Contemporary dance and circus festival - Periskop 2024.

ATTENTION: The performance has scenes with naked bodies and it is not recommended for persons under the age of 18.
After Falter magazine listed Simon Mayer’s solo performance SunBengSitting in its end-of-the-year review as one of the top theatre productions of 2014, describing it as an “ingenious, nakedly yodelling interplay of folk and contemporary dance”, Simon Mayer is now back on the brut stage with his new group performance Sons of Sissy. In the focus is that universe of traditions, folk dances and folk music from which the Upper Austrian country lad Simon Mayer originates. In an experimental manner, four performers and musicians make use of traditional alpine live music, various group dances and ritualised practices. Liberating them from conservativism and conventions, they establish an unseen fusion of artistic re-interpretations and temporary social attributions of meaning. Defying categorisation and pigeonholing, the Sons of Sissy do everything they can to live up to their name as they conduct themselves as part weird folk-music quartet, part experimentally playful ritual dance combo, using humour to radically disrupt the hackneyed male role models in old traditions.

Artistic lead, Choreography: Simon Mayer
Performance, Music: Simon Mayer, Matteo Haitzmann, Patric Redl, Simon Wehrli
Instruments: Hans Tschiritsch
Stage and Costume design: Andrea Simeon
Light design: Martin Walitza
Light design on tour: Sveta Schwin
Technical lead: Jeroen Smith
Artistic Advise: Frans Poelstra
Duration: 70 mins
Photo: Hannes Buchinger

Simon Mayer, born 1984 in Austria, is a choreographer, musician and performer. He studied at the Vienna State Opera Ballet School and at the P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels and was a member of the Vienna State Opera Ballet. As a musician and singer, Simon founded and played in various bands (Rising Halfmoon, C.O.P.), released audio performances of his stage productions and creates his own music. As a dancer, choreographer and musician, he has been involved in productions by Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker/Rosas (The Song), Wim Vandekeybus and Zita Swoon.
His choreographic repertoire includes solos, duets, group pieces, and socially engaged and immersive events: SunBengSitting; Sons of Sissy; Oh Magic, Volxfest, Being Moved, among others. His pieces are performed internationally.

Production Sons of Sissy: Sophie Schmeiser, Elisabeth Hirner / Kopf Hoch
Production/Tourmanagement: Lisa Anetsmann / Art in Motion
A cooperation of: Kopf hoch, brut Wien, Gessnerallee Zürich, zeitraumexit Mannheim and Tanz ist Dornbirn.

Kindly supported by Kulturabteilung der Stadt Wien, des Bundeskanzleramts Österreich Kunst und Kultur, Kulturland Oberösterreich, Vlaamse Gemeenschap, Kunstenweerkplaats Pianofabriek Brüssel, WP Zimmer Antwerpen, im_flieger and Kunst- und Kulturverein SPIEL.

Special thanks to Simon Zöchbauer, Julian Rubisch, ALMA, Godi Burgstaller, Chris Standfest, Andrea Amort, Munderfinger Goaßlschnalzer, Altstädter Bauerngmoa, Pramtaler Volkstanzgruppe, Elio Gervasi/Raum 33, hiros, Mirjam Lesch, Katrin Pröll und Manuel Wagner.

Implemented with the support of the Austrian Cultural Forum, Zagreb.

Multimedia dance performance

The solo performance stemming from the chapter on the duality of existence explores the tension between physical and metaphorical realities. It delves into how appropriated structures—be they social constructs, personal identities, or physical spaces—are experienced through the lens of duality. The female performer navigates a space where the tangible and the intangible collide, using movement and digital projections to craft a layered narrative.

Through her solo choreography, the performer embodies this duality, alternating between grounded, physical expressions and more ethereal, symbolic gestures. The digital projections act as a metaphorical counterpart, casting abstract imagery that interacts with her, blurring the boundaries between reality and perception.

This intimate performance invites the audience to reflect on how they inhabit both their physical environment and the metaphorical territories of their minds. It challenges them to consider how these dual aspects of existence shape their understanding of the world and their place within it. Through this exploration, the solo piece uncovers the deep connections between the seen and unseen, the material and immaterial, revealing how these dualities influence our experience of reality.

