The Poetic Body

The Poetic Body continues to research the theme from Prometheus, the one who made humans from clay and brought them fire he had stolen from Mount Olympus – the fire as a symbol of consciousness, creativity and inner light. In humanising humans, Prometheus had help from Apollo, the god of art and light, who showed him how to elevate humans through music, dance, drama and many more things that had previously only been in the domain of the Olympian gods. If Prometheus focused on the act of offering fire to humans and the rebellion against divine authority, The Poetic Body will explore the consequences this gift had for humans, mostly on the level of arts, culture and their inner development. It was only with Prometheus’s gifts that humans truly became humans, the poetic bodies, overcoming their primal nature and becoming aware of themselves as creative and sensing entities. Without poetics, consciousness, spirit, art, knowledge, a human is just a naked body without life. The Poetic Body searches for a physical expression of the poetic thinking that appears in the way of moving, in bodies that feel, think and remember, and again explores the archetypal dimensions of human existence and their spiritual evolution. A body that thinks, feels and speaks in the language of dance becomes a carrier of the archaic memory and of the modern interpretation of humans’ search for sense and beauty of existence, led by the basic idea: what makes us truly human?

Through mythical archaeology, The Poetic Body addresses the modern human and his spiritual landscape. The performance will at the same time be a dialogue with different choreography practices and art worlds, because it will be conceived as a triptych, in which the MN Dance Company will work with two guest choreographers, each with their own specific poetics and choreographic language. Together they will create a rich, multi-layered world that intertwines the myth, body and movement into a contemplative and aesthetic whole, bound to the search for depth, artistic integrity and dance poetry. Through dance as the poetry of the body and the almost sculpture-like forming of the body in space they will explore the border between the body and the spirit, between inner worlds and collective mythology.    

Dust and Rain (part 1)

»I have been inspired by the idea of a poetic body, a body that listens, reacts, and remembers. For me, poetry lives in nature. And thinking of nature immediately reminds me of how quickly it is disappearing under human greed. From this reflection came the movement research and the title Dust and Rain. Rain represents nature fragile, essential, and constantly threatened. Dust stands for concrete the endless expansion of human construction that erases every trace of green. Wherever humankind sets foot, destruction follows. This piece explores the delicate balance between nature and human ego: the continuous tension between creation and destruction, between what gives life and what gets buried beneath layers of cement. Key words that inspired me: ego – respect – silent scream – rage – to bury – destruction.«

Luca Signoretti

Can we just stop for a moment, please? (part 2)

»I am deeply grateful to Nastja and Michal for inviting me to co-create The Poetic Body, as through their dance company they embody exactly what I myself believe in: dedication to the work, continuous exploration, and the nurturing of a strong ensemble that creates at the highest level – with persistence, mutual inspiration, and a shared sense of breath. I consistently find my greatest inspiration in dancers; with them, I wish to shape a world in which everyone can discover their own voice while attentively listening to others, allowing invisible threads to be woven between us – a harmony of voices and a shared rhythm. In my work, I return to questions of coexistence and, with optimism, dream of a society capable of building a strong, connected community – one grounded in understanding, respect, and support, seeking balance, harmony, an open spirit, and a flexible mind. A society in which the body can be poetic, one that listens to itself and to others, and finds poetry in connection. And perhaps the first step toward this is simply knowing how to pause, if only for a moment.«

Maša Kagao Knez

One must lie low (part 3)

»In the third part of the triptych, the choreographers draw on a quote by Franz Kafka from the novel The Trial, juxtaposing his character Josef K. with the myth of Prometheus. Both figures are marked by a profound sense of guilt, one through which humanity itself suffers. Prometheus is guilty and punished for bringing fire to humankind – a symbol of consciousness, creativity, and inner light – even though he merely returned to humans what had already been theirs, but was claimed by the gods. His guilt is thus both real and absurd, much like that of Josef K., who becomes ensnared in a web of authorities that persecute and condemn him without ever clarifying the nature of his alleged wrongdoing. In the performance, these two figures meet on a conceptual level, united by the fatality of guilt: Prometheus’s guilt – or the guilt of humankind that accepted fire, a divine gift – condemned to eternal suffering unleashed from Pandora’s box, marks every individual, each of us, as well as Josef K. Life thus unfolds in the shadow of guilt and in a constant struggle for fire and for freedom — the eternal legacy of Prometheus.

Ana Kržišnik Blažica

Time and time again, dance enchants us, especially in the creative process – our body offers us so many different possibilities and solutions.

_{Michal Rynia and Nastja Bremec Rynia}