Curatorial statement The performance Poíesis of Self is a follow up phase of process initiated by Snježana Premuš with Physical Manifestations in the period 2012–2015. In a series of presentations of study processes led by the choreographer with different dancers, audience of different profiles, professions and disciplines were invited to participate with a view to establish together how the physical creation of the perception images is expressive, what it produces, how it reads, and what may remain invisible to the eye. Dance critic, historian and contemporary dance archivist Rok Vevar also participated in these presentations and discussions. In 2016, Premuš and Vevar decided to lock themselves in the studio and start sharing their practices with each other. The performance Poíesis of Self, which arose from these meetings, is structured in a series of situations in which the non-invasive activity of the audience and performers is subject to experiential possibilities of converting the body into language and vice versa in places where a body is always already a language, and a language is a resource of the body. “The dance ‘performance’ Poíesis of Self, created by dancer and choreographer Snježana Premuš̌ in co-operation with dance theoretician Rok Vevar, could be described…

dance performanceAfter creating the solo What If (2013) and having been part of the Image Snatchers collective for the past several years, Maja Delak has gone on to choreograph a pentagram with performers from different generations. Just for Today is a seemingly slow-moving instant composition intentionally crafted to bring to view the less visible, less conspicuous materialities, embodiments, physical states. The underlying principle in the ever oscillating and re-emerging space of sound landscapes is the ongoing negotiation of different perspectives, also with the audience. It is impossible to think about moving and movement, about identity, growing up and growing older and not think in terms of the body. In an intertwinement of manifold experiences, images, and topics, some of them individual and specific and some shared by all the performers, the sense of time is revealed through the body. Ageing is always fresh; there is always another layer of dust that has to be blown off, another wrapping concealing excessive invisibilities that has to be undone… If for An Aged Woman in Mina Loy’s poem the past has come apart, the future is inexploitable, and the present pain, the makers of this performance remain upbeat when faced with the challenges…

Beton Ltd. are a collective of authors: Katarina Stegnar, Primož Bezjak and Branko Jordan. Große Erwartungen|Great Expectations is their sixth performance, second in their so called Geman cycle. They say they always begin a performance from ground zero, but for a performance to emerge from nothing, personal grips are almost always of key importance for them. They do not enter narrations and dilemmas through individual stories alone, but also through personal ones. »We can only legitimately speak about ourselves.« After ecology, transitional/growing up loss of illusions, the impotency of resistance, generational angst, they are now dealing with the topic of great expectations and future. And what are expectations if not projections of present desires? »The desires of a European, white, heterosexual, urban, cosmopolitan, overrepresented generation. But we must not forget: Katarina, Primož, Branko … we were all children once. Slovenian children. Some still are.«Concept, direction: Beton Ltd.Performers: Katarina Stegnar, Primož Bezjak, Branko JordanMusic: VIS U$IŁ (Maksim Špelko, Janez Weiss) featuring DEAD TONGUESSet, lighting and costume design: Toni Soprano Meneglejte + Sonda 57Sound design: Jure VlahovičVisuals: Toni Soprano MeneglejteDramaturgical collaborator: Urška BrodarStage manager: Andrej PetrovčičExecutive producer: Maja VižinPublic relations: Tamara Bračič VidmarProduced by: Bunker, LjubljanaSupported by: Ministrstvo za kulturo RS, Mestna…