The dance performance “Starting Point” is the culmination of the joint Lithuanian and Ukrainian theater educational project. The premiere of the performance born in the process of the creative workshop, which was conducted by Lithuanian and Ukrainian theater stage professionals, will take place on 9 May at 7:00 p.m. in the Vilnius University Theater Hall. “Starting Point” is a story about the importance of individual stories, the experiences of each person and the turning points in the face of war.
All stories are important – this is the main idea behind “Starting Point”.
Word, action, movement. These turning points, born from the stories of the Ukrainian and Lithuanian participants, turn into stage dramaturgy, and the co-creative process into a stage spectacle. Life stories as a guide will lead the spectator through happiness, through sadness, depth and superficiality, as if the latter is walking through a private collection of nuances of human existence.
All stories have a place on stage. The experiences of the project participants were heard. There is nowhere to run, not enough space to stay, but you have to start somewhere. So we begin. Let it be “Starting Point”.
Tickets: BILIETAI.LT
The funds collected for the tickets will be allocated to the Vilnius University Foundation project “Support to the Ukrainian Academic Community”.
The project is organized by the Vilnius University Culture Center.
The project is financed by the Lithuanian Council of Culture.
Information for Ukrainians residing in Lithuania:
Культурний центр Вільнюського університету разом із Кінетичним театром Вільнюського університету запрошує українців, які перебувають у Литві, на танцювальну виставу „Starting Point“, яка стане кульмінацією спільного литовсько-українського проекту.
Вистава відбудеться 9 травня о 19 годині у Театральній залі ВУ (вул. Universiteto 3).
Просимо всіх громадян України, хто зацікавився і планує прийти на цю виставу, написати ел. поштою (в темі листа вкажіть „Starting Point admission tickets“) – ми надішлемо вам запрошення.
Кількість запрошень обмежена.
Creative workshop team
Participants of the creative process (LT/UA):
Inga Zybailaitė, Agnė Naujokaitė, Roberta Skirmantaitė, Kotryna Jančauskaitė, Gabija Matijaškaitė, Aistė Šukevičiūtė, Saulė Pečkaitytė, Milita Užgirytė, Austėja Gedminaitė, Rimantė Navickaitė, Aistė Giedraitytė, Ilja Abeliašev, Maria Susla, Boris Godlevskii, Anna Serhiienko, Mykhailo Khilko, Alena Gavrilenko.
About the “Starting Point” project
During the “Starting Point” project, Vilnius University students, together with Ukrainian youth, delved into the secrets of theater, discussed the realities of the modern world, and finally, with the help of artists from various fields, turned their experiences into the language of dance.
All stories are important – this is the main idea behind “Starting Point”. At the beginning of the project, the participants discussed questions about a young person’s self-perception in the face of war, researched their experiences and discovered individual turning points – words, actions, movements, which give a start to the development of unique personal stories. These intertwining stories of both Ukrainian and Lithuanian project participants form the overall dramaturgy of the dance performance.
The concept of the “Starting Point” project was born when Andrius Pulkauninkas, director of the Vilnius University Kinetic Theater, together with Ukrainian directors Marija Koreneva and Sandro Garibashvili, started looking for ways to talk indirectly about the ongoing war in Ukraine. “How to live together in a situation when there is a war going on nearby, and there is an endless information field around you, from which it is basically impossible to stay away?” – pondered A. Pulkauninkas. – In the project, we are looking for the pivotal point of each participant, from which the individual and unique story of the participant begins. Each individual story and different experiences of the current situation are valuable and unique.”
“The essential principle of the implementation of the project “Starting Point” is that it does not have one director or one presenter. The entire creative group is facilitators, listeners, therapists”, says A. Pulkauninkas. The creator of the dark cabaret “Louis” M. Koreneva, the dancer and producer of the “5th Floor” studio S. Garibashvili, the director A. Pulkauninkas and other theater, video and sound specialists try to interfere as little as possible and give the participants as much freedom as possible to express their current state. The participants of the project, young people from Lithuania and Ukraine, can express their stories using all possible means – video and audio creation, costume production, directing and dramaturgical decisions.
The creative process of the project is not only educational, but also therapeutic: each project participant is listened to, his or her story and feelings are highlighted. All stories found a place on the stage – both for the experiences of Ukrainians who fled the war, and for the feelings of Lithuanians who do not find a place for themselves in the current geopolitical context.