2020 marks an important occasion for Lithuanian dance community – the Lithuanian Dance Information Centre (LDIC) celebrates its 25th anniversary. The organization, which have carried out the most important work of collecting and disseminating information on contemporary dance for a quarter of a century, begins the festive year with a gift to dance lovers – a presentation of nine Lithuanian dance creators’ documentaries.
Films Revealing Personalities
LDIC invites everybody to wait for to the International Dance Day, celebrated on April 29, together, while getting to know Lithuanian dance artists. “Portraits of Lithuanian Dance Artists” – project carried out by LDIC since 2015, that annually produces documentary films, introducing Lithuanian contemporary dance and ballet artists and performers, their creative work as well as the history of Lithuanian dance.
“The aim of this project is to show the individuality of each dance artist and the important features of his or her work. Personal stories and memories of the creators, that you hear in these films, help to reduce the distance between the audience and the artist, and give a better understanding of the hero’s creative direction and stylistics.” – says project coordinator Anastasia Dichtiar.
Every year films are created by different directors (Vytautas Puidokas, Kostas Radlinskas, Marius Paplauskas, Mikas Žukauskas), who have distinctive styles, but it is important for each of them to explore the personalities of the film heroes. “I sincerely fell in love with ballet and am no longer so categorical towards contemporary dance. Two wonderful artists – choreographers and dancers Rūta Butkus and Martynas Rimeikis – have contributed greatly to this. I have created biographical documentaries of these great artists, as if they were my good friends, who are very important.”- one of the directors Mikas Žukauskas shares his thoughts.
Documentaries Available to Everyone
The LDIC has previously presented the films at different cultural events and will now make nine documentary films about dance artists available on the Vimeo platform before the International Dance Day. Each week, one film will be featured, and the first one, about choreographer and dancer Petras Lisauskas, is already available on LDIC account today, via this link. Until April 29 viewers will also see documentary stories about Vytis Jankauskas, Birutė Banevičiūtė, Mantas Stabačinskas, Agnija Šeiko, Godas Laurinavičiūtė, Airida Gudaitė and Laurynas Žakevičius, Rūta Butkus, Martynas Rimeikis. Notifications of new available films can be followed on the LDIC Facebook account.
It is not the end of the project “Portraits of Lithuanian Dance Creators”- the tenth documentary film is currently being produced. It is different from what has been created so far, as it introduces dance historian and critic Helmutas Šabasevičius (director Povilas Baltinas), instead of an artist. “When creating portraits of Lithuanian dance creators, we analyzed articles written by dance and theater critics and their reflections on dance. This is how the idea of introducing people who have always lived in the dance world and contributed to the analysis and development of Lithuanian dance history, while not being dance artists, was born.” says A. Dichtiar. Audience will be invited to the premiere of this documentary during the International Contemporary Dance Festival New Baltic Dance this May.
Our activities are supported by Lithuanian Council for Culture, Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania, Vilnius City Municipality.