This chapter is an evolution of the concepts explored in the piece performed by Marta Rak in October 2023 at Exportdrvo in Rijeka, where the themes of territory and identity were first introduced and are now further developed through the lens of duality.

Author and performer: Marta Rak
Sound design: Andro Manzoni
Video: Damjan Šporčić
Costume: Manuela Šabanović
Duration: 30 mins
Photo: Damir Kvajo

Marta Rak was born in Rijeka, where she began her dance training with Tereza Dubrović. After completing her ballet education, she performs in several productions at the Ivan pl. Zajc National Theater. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Cultural Studies from the Faculty of Philosophy in Rijeka. Marta continued her dance training at the Iwanson Academy of Contemporary Dance in Munich, where she worked with renowned international teachers and choreographers. In July 2022, she earned a Master's degree in Dance Pedagogy from the Palucca University of Dance in Dresden.

Throughout her career, Marta has participated in various productions and projects across Germany, Croatia, and Italy. In 2016, she co-created the short piece "Blotches" with Antonia Čop for the Periskop Festival and the piece "Tragovi u Crvenom" with Ksenija Krutova and dancers from the HNK Ivan pl. Zajc for the Rijeka Summer Nights festival. In 2017, she performed as a guest in Staša Zurovac's "Swan Lake" at the Ivan pl. Zajc Theater and collaborated with the dance collective Magija for the "Inclusive Scenes" festival in Rijeka.

As a choreographer, Marta contributed to the 2021 production of the monodrama "Personality Under Construction," working alongside Sara Blažić and Bruno Lovrenčić. Since 2017, she has been teaching contemporary dance, leading workshops, and choreographing and performing in pieces by Katja Wachter, Johannes Härtl, Matteo Sacco, and others. Marta has also been exploring the relationship between movement and camera, choreographing both online and live performances.

In October 2023, Marta presented her first authorial work, "Appropriations: Territory," in collaboration with her team: Andro Manzoni, Sara Blažić, Bruno Lovrenčić, Ana Petković, Damjan Šporčić, Manuela Šabanović, Aleksandar Jovanović/Neo productions, and Iva Rušin.

Currently based in Munich, where she teaches and performs, Marta is happy to present her work in her hometown again.

The program is implemented in cooperation with the Domino Association within the framework of the Croatian Performing Arts Network 2024 project, which is supported by the Kultura nova Foundation.

"Project 4.28 km/h" is the author's work of Ratko Bokić. For the realization of this project, the artist embarked on a unique adventure of walking from Zagreb to the sea, with a backpack on his back, performing performances in small places. The performance is accompanied by the sound of audio documentaries, which he recorded, and the movement of manipulating the juggling object, with which he creates a multidimensional experience. A very interesting, witty and inspiring show that draws viewers into the intimacy of an unusual traveler and adventurer with a narrative, at the same time inviting us to become aware of our own ideas and realize some of them, especially the seemingly unrealistic ones, and make our lives authentic.

Author and performer: Ratko Bokić
Psychologist: Marijela Vučičić
Technical assistance: Nikola Mijatović
Sound processing: Dalibor Piskrec
Art design: Marin Remić
Production: Cirkorama
Duration: 40 mins
Photo: Josip Bolonić

Ratko Bokić was born in Zagreb. Since 2000, he has been active on the independent scene in the city. He collaborated on projects that promoted underground culture such as Underwater overground festival, Ministry of Psychedelia, Chillibar. He was an active member of the Attack culture development association.
He has been in the association Cirkorama since 2008, as he is one of the founders and collaborators on many projects. Some projects are still active, such as the Cultural Street Festival and Cultural Radio. He is the originator of the idea of both.
Through the association, he developed his performance path with shows: Moving Circus Museum, Duo Šmizle, The Magic of the Hat, OH NO! Cabaret and Project 4.28 km/h.
Since 2002, he has been employed in a media company as a tone producer at radio stations, where he systematically develops his knowledge and love for the radio medium.

The project/event is carried out within the framework of the Clubture-HR program program exchange and cooperation with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, the Kultura nova Foundation, the City Office for Culture, Intercity and International Cooperation and Civil Society of the City of Zagreb and the National Foundation for the Development of Civil Society through the program Knowledge centers.

