Birute Letukaite & Vita Geluniene & Evaldas Jansas & AURA Dance Theatre | Lithuania

Artists: Birute Letukaite, Vita Geluniene, Evaldas Jansas
Dance: Skaidra Jancaite, Gabija Gurskaite, Rikka Ihalainen, Ruta Kavaliauskiene, Saulius Kavaliauskas, Ema Nedobezkina, Jokubas Nosovas, Julijus Nosovas, Indre Puisyte
Design: Aurimas Rekasius
Style and make-up: Ausra Kleizaite
Weaving assistant: Kristina Cyziute

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Early in 2011 textile artist Vita Geluniene and choreographer Birute Letukaite decided to collaborate developing a project for interdisciplinary program “Play”.

“For some time I had this idea that my weaving should not only tell a story in two dimensional space, bus as well reveal time dimension. Time during which the story is told, is no less important than the story itself, it becomes a connecting link between the stories, the narrator and the events of that time. In my visions I saw characters who move in the background of the fabric embodying the story of “The Hunt of the Unicorn”– Vita Geluniene explains.

Unicorn is a most common theme of medieval tapestries (eg, the cycle “The Lady and the Unicorn” .1480-90). Unicorn in tapestries is a symbol of innocence, which can only be approached by a virgin. It brings luck and good. Internet browsing may reveal that unicorn can be defined as a symbol of courage, dignity, wisdom, however at the same time it symbolizes pride, rage, destructive power and sexual sublimation. In short, it is life.

Choreographer Birute Letukaite visited the studio where Vita Geluniene wove, they discussed Vita’s visions and the possibilities of fulfilling them. After the chat it was clear, that the advantage of this project is not the authorship, but cooperation, which can produce a whole new story – a new vision. It was decided that the best medium for this story is video. So Vita Geluniene proposed to collaborate for video artist Evaldas Jansas. In late June, three and “Aura” Dance Theatre dancers during one day shoot what they were preparing for several months.

In the video film Evaldas Jansas using his vision and artistic manner reveals the story in video, as Birute Letukaite does it with the language of dance, and Vita Geluniene revealed speaking the language of tapestries.

About project authors: Birutė Letukaitė | Vita Gelūnienė | Evaldas Jansas | Kauno šokio teatras „Aura“