Currently lives and works in: Riga, Latvia.
Organisation: New Theatre Institute of Latvia.
Practice: Dance dramaturgy, performative situations.
I worked for many years as a dance producer and programmer which often meant to create situations for something new to happen, connect and grow, and was probably the part of my job that I enjoyed the most. But I also felt an urge to re-make myself. At the beginning of this year, I went freelance, and at the same time, choreographer Jana Jacuka invited me to collaborate on her first full- length piece as an outside eye or a dramaturg. I told her that I had only a vague idea how to do it, and she said ok and that’s how we started. This first personal piece became an entrance into a continuous research and work with the topic of domestic violence and how it is experienced by women. We made a second piece as part of MagiC Carpets, working this time in a larger context and involving a community of women survivors, and are currently developing ideas for our next work exploring further the same issue. We have also been moving through different aesthetic formats and genres, choosing the form we felt would reveal the idea in the best way, and not caring too much if this is “our field of expertise”. The COVID situation has also influenced how we worked and what we prioritized. Occasionally I feel like a dilettante, but it’s a happy and liberating feeling.
Areas of interest: Dance and contemporary performance, social justice, non-violent communication.
Why are you a part of MagiC Carpets: Because of the wish to work with a specific community.
What inspires you as an artist? Artworks, nature, progress
What do you think is the purpose of art? Maybe it doesn’t have any purpose except for what each of us takes from it. I want art to bother me (in a good way), but also be a good company, open for vulnerability, be eye-opening and unpredictable.
Your favourite book(s): The Ground Beneath Her Feet by Rushdie, White Teeth and most of Zadie Smith, books by Jose Saramago.
Your favourite film(s): Chungking Express.
MagiC Carpets project: PHYSICAL EVIDENCE MUSEUM
This is a continuation of the research on women’s stories of domestic violence that we have already started with Jana Jacuka in our previous project. This time, we created a documentary, interactive installation in a flat in Riga during Homo Novus festival, presenting everyday items as witnesses of domestic violence. Real objects and real stories of real people in a performative setting. The museum was created over several months of intensive collaboration and participation of women survivors of domestic violence. On the final day of the installation, we came together to do a marathon of readings where 18 women for 24 hours took turns to read abuse stories in a real and symbolic act to confront the silence with voice.
Other projects
Dance Moves Cities
This was a project that I created and produced bringing together international dance artists and local performers working, researching and dancing together in different remote neighbourhoods of Riga. The resulting performances took place in backyards, abandoned sites and among block houses, and allowed to explore the city from a different perspective and also succeeded to bring together a glorious audience mix of dance and theatre goers and neighbourhood locals of all ages and social stratum.
Contact information
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +37126523513