ATTENTION: The performance is not recommended for persons under the age of 12.
This is an experiment. We have some intentions, but just like you we don’t exactly know what is going to happen. “InThisTogether” is a participatory circus show that relies on the audience in order to happen at all. If you choose to be involved, you will experience the trust, focus and joy that is so intrinsic to circus.

And yes, you will share some of the risk and responsibility, too. "InThisTogether" transforms a circus show into an interactive experiment where the dynamics of audience participation fundamentally shape the performance. By inviting spectators to step into the roles of co-creators, the event challenges conventional boundaries and forges a collective journey, offering an engaging exploration of trust and collaborative creation within a circus framework.

It starts with a choice, do you participate or watch it unfold? The participants are actively contributing with their opinions, actions and choices. From lighting the acts to determining how far the acrobats should go. The performers make use of partner and aerial acrobatics in a loosely choreographed way that leaves opportunities and invites interaction. Through a series of games and the gradual process of getting to know another we arrive at the final scene, where the public is lifting and holding an aerialist through a counterweight system, thereby taking full responsibility for her life. The journey to that point is not entirely without difficulty and sacrifice however.

The presentation delves into the dynamics of trust, risk and communication within circus arts and beyond. It articulates how trust extends beyond the physical to an emotional and psychological reliance, challenging participants to trust not only the performers but also each other and themselves, thereby creating a unique, collective experience. By focusing on these themes, the presentation aims to share the profound sense of connection and achievement that defines the circus community, reinforcing the concept of "InThisTogether" as a celebration of collective artistry and responsibility.

The project has been selected by the regional committee of Circus Next in 2023. Supported by Staféta Program, SÍN Arts Centre, National Cultural Fund, Inspirál Circus Center.

The production has been created with the support of the Staféta Program funded by the Capital Municipality of Budapest. The creation received the European Festival Fund for Emerging Artists in 2024.

Creators, performers: Sophie Zoletnik, Paar Lennart
Live electronic music: Márton Csuzi
Light: Virág Rovó
Mentor: László Hudi
Outside eye: Matthias Romir
Duration: 60 mins
Photo: Peter Nemeshazi

Together they bring many faces and abilities to the stage, sharing a passion for contemporary circus and street performance. OneTwoMany was formed in 2022 as a collaboration between Sophie Zoletnik, Marton Csuzi and Lennart Paar after having worked on several projects together over the previous years. Marton brings a wealth of experience from contemporary dance and parkour while Sophie and Lennart contribute with a background of new circus, partner and aerial acrobatics, as well as object manipulation. The vision of the young company is to bring together many different talents as well as connect the still mostly separate performance and movement disciplines in Hungary. Creating, promoting and enabling shows that bring together experimental ideas but are at their core entertaining, spreading a love for movement and creativity.

one.twomany.org
https://www.facebook.com/onetwomanycollective
https://www.instagram.com/onetwomany_collective

The InThisToghether show is supported by the European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists – EFFEA, an initiative of the European Festivals Association (EFA), co-funded by the European Union.

ZODIAC - The Circle of Small Animals is the final, third installment of the Horror House Project trilogy. The core concept of the Horror House Project revolves around terrifying occurrences that loom over the circus.

This installment is presented through the natal charts of the performers, addressing the influence of planets (the finger of fate) on the lives of the group and the individual, in this case, a circus artist. The audience, through their horoscopes, theoretically participates actively in the performance, causing planetary energy shifts with their presence. Each performance is slightly different, depending on the planetary constellations on the day of the show (especially Mercury retrograde 🙂), the makeup of the audience, and the dominance of a particular zodiac sign. The creators aim to provide initial guidelines for performers to uncover the secrets of the Zodiac, human nature, and the (un)civilized game of power.

The performance draws inspiration not only from the text of Mile Dupor but also from the tarot card readings in the book "The Way of Tarot" by Alejandro Jodorowsky and Marianne Costa.

Concept: Nikola Mijatović Bangavi
Authors and performers: Jadranka Žinić Mijatović, Petra Najman, Nikola Mijatović Bangavi
Live music: Ivan Svaguša Svagi
Lighting design: Domagoj Šoić Kuga
Audio apparition: Petra Bokić Pejo
Sound master for audio apparition: Ratko Bokić Rale
Costumes: Jelena Đanko
Astrologer: Maja Tatković Diklić
Grandstand master: Damien Daille Vivi
Illustration and design: Marin Remić
Video: Josip Bolonić
Production: Cirkorama 2023
Duration: 50 mins
Photo: Josip Bolonić
Co-production: The Horror House Project trilogy was realized as part of the POGONATOR program, implemented by the Zagreb Center for Independent Culture and Youth - Pogon, and was also supported by the collective ROOM 100 / Positive Force from Split.

