Contemporary dance in Lithuania: human existence, history and contextualized introspection

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Choreografai; Judesio interpretacijos; Performansas; Šiuolaikinis šokis; Šokio menininkai; Choreographers; Contemporary dance; Dance artists; Lithuania; Movement interpretations; Performance.

ENDo you sometimes ask yourself what contemporary dance is and how you should approach it1? If you cannot find an answer and would like to look it upin a dictionary of art terms, I will lend you a hand. Consider choreographer, performer, teacher and researcher Maria del Pilar Naranjo Ricos glossary of dance terms, compiled not through her individual research, but by a general contribution from the members of the international dance community. Thus, contemporary dance is “a form of art whose working material is the movement of humans. It doesn’t have fixed or established movement patterns but it s rather in a continuous search for new forms and dynamics. Therefore its dancers make use of varied modern and classical dance techniques to train. It produces performances or shows in conventional and non conventional stages (such as theatres or public and private places), having a frequent dialogue with other aesthetic languages such as audiovisual technologies, visual or fine arts, lighting, architecture, music, circus and others".2 Referring to this definition, the important keywords are the following: movement, movement forms and dynamics, conventional and non-conventional performance spaces and a close relation to other art forms. We will examine what, and by what means, Lithuanian contemporary dance choreographers created during the five years from 2013 to 2017. [From the publication]