Low Air Vilnius City Dance Theatre Lithuania

Idea, choreographer: Airida Gudaitė
Director: Jonas Tertelis
Composer: Agnė Matulevičiūtė
Scenography: Renata Valčik, Emilis Šeputis
Light designer: Julius Kuršys
Dancers: Greta Snitkutė, Arminas Kazanavičius, Rokas Bugys, Ugnė Laurinavičiūtė, Grėtė Vosyliūtė, Elena Milaknytė, Beatričė Šaltenytė, Emilija Giedraitytė, Barbora Mickutė, Aura Šriubšaitė, Saulė Bučiūnaitė, Smiltė Kavoliūnaitė
Producer: Laurynas Žakevičius
Production: Low Air Vilnius City Dance Theatre
Sponsors: Lithuanian Council for Culture, Vilnius City Municipality, Urban Dance Theatre “Low Air”
Premiere: 2021
Duration: 70 min.

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The life experiences of adolescents are told through their own voices, bodies, and movements. In preparation for the performance, teens document their thoughts and accumulate their movement vocabulary. This vocabulary portrays the archives of their corporal memory, while the young dancers are getting simultaneously acquainted with street styles and contemporary concepts. Introspection and observation are inseparable creative methods employed by the adult professionals, who, without imposing a personal narrative, capture information provided by the teens.

In the well-balanced process, stories, intimate and often “awkward”, unfold between teenagers and professional adult artists, as if asking where the boundaries between the worlds of two generations are, and why sensitive stories often remain silent or unheard. The performance highlights the different power positions of these two generations – the transcendence of boundaries or the unquestionable status quo. Thus, the audience of the performance is not only teenagers, but also adults, parents and teachers, who are invited to reflect on the connection between boundaries and power in the interpersonal relationships.

In order to have an open and direct dialogue with the audience, the creators move the performance to the gallery – a relative space that highlights individuality and gives the viewer the freedom to choose the path to physically travel through the different rooms of teenage “states”. The individual stories and problems in the performance intertwine with the collective experience, and makes the attitude of young people visible to the general public at least to some extent. Participating in a performance is tantamount to entering their personal space, where different confessions eventually merge to create a dreamlike state, where it is possible to stand firmly or seek a way only if you state together with others. The fragmentation of the performance creates a space to recognise, experience and create an authentic shared experience together.

Founded in 2012 by dancers and choreographers Airida Gudaitė and Laurynas Žakevičius, the first Lithuanian urban dance theatre Low Air aims to reveal the potential of, and familiarise the afficionados of stage arts as well as its professionals with such dance. The members of Low Air create new interdisciplinary syntheses in an innovative way by experimenting and connecting different dance styles, elements of performance and physical theatre, through their choice of topics and introducing them in various social contexts and communities. The group has received awards both for their artistic expression on stage and shaping the face of Lithuanian contemporary dance.

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