Editorial 15th Festival

All Good Things Come in Pairs or Dance Dream in Solid Rock Reality

'Terra magica' is a common cliché in the promotion of Istria. But, contrary to many such (empty) slogans, this one is true to fact, as this magical fantasy on peninsula abounds in its authentic legends. It renders itself to realising the impossible, turning dreams into reality and vice versa. This is seen in the legends of the gentle giant Veli Jože and the vampire character of Giure Grando to mummies’ and dinosaur tracks and the still present olm, the human fish, as well as in the ruins of the enchanted Dvigrad and the Pazin Cave where Jules Verne is said to have aspired to catch a glimpse into the centre of the Earth.

Fifteen years ago, Snježana Abramović Milković envisioned a cultural event in a small town in the heart of Istria. And so the Dance & Non-verbal Theatre Festival was born in San Vicenti or in San Vicenta, the much cosier, feminine local variation. With this Istria, which is by no means a culturally poor region of Croatia, gained even more than it could wish for. Neither dedicated to film nor attached to an institution or even a building from its very beginnings, the event is held under the clear skies – more accurately, as clear as the fickle Istrian summers allow.

The start of the new millennium was an optimism-filled time in Croatia, characterised by new winds that brought small, ambitious and agile festivals to Croatian culture, becoming an irreplaceable driver. Nevertheless, the idea to inaugurate dance music into the centre of the Istrian peninsula, rather than in its tourism attractive and infrastructurally attainable edge areas was brave and revolutionary. San Vicenti was then just another dreamy stone-housed rural small town, as picturesque as can be, hidden away in a tangled network of country roads marked by missing or wrongly placed signposts. Its Renaissance castle, dominating a cluster of small houses and conjuring magic even in daylight, a plaza featuring the ever-present well, an open-air loggia and a parish create a perfect mise-en-scène already featured in national films. However, all this would not be sufficient for a dance festival with serious ambitions to feature an international repertoire and a vision of turning a several-day summer event into an all-embracing project of a Mediterranean Dance Centre had it not been for both great organisational and production efforts of Snježana Abramović Milković, the Zagreb Dance Company that she has been leading for over twenty years, and the support of the San Vicenti citizens and authorities. The eccentric but dynamic idea became a reality, and the Dance & Non-verbal Theatre Festival became an unavoidable and ineludible fact of both the domestic and international dance scene.

The most significant achievement of the Dance & Non-verbal Theatre Festival was to show that dance could break out from the established production and presentation structures, that it could be brought to an unfamiliar space and before unknown audiences, and could compare home-grown talent to the international – even if it takes dancing under open skies. In this respect, the initial idea and the ensuing realisation shed the desire for self-actualisation of personal ambition, instead displaying clear resolve to establish an intentionally different platform for the development of the art of dance, away from Zagreb, but still situated in the overall cultural picture of Croatia and the wider Balkan region. This is the strategic imperative of modern dance and the related arts that contribute to decentralisation and the development of audiences. The multi-ethnic and tourist Istria, as one of Croatia’s flagships in the future “Europe of Regions”, is the perfect choice of venue, not only in terms of location, but also in its ambience and atmosphere.

The outcome of the vision cannot be and should not be expected immediately. Festival projects have their own dynamics, and in the beginning serve the purpose of show on both sides – in the audience and on stage. The former was taken care of by the dance itself and the dance audiences which proved to be quite ample in Istria in spite of the sceptics’ comments. The curious drifters mix with tourists, the so-calledprofessional audiences blend with the local population, and they all learn the meaning of the performing arts. However, it is mostly those who are not privileged to enjoy in arts daily often are the best reminder of the primary fascination with performance and performability. Regardless of whether the festival involves an experiment pushing modern dance further beyond its already permeable borders and turning it into discursive practice, minimalism or performance, or whether it includes top visiting performances by world renowned companies whose perfectionism and competences enthral, or clownmanship whose street entertainment echoes the new circus poetics, San Vincenti has welcomed both the best performers and those who are only just beginning. They have all enjoyed it alike, making this Istrian destination a regular stop of their tour. By its selection scope, the Dance & Non-verbal Theatre Festival is a unique blend of firmly addressed structures openly carrying the author’s endorsement and of totally clashing steps forward that are not only permitted but even encouraged. This why it is not only realistic and possible, but it is also feasible only as such.

The variety of approaches to performing arts requires a range of stages. In addition to the grand stage in the Grimani Castle, booked for company productions that require high technology, the festival also uses the town plaza with adjoining loggia and sometimes a side street, the school or any newly discovered venue. In several recent years, the list of venues has also included the Mediterranean Dance Centre and its multipurpose arena for performances and rehearsals in the months when the weather conditions become ideal for contemplation and creation. I San Vicenti Shakespeare’s “all the world’s a stage” becomes fact, and it is a stage and that all permanent and temporary performance venue together with their programmes still allow the town to carry on with its daily routine, rhythm and purpose, which enriches this ambiental theatre festival with an air of exclusivity that has become the rule in itself.

Even though San Vicente has become a metaphor for the Dance & Non-verbal Theatre Festival, with all the externalities and internalities the concept an arts review entails, it is still a small Istrian town whose peace and quiet has not been tampered by such a vibrant, unpredictable and intensive phenomenon as modern dance. All best things come in pairs, and so are San Vicenti and San Vicenta, and vice versa. This proves that in ‘terra magica’ dreams can come true, even though it still sounds – fantastic!

Igor Ružić