Sweat & soot

SWEAT & SOOT
By Goran Bogdanovski & Fičo Balet

PREMIERE & RERUNS

LJUBLJANA, CANKARJEV DOM, SLOVENIA, 14. 06. 2001
LJUBLJANA, CANKARJEV DOM, SLOVENIA, 17. 06. 2001
LJUBLJANA, CANKARJEV DOM, SLOVENIA, 18. 06. 2001
LJUBLJANA, CANKARJEV DOM, SLOVENIA, 20. 06. 2001
LJUBLJANA, CANKARJEV DOM, SLOVENIA, 29. 06. 2001
LJUBLJANA, CANKARJEV DOM, SLOVENIA, 21. 09. 2001
LJUBLJANA, CANKARJEV DOM, SLOVENIA, 22. 09. 2001
LJUBLJANA, CANKARJEV DOM, SLOVENIA, 24. 09. 2001
LJUBLJANA, CANKARJEV DOM, SLOVENIA, 25. 09. 2001
INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OTHER VISION, VOLGOGRAD, RUSSIA, 29. 10. 2001
LJUBLJANA, CANKARJEV DOM, SLOVENIA, 11. 12. 2001
LJUBLJANA, CANKARJEV DOM, SLOVENIA, 12. 12. 2001
LJUBLJANA, CANKARJEV DOM, SLOVENIA, 15. 12. 2001
LJUBLJANA, CANKARJEV DOM, SLOVENIA, 16. 12. 2001
VILLACH, INFINITION, AVSTRIJA, SLOVENIA, 10. 01. 2002
LJUBLJANA, CANKARJEV DOM, SLOVENIA, 12. 01. 2002
LJUBLJANA, CANKARJEV DOM, SLOVENIA, 13. 01. 2002
LONDON, THE PLACE, GREAT BRITAIN, 09. 02. 2002
LJUBLJANA, CANKARJEV DOM, SLOVENIA, 04. 03. 2002
PRAGUE, PONEC, CZECH REPUBLIC, 05. 03. 2002
PRAGUE, PONEC, CZECH REPUBLIC, 06. 03. 2002
PRAGUE, THE ARCHA THEATRE, CZECH REPUBLIC, 08. 03. 2002
LJUBLJANA, CANKARJEV DOM, SLOVENIA, 10. 04. 2002
NOVI SAD, INFANT, SRBIA AND MONTENEGRO, 27. 06. 2002
GRAZ, 11. INTERNATIONAL THEATERFESTIVAL BUHENENWERKSTATT, AUSTRIA, 08. 07. 2002
GRAZ, 11. INTERNATIONAL THEATERFESTIVAL BUHENENWERKSTATT, AUSTRIA, 09. 07. 2002
LJUBLJANA, GIBANICA – MOVING CAKE, CANKARJEV DOM, SLOVENIA, 01. 03. 2003
ZAGREB, POSTDRAMATIC FISHING, TEATER ITD, CROATIA, 18. 04. 2003

ABOUT …

The title of the performance and the name of the group of four dancers Goran Bogdanovski, Damjan Mohorko, Dejan Srhoj and Goran Tatar can be easily grasped if one adds this: in the small space of Duša Počkaj hall, black as soot and small as "fičo" (a once popular Yugoslav car made after the Italian Fiat 750), dancers sweat in mid-June. Yet soot is also a black empty space where the wind blows, blends and airs the movement material 1:0. The movement principle 1:0 requires the airiness of the body, the lifting of the center beyond its natural position; a body that is sensitive to the slightest sound and responds to it with dance faster than thoughts. And when the sound is no more, when there is just the blending of the air, the body does not rest, but goes on repeating the daily routine dance patterns, rooted so deeply in the body that they don't even require music. Silence is classical, therefore eternally beautiful. And even if it sucks blood, it does it in a beautiful manner. The sound, however, overwhelms the movement so that every muscle is heard, every trickle of sweat is seen and every feeling is smelled - even if that sound is the waving of philosophical discourse. In the end, the taste of the purifying power of salt that remains on sweated-out bodies is bitter, and the drops of clear water, scattered all over the soundscape, are sweet. What remains after sweat and soot is merely sugar.

CAST & CREW

Choreography by Goran Bogdanovski
Dancers: Damjan Mohorko, Dejan Srhoj, Goran Tatar, Goran Bogdanovski
Music by Peter Penko
Vocals: Boris Benko
Sound design: Gregor Zemljič
Dramaturgy: Mojca Dimec
Set design: Irena Pivka
Costume Design: Alan Hranitelj
Lighting design: Miran Šušteršič
Technician: Borut Osojnik
Graphic design: studio Tandar
Producedy by Nataša zavolovšek for Maska Productions
Co-production with SNG Opera in Balet in Cankarjev dom
Thanks to: dr.Slavoj Žižek
Premiere: 14. 06. 2001

BIOS

Goran Bogdanovski (1971), has been performing in ballet, contempory dance, and physical theatre, from 1990. Following 8 years training and performance in gymnastics from the age of six, he trained in ballet and contempory dance at the Slovenian National Ballet School, Ljubljana from 1983 to 1991. Aditional dance training in workshops, seminars and research projects: Emio Greco, Josef Nadj, Elizabeth Corbeth, Gerald Casel, Jordi Cortes Molina, Frey Faust, Limon Company, Janet Panetta, Karl »Kane-Wung« Libanus…(a.o.)

In 1989, while still training, Goran began performing with the Slovenian National Theatre Opera and Ballet, (SNG), Ljubljana, and has been employed as a key member of the Company, for ten years (see CV 1992-2000). In October 2001 he became Freelance Artist. In addition to his work with SNG, Goran`s freelance performances and colaborative work with a number of accomplished and well known Slovenian theatre practioners and contemporary choreographers include, Matjaž Pograjc and Betontanc Company, Tomaž Štrucl, Dragan Živadinov, Matjaž Farič, Mateja Bučar, Barbara Novakovič, Ivan Peternelj and Emil Hrvatin.

Goran`s performance history also includes performing in a number of film productions including Tajga in 1995, Visitors in 1998 and Homo Erectus in 2000 by Ema Kugler, Vražji Tartini by Tugo Štiglic in 1997, Xanadu by Urška Žnidaršič in 1998 and – Toccata and fuga v D- by Milko Šparemblek in 2000.

Fičo Balet Company is a constallation of a core group of artistic collaborators and dancers who will seek to develope and produce one to two new productions a year. Its mission is to produce and perform a wide range of innovative and inspiring pieces by Goran Bogdanovski and guest choreographers for national and international touring. The identity of the company's pieces is shaped by the involvement of core members, whose input is instrumental in developing the repertory and give creative expression to the choreographic material.

Choreographic works:
1 : 0, premiered in Slovenian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, Ljubljana 15.1.2000

The performance Sweat and Soot inaugurates him also as the founding member of the new dance group Fičo Balet, with currently four more dancers that have collaborated with Bogdanovski already in his first production.