We encountered this big teathre event in Havana, Cuba. That were two very intense and overwhelming weeks with huge amount of new experiences, new people, different culture, theatre, experiencing simple lifestyles, broken buses, waitings and loads of dance…but nonetheless the most amazing was hospitality and generosity of people in Cuba, all around!
What happened?
ASSITEJ International’s 21. World Congress & Performing Arts Festival for Children & Young People - Voices Of A New World. All of this was arranged by @assitejcuba_oficial and @assitejofficial.
Inside of the congress program Irma Unušić had the opportunity to be selected as a participant of Next Generation Network Residency. It was followed by 5 days in Santa Clara and the rest was in Havana. It is an exchange program for emerging young artists in TYA.
NG presented Next Generation Manifesto at the General Assembly of ASSITEJ International in front of all delegates from many countries from all around the World which was held at the historic Hotel Nacional in the middle of Havana.
We have seen how vivid and fruitful is theatre and culture in general in Cuba! Thank you @next.generation.assitej! It is the amazing group of NOW GENERATION. Love for all!
Big excitement was around meeting many members from @theyoungdancenetwork and it was amazing to gather with colleagues from different slavic countries in the middle of Havana. We lit a spark of some amazing next collaborations!
In addition, it was a feeling as if the whole world was compressed into one place! Indeed an enjoyment!
Arriving back will still take some time but really happy to go on because next step is @schoeneaussicht! Check out the program, it is amazing!
Official trip to ASSITEJ World Congress was supported by Foundation “Kultura Nova” and The City of Bjelovar.
During the residency supported by Cooperativa Teatrale Prometeo @coopprometeo - Residenze Passo Nord we worked on mediation and workshop around the topics of dance, performance and finding a nurturing body and space for ourselves.
We brought The Secret Garden in two classes of the Mittelschule Egger-Lienz in Bozen/Bolzano Bozen/Bolzano and met amazing young people.
The Secret Garden team: Sabrina Fraternali, Anna Javoran, Irma Unušić
Illustrations: Hana Tintor
THREE MOMS AND TWO THE SAME PAJAMAS
FIZZY CUCUMBERS
FLUFFY SANDWICHES
HOW TO FLY FRIED FISH
HURRY MONSTER
CHAIN
THE LOST LOCUST
CREAM
HAM
PASS ME THE FORK
WHEN DO YOU GO
TOMORROW
BLEND at the Mediterranean Dance Center!
Thanks to Kosta (8), Gea (7), Todor (5), Srna (4), Neu(4).
In addition to the song, a new shiny intricate soft richness was created, sometimes as black as a curtain into which the children crawled (pssssst- n one about touching the curtains!)
In sho rt it is:
building cooperation, group dynamics, working in a group, which all entails: developing listening skills, support, listening, recognition of needs, mutual understanding, constant balancing with the need for play (individual or group) and given ideas and wishes.
We asked ourselves: what is the difference between the naturally motivated play of children and the "imposed/suggested ideas" of adults?
Constantly adapting/discovering/listening….
Great photos were taken by Andi Bančić.
BLEND was born from the personal need of female artists to share their dance and creative space with each other and with their children, but it soon developed into a desire to create a space where, primarily starting from the body and movement, through choreographic research, and then through other arts, participants exchange ideas with different generations. BLEND was designed as a place of research, a laboratory of the community of children and adults.
Artists involved in BLEND: Jovana Rakić, Željka Jakovljević, Milena Todorović, Irma Unušić, Kosta Kiseličić, Srna Kiselčić, Todor Jakovljević, Gea Unušić Vujnović, Neo Unušić Vujnović.
On our second international tour since the existence of SHOOMA, Astronauts won two awards at the Festival of ecological theatre in Bačka Palanka, Serbia. We performed Astronauts on August 19th 2022.
The first award is the most sincere one - the audience award for the best show.
The second award is a special award for sensibility in interactivity evaluated by an expert jury consisting of Maša Avramović, pedagogue and activist for children's rights, Duško Mazalica, actor and artistic director of the Children's Theater of the Republic of Serbia and Jovana Rakić, choreographer and dance pedagogue.
The photos are from the festival of the same name by author Jovana Semiz.
We did the first presentation of our "Den music album" which is made for usage in kindergartens, schools and homes to motivate children for creative movement using music and textual motivations from the booklet and all with mental health in mind. It was presented together with the workshop at the Kliker festival on June 18th in the Center for youth and independent culture P4.
