheffield), Ludus, MDI (Liverpool), Reading McDonalds Our Town story @ The Millennium Dome, and Adugna Dance Company, Ethiopia.

Among his more commercial endeavors is the video for George Michael and three dance films with director Oliver Ashton, of which the most recent one in 2002 was awarded with the Capture and was featured as part of the project 4Dance on Channel 4.

The Festival’s 25th edition will present 13 contemporary works from around the world along with a selection of Croatian creations. A special attraction of this festival edition is the  work Entity produced by British Random Dance Company and choreographed by Wayne McGregor. This work was only recently premiered in London on April 10, and its author is one of the world’s leading creators of contemporarby ballet, also the house choreographer of british Royal Ballet the first ever contemporary dance artist appointed to this position.

McGregor and his  Random Dance Company, were presented at the Festival in the early stages of his career (1999 – 16 Dance Week Festival), and again in 2003 (20 Dance Week Festival). Along this company there are three more names that the local audiences will recognize and welcome back : one of Canada’s foremost dance makers Daniel Leveille, Belgian company Thor with choreographer Thierry Smits whom we first met in 1998; and Paulo  Ribeiro, former artistic director of Gulbenkin Ballet whose own company was featured at the 14th edition of Dance Week Festival.
Along the above mentioned names, the Festival will feature in this year’s selection the increasing trend of incorporating dance with multimedia and its multidiciplinarity of expression, featuring names that are currently at the forefront of these developments. Presented will be two Bessie award winners – australian comany Chunky Move which fuses in a magical way dance with contemporary technology; and, american choreographer originating from Puerto Rico – DD Dorvillier who aside from technology makes use of film, sound scapes, text and scupltures. As part of the main stage events the Festival will also feature a project which was presented as an idea at last year’s Festival – Brothers Karamazov made in China by Slovenian choreographer Mateja Bučar.

Multimedia and pushinb boundaries of dance expression is of interst to several emerging choreographers also awarded recently at various festivals around the world:  Hiroaki Umeda fuses urban dance with japanese Butoh; also featured are the winner of RFI  Découvertes Danse, Ketlly Noel, and winner of Giovani Danz’Autori recently also presented at Aerowaves – Simone Bertozzi.

Alongside the tradition of featuring Croatian dance makers throgh the Croatian Choreographic Platform, the selection of works includes artists that originate from this region and are making their successful mark on the European stages such as Jasmina Prolić and last year’s double awardee from ImpulsTanz -   Ivana Müller.
The Platform will feature works by Sanja Tropp Fruhwald (Something to do with death), Žak Valenta (Utjelovljenje), Andrea Gotovina (Plavi petak), Aleksandra Janeva (Ozbiljne serije), i Selma Banich / OOUR (Chew).

Tickets to 25 Dance Week Festival are on sale as of May 15, while ticket reservations as well as additional details related to specific performances are available through the Festival web site:  www.danceweekfestival.com, Information can also be sourced through YouTube, MySpace and Facebook channels.

This year’s festival was made possible through the support of the  Croatian Ministry for culture, Office of Cultural Affairs, City of Zagreb, Office of Cultural Affairs City of Rijeka, French Institute in Zagreb, the French Embassy in Croatia, the Embassy of Portugal in Zagreb, the Italian Cultural Centre in Zagreb, the Canadian Embassy in Zagreb, Canada Council for the Arts, the Embassy of the Netherlands in Zagreb,  the Japan European Fund, the British Council and Pro Helvetia. The Festival is partnering with the Prostor Plus Society for the delivery of program in Rijeka.

Dance Week Festival is the major project by the Croatian Institute for Movement and Dance. The Festival has through its 25 year history presented well over 500 internationally acclaimed dance artists as well as producing over 50 works by local choreographers contributing to the maturing of the Croatian contemporary dance scene.

The Festival PR ofice is available to registered journalists 24 hours throughout the duration of the Festival. For reasons of efficacy and ease of communication the Office will post all relevant updates and program information on the Festival web-site: www.danceweekfestival.com under PRESS.

The Festival team wishes to thank all its partners, donors and sponsors and especially the Audience for their dedicated support and invites all to attend the program of this year’s 25 Dance Week Festival.

Festival PR Office

25 DANCE WEEK FESTIVAL

Gsm: 091.323.40.16

E-mail: press@danceweekfestival.com

www.danceweekfestival.com

Inbal Pinto Danced Company fascinated local audieences already during its first appearance at the 15th Dance Week Festival, and especially memorable was their sold out performance in 2006 which got them the Dance Week Festival’s Audience Award during Dance Week Festival.

“Shaker” which will be presented on April 28 and 29 on the stage of Zagreb Youth Theatre (Zagreba?ko kazalište mladih) was created in the 2006/07 season and for this production the choreographic team Inbal Pinto and Avshalom POlak were awarded by the Israel Ministry of Culture and Education.

“Shaker” will officially announce the upcoming 25 Dance Week Festival, Croatia’s primary festival of contemporary dance which will take place in both Zagreb and in Rijeka from May 26 to June 3, this year.