Vitkar Institute
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25 Sep 2015
27 Sep 2015
A street art performance by dancer and chereographer Branko Potočan and Vitkar Institute at the Sarajevo Street Art Festival (FUU), supported by the Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia Sarajevo,
Performances
The performances of the group Fourklor are characterised by detailed choreography with humorous details, skilful and playful use of stage props, and smooth natural movement passages. The most notable productions of Vitkar to date include: Do I Dream the Memory, or Do I Remember the Dream [Sanjam spomin, a se spominjam sanj] (1996), for which Potočan received the Golden Bird Award as well as the Award for Best Performance at the 1997 Infant Festival in Novi Sad; Melancholic Thoughts [Melanholične misli] (1998), which received a special jury award at the International Theatre Festival MESS Sarajevo 1998; The Doors [Vrata] (2000); Rusty Trumpets [Zarjavele trobente] (2005), which won the Audience Award for Best Performance at the 2007 edition of the Gibanica Festival of Slovene Dance; and the Skozi oci dotika [Seeing through touch] (2010), awarded at the PUF International Alternative Theatre Festival .
International touring and cooperation
Vitkar has toured Fourklor productions widely, both at home and abroad. Its shows have appeared at the Mediterranean Festival of Young Artists in Turin, the Belgrade Summer Festival, the Junge Hunde Festival in Antwerp, the Skopje Summer Festival, the Carniola Festival in Kranj, the Exodos International Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts in Ljubljana, and the Primorska Summer Festival.
In 2003 Vitkar launched the annual international Red Beats! Festival, which is held in the small Slovene mining town of Hrastnik and offers a wide range of dance, theatre, and circus performances, presented in both theatrical as well as non-theatrical contexts. The programme also includes dance and circus workshops, concerts, performances for children, and puppet and street theatre performances.
Educational programme and the Studio Vitkar
Since 2001 Vitkar has run educational programmes dedicated to contemporary circus art, a form almost unknown in the Slovene context, with circus workshops led by Bruno Kief (rope, tissue, trapeze), Volodia Lesluin (rope, tissue), and Mitja Samardija (acrobatics). Besides offering periodical professional training in contemporary dance, Vitkar has also organised contemporary dance workshops led by Potočan himself, and by Rebbeca Murgi (contact improvisation), Frey Faust (Axis Syllabus technique, contact improvisation), and Erik Kaeil (contact improvisation).
Some of this programme is also held at Studio Vitkar, a educational and training facility in Ljubljana.