House Bolero

Concept and choreography: Matej Kejžar
Performed by: Drago Asić Lika, Andrija Laboš Jerry, Branko Banković, Ana Mrak, Ana Vnučec, Martina Tomić, Ida Jolić, Šimun Stankov i Ana Novković
Light design & scenography: Petra Veber
Photography: Nina Đurđević
Production: Studio za suvremeni ples
Special thanks to: Snježana Šolić, Damir Buntak, Igor Ekštajn, Milica Sinkauz, ZKM and HNK technicians
Supported by the City of Zagreb, the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia and Kultura Nova Foundation

House Bolero - It all started five years ago as an ode to Dance, with an experiment on how to learn from dance, rather than to learn how to dance or how to be oneself. The crazy, odd, idiosyncratic dance styles evolved through working with physical presence and kinaesthetic registering of time and space as a matter, a common energetic field, a dynamic territory and a place where a constant change of dynamics is possible. This time the occasion was the 60th anniversary of the Contemporary Dance Studio. This is an intergenerational experiment with dancers aged 21 to 69. Working with their bodies, their physical presence and passion for dance, they inevitably bring forth new implications: their dance writings become a force that challenges the vast field of normalization.

Studio Contemporary Dance Company was founded in the season 1962/63 in Zagreb under the artistic direction of Ana and Vera Maletić. It is the first contemporary dance ensemble in Croatia and the region. Through numerous productions and collaborations with artists of various artistic practices, Studio encourages the acquisition of new knowledge based on the tradition of innovation in the field of contemporary dance expression. Remaining uncompromising, unpredictable and always fresh, it has produced an enviable number of dance projects through which generations of excellent dancers, pedagogues and choreographers were profiled. Among numerous recognitions, the most significant are the multiple Croatian Theater Awards, the professional UPUH 2012 award for the 50th anniversary of Studio’s activity and the UPUH 2023 award for the contribution to the development of contemporary dance in Croatia during its 60 years of existence.