{"id":16537,"date":"2024-10-31T14:58:47","date_gmt":"2024-10-31T12:58:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dance.lt\/new\/?p=16537"},"modified":"2024-10-31T15:01:05","modified_gmt":"2024-10-31T13:01:05","slug":"agniete-lisickinaite-every-protest-starts-with-the-body","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dance.lt\/new\/en\/2024\/10\/31\/agniete-lisickinaite-every-protest-starts-with-the-body\/","title":{"rendered":"Agniet\u0117 Lisi\u010dkinait\u0117: every protest starts with the body"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article belongs to Springback Magazine<\/a>, L\u00e9a Poir\u00e9.<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"From<\/p>\n

Lithuanian choreographer Agniet\u0117 Lisi\u010dkinait\u0117 locate her work at the crossover between art and activism, dancing and demonstrating \u2013 and going from black and white to grey.<\/p>\n

In the heart of Paris, a small crowd holds up signs, hands raised above their head. A typical Saturday in France and any big city \u2013 at least in countries where demonstrating is not a crime. But look closer, and the signs are confusing. One side stands for the \u2018traditional family\u2019, the other says \u2018I am bisexual\u2019. One recto reads \u2018covid doesn\u2019t exist\u2019, its verso \u2018I\u2019m vaccinated\u2019. Reactionary vs progressive, misogyny vs feminism, plus some more unpopular ideas such as \u2018vegetarian are just bad hunters\u2019. Performed in the streets, Hands up<\/em> by Lithuanian choreographer Agniet\u0117 Lisi\u010dkinait\u0117 creates an intervention that makes us face a reality: every idea implicates its opposite; one can stand for as much as against; democracy is never one-way.<\/p>\n

With this piece, applauded in over 20 countries, Lisi\u010dkinait\u0117 has reached a broad audience and made public protest a core of her choreographic practice. Nevertheless, she has never considered herself a pure activist. She explains: \u2018Deliberate starvation through hunger strikes, demonstrations, marches, sit-ins, occupations\u2026 for me, every fight for or against ideas begins with the body. I see the world first and foremost as an artist.\u2019 She started dance at the age of six thanks to her grandmother, a practising member of a non-professional free-dance group who imbued Lisi\u010dkinait\u0117 with her love for and knowledge of dance. Lisi\u010dkinait\u0117 went on to study choreography at the Lithuanian Music and Theater Academy; art is truly in her DNA. Moreover, her entry point into Hands u<\/em>p was not its central subject \u2013 protest \u2013 but through her own body.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Agniet\u0117 Lisi\u010dkinait\u0117: Hands Up. Photo \u00a9\ufe0f D. Matvejev<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018It all started during the first lockdown,\u2019 she explains. \u2018Like many people, I was looking for a way to calm down.\u2019 She recalls a yoga pose where you extend and hold your arms out to the side. \u2018Because physical pain comes immediately, you let go of your thoughts,\u2019 she laughs. \u2018It really worked on me\u2019. As she practised the pose over and over, she began to modify it. \u2018I raised my hands over my head every day for five months, from five minutes at the beginning to one and half hours at the end. I became fascinated by this gesture that embodies many different contexts: religion, praying, clubbing, wars, public violence, surrender and\u2026 protest culture.\u2019<\/p>\n

From this practice, she created a first choreographic sketch, for New Baltic Dance Festival in 2020, presented in her city, Vilnius. Face and body painted white, she invited audiences to raise their hands. Just like her. \u2018I did this a few weeks after the political events in Belarus and huge street protests against the regime,\u2019 she explains \u2013 referring to demonstrations against President Lukashenko\u2019s contested re-election with almost 80% votes, sparked by allegations of electoral fraud, and agitating for democratic reform. One can easily imagine how her gesture, in a neighbouring country, was immediately politically coloured by the context.<\/p>\n

