Theater am Markt
An evening of 2 pieces: ‘Cracks’ and ‘Meadow’ / Fr 11.10.2024, 19 Uhr
Cracks – ‘Cracks’ starts from the dystopia caused by being alone. Yet, the person cannotmanage to stay whole. Being cracked and multiple the person hides one’s complexity, thus violating oneself. Scratching one’s robustness, one meets oneself striving to relate. The person lies down on the ground. The rain is falling on one’s cheeks. The wind whistles in the branches above one’s head. One starts to feel an overwhelming desire to relate with oneself and other living and dead human beings, places, animals, plants and seasons.
Meadow – The piece tells the story of a grandfather and a meadow – a meadow from which he was taken by Soviet soldiers at the age of ten and sent into exile. The audience is gently addressed through a monologue that seeks to acknowledge the trauma inflicted by the Soviet Union regime on the people and places of Eastern Europe. The monologue seeks dialogue. With love it asks: Are we capable of feeling each other's pain?
The pieces will be performed in English. Half of both shows are text based.
Choreographer, dancer - Grėtė Šmitaitė
Mentor - Ira Seidenstein
Costume designer - Alissa Šnaider
Light designer - Vilius Vilutis
The event in Vienna is organized by LT. art Vienna in cooperation with Brunnenpassage.
LT.art Vienna – is a series of events that presents artists from Lithuania and their works in Vienna, and promotes artistic exchange between Austria and Lithuania.
Supported by the Lithuanian Council for Culture, Stadt Wien, Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in Austria, Lithuanian Community in Austria.
Grėtė Šmitaitė is a dancer and choreographer based in Switzerland, Lithuania and Germany. Grėtė is an alumna from HZT Berlin (BA in Dance. Context. Choreography.) and dance WEB scholarship recipient (2017). From 2021 to 2023 she did a mentorship on choreographing and clowning with Ira Seidenstein (Cirque du Soleil, Slava Snow Show), followed by an in-depth research “Humor and Dance” (Fonds Daku Berlin) in 2023. Šmitaitė seeks to make choreographies that use humor to enable diverse views on difficult topics. Her solo works “Cracks” (2022) and “Cracks. Part 2 - Meadow” (2023), speak of the human fear to love. Grėtė’s previous solo piece “What do I cry for?” (2019) states the bodily need to cry. Šmitaitė gives dance and clowning workshops for professional dancers and students (Lithuania, Switzerland, Germany). From 2017 Šmitaitė has been intensively collaborating with choreographers Doris Uhlich, Ania Aristarkhova, MinTanaka. Šmitaitė’s pieces were presented at Uferstudios Berlin, Amsterdam HetVeem, Sõltumatu Tantsu Lava Tallinn and Arts Printing House Vilnius amongst others.
