Vitkar Institute

Vitkar is a not-for-profit cultural institute (zavod), which operates primarily as the exclusive producer of the Fourklor physical theatre group. Dance artist Branko Potočan of Ljubljana Dance Theatre (PTL) and Ultima Vez founded the physical theatre group Fourklor in 1995. To date Vitkar has produced the following shows: Who Drew a Ski Jump for Mr Stanko; Do I Dream the Memory, or Do I Remember the Dream; When We Were'nt Lying Yet, Not So Much That Is; Melancholic Thoughts, Like Last Year's Snow; The Door; Perkmandeljc the Vanishing Spirit; Stolen Poem; Somewhere in Between; Stolen Poem; Pedestrian Zone; Short Cuts; and Rusty Trumpets, most of them created by Branko Potočan The performances are characterised by detailed choreography with humorous details, skilful use of stage props and smooth natural movement passages.

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 Summer Festival in Kranju, the Belgrade Summer Festival, the Junge Hunde Festival in Antwerp, the Exodos International Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts in Ljubljana, the Skopje Summer Festival and the Primorska Summer Festival in Koper.

Branko Potočan received the Golden Bird Award in 1996 for the performance Do I Dream the Memory, Or Do I Remember the Dream and the award for best performance at the 1997 Infant Festival in Novi Sad. He also received a special jury award of the Sarajevo MESS 98 for Melancholic Thoughts. For several years he has been co-operating with the theatre MGL, where he has choreographed many successful theatre performances. In 2005 he received a Little Golden Stick Awards for directing children's movement performance Kekec. In 2003 he started to co-operate with the Sarajevo National Theatre as a choreographer.

Since 2001 Vitkar has run educational programmes dedicated to circus art, with circus workshops led by Bruno Kief (rope, tissue, trapeze), Volodia Lesluin (rope, tissue), Mitja Samardija (acrobatics) and contemporary dance workshops led by Rebbeca (contact improvisation), Frey Faust (axis syllabus technique, contact improvisation) and Erik Kaeil (contact improvisation). In 2003 Vitkar launched the annual Rdeči revirji - Red Beats! Festival.

Vitkar Institute

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