From April 27 to May 12, an international contemporary dance festival will be held in Vilnius and Ukmergė.The new Baltic dance". This year's festival doubles in size - taking into account the demand of the last festival's audience, most of the performances will be held twice, with double the number of seats. The long-cherished visits of several festival choreographers to Lithuania will come to fruition, and due to high demand, they have been coordinating for more than five years.
This year, NBŠ will once again invite you to experience the world through the language of the moving body: while traveling around contemporary dance events, festivals and premieres, the festival team was looking for creators who would become the movers of attitudes and formed opinions for the Lithuanian audience - respond to the present, reflect the processes taking place in the world, such as climate change, social, cultural and political phenomena, the power of art and laughter.
"This time, a very important aspect in creating the program was the creators' political and social positions - the world is going through many turning points, and I was interested in how this would be reflected in contemporary dance." I invited choreographers to Lithuania, whose works are already influencing the development of contemporary dance, increasing the accessibility of dance to different social groups, and creating a safe space for dialogue. An interesting detail - the festival audience will not only be able to feel the choreographers in the hall, but also see some of them on stage", promises festival manager Gintarė Masteikaitė.
The Greek Christos Papadopoulos, who will open the festival, who developed his choreographic muscles working with the most famous Greek director of our time - Dimitri Papayouan, will delicately examine the changes in glaciers. Argentinian Ayelen Parolin will introduce herself to the audience through courage using humor. In the modern world of dance, few choreographers dare to transfer humor to the stage - a unique experience awaits the audience. Another charismatic choreographer, Cherish Menzo, whose works have already been awarded the main theater prizes in the Netherlands, will dance two of her works, clearly advocating for human rights. Cherish questions norms and creates universes where the dark body takes center stage.
Frederic Gravel, Canadian dance rock star, will creatively combine text, live music and movement in his signature energetic, uncensored and brutally honest style. Gravel will electrify the audience with rock'n'roll sexy and relevant dance.
The Portuguese Marco da Silva Ferreira and the Lithuanian Dovydas Strimaitis, who works in France, will return to the Lithuanian audience during the last festival to receive a very warm welcome from the audience.
There are two more Lithuanian highlights in the program: choreographer Lukas Karvelis' modern look at Baltic mythology - the legend of Jūratė and Kastytis and the joint work of Lithuanian and Ukrainian sound creators and dancers - the performance "Insomnia", created in Lviv under rocket fire, after fleeing the dangers of war to Paris and waking up, and in Lithuania providing assistance.
Global trends will be summed up by choreographer Benjamin Kahn, who believes that dance and choreography are powerful political tools. He will convey the overflowing scale of humanity's challenges with the help of Sati Veyrunes, a wonderful crowd pleaser at last year's festival and a radical means of expression - the cry.
Being the largest event of its kind in the Baltic States, NBŠ performs a triple mission: to inform, educate and gather people interested in the art of dance. More than 6000 spectators visit the festival every year.
In total, more than 270 troupes from 37 countries of the world participated in the "New Baltic Dance", which showed over 480 dance performances. Festival organizers: Lithuanian Dance Information Center and Vilnius Festivals.
