Awarded shows, ironic and thoughtful plot, honest stories and quality in the choreography – it is Lithuanian recipes for a good day start at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. 17-22, August early mornings at the SpaceTriplex (V38) venue will be packed with the best contemporary dance performances from Lithuania – the Phenomenon of the year“Contemporary?” and the first contemporary dance piece for infants under 3 years – “Puzzle”.
“Puzzle” is performance created with deep wisdom step by step taking infants towards joy of cognition. How does surrounding world look like for a small child? Is it round or angular, yellow or blue? Or may be oblong green, hollow, but soft? World cognition of a child in first years begins from a variety of geometric shapes and colors. Famous Lithuanian choreographer Birutė Banevičiūtė put these colored shapes together as a puzzle and recognizable vegetables – carrot, tomato, cucumber, and sometimes unrecognizable mushrooms, fruits and flowers appear. During the performance traveling through child’s developmental stages, dancers as children under one year crawl, creep, bounce, as two years child walk, run, clap, as in the age of three – gallop, hide and turn. These children’s movements accompanied by specially created music of high and simple sounds, acceptable for children age from 0 to 3.
Specially created for children – this show also is suitable for Fringe lovers after a quality night out – relax and enjoy peaceful music and light but colorful choreography.
To start the day with the ironic performance and gain the goon mood for the day – it is another suggestion for an early morning at the Fringe from Lithuanian delegates.
The good parody has to have 4 elements: make the audience laugh, surprise them with the plot, the parody has to be better and to show the higher quality than the original, the parody cannot become a mockery or exposing publicistic. “Contemporary?” matches all of those criteria. This is probably the first time in Lithuania that three artists have cooperated to create a performance that looks at the Lithuanian contemporary dance scene with a self-irony glance, quoting cliché movements, phrases, even costume details. Idea and choreography are created by three well known Lithuanian actors and dancers Agnė Ramanauskaitė, Paulius Tamolė and Mantas Stabačinskas. “Contemporary?” has been named as the Phenomenon of the Year 2013 and one of the performers – Mantas Stabačinskas has been nominated with the prestigious Lithuanian theater award as the Best Dancer of the Year.
“Contemporary?” became one of the most touring contemporary dance performances in Lithuania which can be performed in different languages and adapted to the local social or political relevance. Self-irony and honest performance haven’t left apathetic audience in the festivals in Poland, Estonia, Latvia and etc. Now it is time to join the Fringe marathon.
Venue SpaceTriplex (V38) 17-22, August
* 9.15 a.m. Contemporary dance performance for infants under 3 years “Puzzle”
* 9.55 a.m. The Phenomenon of the Year “Contemporary?”
** Galery – Morning recipes from Lithuania with Agne Ramanauskaite, Paulius Tamole and Mantas Stabacinskas. Photos by Dimitrij Matvejev
Morning recipes are brought to Edinburgh with the support from the Lithuanian Council for Culture.
More information: Arts Printing House.