Lisi\u010dkinait\u0117 didn\u2019t stop there. \u2018I decided to perform this in front of the embassy of Belarus,\u2019 she says. Five minutes after she started, she was arrested, and spent four hours at the police station. \u2018I thought this would have dissuaded me from continuing, but it encouraged me! At this point, I had the feeling this project was truly needed.\u2019 A few months later, in front of the same embassy, she did it again. \u2018Alongside a video artist, we used red flowers to symbolise the official flag of Belarus. By holding my hands very gracefully, wearing high heels, I created a sexualised and elegant character, the opposite of the common portrayal of a protester.\u2019 Hands up<\/em> was almost there: Lisi\u010dkinait\u0117 understood the power of public space, and part of every performance has taken place on the streets.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Agniet\u0117 Lisi\u010dkinait\u0117: Hands Up. Photo \u00a9\ufe0f M. Pavone<\/em><\/p>\n

For Lisi\u010dkinait\u0117, art should not be confined to secured studios and comfy theatres. \u2018Art is a tool for change, whether personal, social, political, physical or mental.\u2019 she explains. She considers herself \u2018a document collecting different stories, beyond my own\u2019, and pays particular attention to listening to other voices. Two months after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, she wrote a new sign with the number of casualties on one side, and \u2018bombing for peace\u2019 on the other, holding it on a bridge in Vilnius while counting out loud until she reached 2435 casualties. It took her two and a half hours to complete the action, ironically titled It is not only number<\/em>. When working on Hands up<\/em> with refugees, she encouraged them to write their own problematics on the double-sided signs. \u2018I am really afraid to impose\u2019 she says.<\/p>\n

In the professional world of dance, she also inspires a collective spirit. The dance company she cofounded with her fellow choreographer Greta Grinevi\u010di\u016bt\u0117 \u2013 named Be Kompanijos after their foundational duo B&B<\/em> (2015) \u2013 is \u2018an umbrella organisation for contemporary choreographers looking for a home\u2019;\u00a0currently seven artists are hosted.<\/p>\n

Community work with marginalised minorities, choreographed riots for students in her Rave of Riot<\/em> (2024), street demonstrations in Hands up<\/em>: Lisi\u010dkinait\u0117 embodies what we might call a committed artist. However, she is also aware of the other side of the coin: \u2018For a long time, I was quite aggressive and provocative on social media. For instance, I used to think there is no such thing as a good Russian. Everything had to be black or white.\u2019 This shifted when she met Belarus actor and performer Igor Shugaleev, who had fled his country. His performance 375 0908 2334 \/ The body you are calling is currently not availabl<\/em>e presented disturbing resemblance to Hands up: \u2018In his work, he invites us to assume the same position as prisoners in Belarus. After five minutes your body starts to shake, and you realise that while you are not in danger, these people are, and they are forced to hold that pose for hours.\u2019<\/p>\n

The two pieces were often programmed on the same evening, leading to the inevitable meetings between the two artists, and a desire to work together. Coming from two countries in conflict with each other, their collaboration is already political: \u2018in western European countries, people would tell me how great it is to built bridges. In the Baltic states, however, people are suspicious and ask: are you sure he\u2019s not part of soft propaganda?\u2019 Lisi\u010dkinait\u0117 foresees that working with Shugaleev will raise a central question, for art, life and protest: \u2018how to find a grey zone in this world?\u2019 Contrary to what you might think, she hasn\u2019t really abandoned her fervour: this call for complexity is perhaps one of the most radical struggles of our time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article belongs to Springback Magazine, L\u00e9a Poir\u00e9. Lithuanian choreographer Agniet\u0117 Lisi\u010dkinait\u0117 locate her work at the crossover between art …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16528,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[21],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nAgniet\u0117 Lisi\u010dkinait\u0117: every protest starts with the body - Lithuanian Dance Centre<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dance.lt\/new\/en\/2024\/10\/31\/agniete-lisickinaite-every-protest-starts-with-the-body\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"lt_LT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Agniet\u0117 Lisi\u010dkinait\u0117: every protest starts with the body - Lithuanian Dance Centre\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This article belongs to Springback Magazine, L\u00e9a Poir\u00e9. 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