SOLITAIRE

ZAGREB DANCE COMPANY & EN-KNAP

In co-production with ZAGREB YOUTH THEATRE & CANKARJEV DOM

SOLITAIRE

CONCEPT AND CHOREOGRAPHY: Iztok Kovač

PERFORMED BY: Sara Barbieri, Darija Doždor, Ales Hadalin, Gali Kaner, Iztok Kovač, CarmenLarraz, Janina Rajakangas, Ognjen Vucinić

SINGS: Aleš Hadalin

LIVE SOUND SAMPLING: Gali Kaner

SCENOGRAPHY: Goran Petercol

LIGHT DESIGNERS: Goran Petercol, Zoran Grabarac

COMPOSER: Damir Šimunović

DRAMATURG: Saša Božić

COSTUME: Emina Tataragić

VISUAL ARTS CONSULTANT: Uršula Berlot

MUSICIANS: Joži Šalej, Krunoslav Levačić

USED SCORES: Duke Ellington, Jimmy Rushing, slovenian folks songs

TECH SUPPORT: Zoran Grabarac, Saša Bogojević

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Mirna Čubranić, Damir Domitrović Kos

ASSISTANT PRODUCERS: Ksenija Gorjak, Urša Comino

ART DIRECTOR EN-KNAPA: Iztok Kovač

ART DIRECTOR ZPA: Snježana Abramović

The latest production of the renowned dancer and choreographer Iztok Kovac 'Solitaire' is questioning the concept of truth as a funda- mental division between the way things really are, and the way they seem to be to an indivi- dual's own perception. Performance focuses on the inability of anyone to know the truth, no matter how clearly one thinks he/she sees things. Perspective distorts reality and makes the absolute truth unknowable.

As a choreographer, Iztok Kovač is not interested in a dance performance as a concluded narration, but as a research within whi- ch the imagination of the dance-movement is subordinated to the shaping of an autonomous choreographic and performing form. The international dance company En-Knap, which was founded by Kovač in 1993, has established a model of the so-called creative dancer who should be as independent from the choreographer as possible. In such a choreographic system dancers are not creative personalities à priori: their potential becomes a creative tool only when they stop relying upon the adopted movement techniques and start using them as a medium through which they descend into their primary, intuitive body, Kovac's creative work is a subtle interpretation of the experience of a time and heritage determined by a socialist upbringing, non-existence of a contemporary dance tradition and the experience growing up in the city of Trbovlje, which is the symbol of Slovene heavy industry. In the realm of contemporary dance and dance film, En-Knap is a trade-mark of a recognizable aesthetics and one of the rare dance groups from the countries of the ex East Europe which, in the context of strict rules of the international contemporary dance market, successfully surmounts mental and economic barriers after the fall of the iron curtain.

Since its foundation, Zagreb Dance Company has remained uncompromising in its thinking of dance as an artistic expression. Zagreb Dance Company has an enviable continuity of work and has collaborated with the majority of Croatian dancers and dance experts wor- king at home and abroad. The Company has performed internationally, as well as in all major theaters in Croatia.