New Europe Festival 2010 and Jarmila Jeřábková Award
PRESS RELEASE
12th year of the competition, 4th year of the festival
The choreographic competition for young artists from Central and Eastern Europe saw its twelfth year from 25 November till 29 November 2010. In the recent years its final evening is held as a festival open to public. The competition is characteristic with a focus on classical music. One of the two compulsory choreographies must be set to music by a Czech modern composer. The name of the composer for the next year is announced at the closing ceremony of the competition. In the past competitors worked with the music of Bohuslav Martinů, Miloslav Kabeláč, Petr Eben, Marek Kopelent, Kryštof Mařatka and Martin Smolka. In 2010 the compulsory composer was Jiří Teml.
During the twelve years young choreographers from the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Latvia, Poland, Hungary, Rumania, Greece, Slovakia, Slovenia and Turkey took part in the competition. This year the finalists included artists from Greece, Poland/Germany, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The members of the international jury were: the founder of the competition Mrs Eva Blažíčková, the dance publicist Nina Vangeli, John Ashford from Great Britain, who is connected with the London dance theatre The Place and the Aerowaves competition, Jan Minařík, former member of Pina Bausch´s Tanztheater Wuppertal and Michel Vincenot, director of Scene conventionnée Dance, Pau, France.
The opening night of the New Europe Festival featured last year´s and the last but one year´s winners Kateřina Stupecká with her work Sunyata – The Fertile Emptiness, a descent through twilight and magical flashes of light into the depth of the unconscious, and Zoltán Grecsó, who in his trio Desire to Live created a portrait of his father in which he mixed original solo variations with slow-motion obsessive bits of reality, dreamy or humorously absurd. Both choreographers asserted their past success in the competition and proved that they have moved forward towards artistic maturity.
The unassailable winner of this year´s competition was Iris Karayan from Greece. She performed her work Leg acy, a breathtaking solo set to the music by Jiří Teml Concerto per clavicembalo ed orchestra da camera – Drammatico. She used an original dance vocabulary which as if changed the anatomy of the dancer. She was moving like an unhinged Picasso picture, which has by mistake descended from the wall. The surprising play of body tension, the surprising rhythms react to the impulses of Teml´s music but create an autonomous dance statement leading into rapid turns and spirals. The work did not lack humour and entranced the viewers. The dancer brings about memories of Nizinsky and the early Marie Chouinard. Iris Karayan´s free work was called A time to mourn – an animal duet of two lionesses shaking their manes, an immersion into the deepest layers of human memory, when the consciousness was being born tossing about with wild instincts. No other prize was awarded.
Like every year the Festival was closed with a concert of music by the composer of the year and the performance of the winners. Apart from Iris Karayan, a chance to perform was given to the DC student Anežka Stráníková who performed her choreography to Teml´s Hommage a Michelangelo – Searching for Form called An Encounter with Michelangelo.
The project is supported by: Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, Prague Municipality, International Visegrad Fund, Greek Embassy, Slovak Institute in Prague, Život umělce Foundation, Czech Centre Prague, MĚSTSKÁ ČÁST PRAHA 4.
Partners: Orkesztika Foundation, Asociácia súčasného tanca, Śląski Teatr Tańca
Media partners: A2 kulturní čtrnáctideník, Nový prostor, Hudební Rozhledy, Taneční Zóna, Metropolis, magazín Salto /sk/, časopis Vlna /sk/ Bio Oko, Aerofilms s.r.o. a kino Světozor, Radio Etno, ČRo 3 – Vltava, tanecniaktuality.cz, Pragoplakát s.r.o.
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