BRLOG (Den) is an innovative interdisciplinary music album whose purpose is through a creative approach work with the body, movement, dance and music and positively influence greater awareness of the body, the connection between body and mind, awareness of the breath and oneself, and thereby have a preventive effect on children's mental health at the age of 4 to 11 years. An integral part of the Den album is a booklet with textual instructions and illustrations that additionally motivates the targeted use of the album, thus complementing the musical numbers and instructing the use of the album for the purpose of group or individual work with children.
Author: Irma Unušić / SHOOMA
Authors of music and arrangements: Ivan Marojević and Vanesa Petrac
Author of the text of the musical numbers: Vanesa Petrac
Collaborator for dance and music: Nastasja Štefanić Kralj
Guitar and electronic instruments: Ivan Marojević
Vocal: Vanesa Petrac
Viola: Nastasja Štefanić Kralj
Field recordings: Ivan Marojević and Vanesa Petrac
Illustrations and design: Petar Zlonoga
Studio music recording: Marko Horvat (MHZ studio)
The Den goes further, it will become a concert!
Dates are coming soon!
Photo credit: Mario Knor
Dance artists Sabrina Fraternali, Anna Javoran and Irma Unušić stayed in Moise Palace on the island of Cres from May 28th until June 10th to further develop their artwork. This artistic residency is supported by Island Connect and the Croatian partner of the project, the association Domino from Zagreb.
They worked on the multisensory dance installation "The Secret Garden" which is intended for a young audience over 14 years old. This artistic work is opening doors to awareness and heightening the perception of everyday space.
As part of the residence on June 8, 2022. a presentation of work in progress was held in the courtyard of Cres High School for students from the 2nd grade.
"The Secret Garden" will continue to develop on the island of Bornholm in Denmark from September 12th until September 25th in the BIRCA residency centre also with the support of the Island Connect project, while the premiere is expected in October at the Bjelovar Gymnasium.
As part of this year's activities, the Creative Europe project, Island Connect, will support a total of seven performing arts projects from Croatia, Denmark, Ireland, Greece and Spain, which contribute to the development of the European art scene with their artistic preoccupations and approaches, performing language and tendency to experiment and research. The goal of Island Connect is to support and assist the artistic creation and mobility of artists through the exchange, mentoring and educational programs, and to strengthen and invest in island communities.
Island Connect is supported by EACEA - Creative Europe, the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, the Office for Associations of the Government of the Republic of Croatia, the Kultura Nova Foundation, the City Office for Culture of the City of Zagreb and Primorje-Gorski Kotar County. The island and town of Cres are the locations for the realization of the two-year program of artistic residencies of emerging artistic projects (from 2020 to 2022) organized by the Croatian partner of the project, the association Domino from Zagreb.
Find more about the Island Connect program at: https://islandconnect.eu
Ninabu had its first tour abroad in Ljubljana, Slovenia on the great Festival Bobri. It was organised in Dance Theater Ljubljana through program line SWOP 2022. from Generator Platform. Big thank you to all organizers and especially to audiences in Ljubljana that had bravely immersed in Ninabu.
Photos from Ljubljana: Katarina Kolenc
In these days when the world is shaking in so uncomfortably we are rethinking our mission in this time and space, surely knowing that our vision of a better place is possible by creating art for and with young audiences which is giving them the opportunity to think in different and creative ways, supporting them to feel safe, proud of their lives and finding the reason to hope!
That’s why we are so proud that our Secret Garden was given a great opportunity for growth. Island Connect - a residency program for performing arts, selected our project for having residencies:
Cres, Croatia at Palace Moise 28.5. - 10.6.2022.
Bornholm, Denmark at BIRCA 12.9. - 25.9.2022.
The Secret Garden is the title of a participatory site-specific performance for young audiences over the age of 12 developed by Irma Unušić, Sabrina Fraternali and Anna Javoran. Having the connection of the individual to their environment in mind, the performance offers a search for the genius loci, the good spirit of the place. This search aims to restore harmony and a favourable flow of energy to a space that has maybe become uninteresting, unproductive, boring or dangeurous for its daily inhabitants.
We are looking for a premiere in October 2022.
Artistic team: Anna Javoran, Sabrina Fraternali, Irma Unušić
Island Conncet is co-funded by the Creative.eu program of the European Union.
Local partner: DOMINO https://thisisadominoproject.org (Zagreb, Croatia)
Hosting partner: BIRCA https://www.birca.org/en/ (Bornholm, Denmark)
The work was initiated at TOUCH/ED laboratory at Kliker festival 2020. and was developing at the Generator Platform residency in Trento at Centro Servizi Culturali Santa Chiara.
Photo: Marco Comuzzi