Cirkorama is an association active since 2008, intensively working on the development and promotion of contemporary circus in Croatia and the Region - through education, production of shows and festivals (CirkoBalkana, Cultural Street Festival), support for emerging circus artists and advocacy activities. In the production of the performances and festivals, Cirkorama collaborates with artists and organizations from all over Europe, including various artistic fields, but always focusing on the body and circus technique.

The contents of the shows deal with everyday human life, personal experience, marginal situations, politics, often relying on poetry, theoretical reading, film and current media clips related to the theme of each show. It is an organization with a history of a series of indoor and outdoor performances.

https://www.facebook.com/cirkorama
www.cirkorama.org

The Horror House Project: Zodiac - Circle of Small Animals was awarded the Best Performance in its entirety at the Nišville Theatre Jazz Festival 2023 by a jury panel.

The guest performance in Rijeka was co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, the City Office for Culture and Civil Society of the City of Zagreb, and the Kultura nova Foundation.

The fifth performance from the pentalogy of the House of Extreme Music Theater based on the motifs of Dunja Robić expands the traces of her verbal music from the scene ISMENE for two masks and one voice (in front of the Cave) in dialogue with the philosophical voice PLEASURE ERASED: The Clitoris Unthought by Catherine Malabou.

Production: DB INDOŠ HOUSE OF EXTREME MUSIC THEATRE
Authors: Damir Bartol Indoš & Tanja Vrvilo
Performers: Ana Kreitmeyer, DB Indoš, Tanja Vrvilo
Musicians: Damir Prica Kafka (electric piano, sax, prepared piano), Helge Hinteregger (throat music) / Ivan Marušić Klif (electronic interventions, synthetic voice)
Surveillance video: Maxime Weinmann
Schachtophone instrumentarium and partitures: DB Indoš
Sound: Jasmin Dasović
Light: Andrija Santro
Home archive by Dunja Robić: Iva Gruden Zdunić

After Doctor Miserabilis (for one puppet), Doctor Faustus no. 14 (for two mad puppets), I Am Not I (for three puppets) and A Small Mindless Debate (for four puppets) we are reanimating Ismene (for two masks and Antigone’s voice, in front of the Cave), a dramatical-clinical title from the almost private oeuvre of the puppet theater for adults by an underrated author Dunja Robić. Ismene by Dunja Robić is a neglected anti-gonick’s allegorical inversion of Sophocles’ myth in our landscape of the 1950s, along with Ivanišević’s panic in the paysage and Anouilh’s Antigone in Ivšić’s translation and Marović’s later dramatic text.

The outlived echo of the nymph resonates without order and beginning with the liquid pathos formulas by Ismene, Hippolytus, Antigone, Creon and Clitoris from the anatomical fate of Rufus of Ephesus to the waters of oblivion by Ivan Illich, Carla Lonzi’s manifesto Let’s Spit on Hegel and Luce Irigaray’s geographies of pleasure. The entrance to the schachto-images of sorority is in front of the Cave by opening the two side manhole covers for the mysteries of two burials. All speleotextological movements in the housing of the Cave-Schachtophone are doubly surveilled by two ceiling and corner security mirrors of different viewpoints whose transformational images are recorded by surveillance cameras and projected on the outer metal wall of the cave instrument. The clitoral revolution of two clitoral masks (Antigone and Ismene) is antagonized with the phallocratic voice (Creon). The Clitoris is an Anarchist.

Damir Bartol Indoš is a performance and multimedia artist, he creates experimental musical instruments – sound sculptures Schachtophones and graphic scores. He was a member of the neo-avant-garde theater group Kugla Glumište (The Sphere Theatre), with whom he created and performed a series of influential actions and performances in the period from 1975 to 1982. During the 1980s, as the initiator of a hard fraction Grupa Kugla, he made a series of group and solo performances. In 1990s, he created many performances under the name DB Indoš House of Extreme Music Theater, both in local and international settings with numerous artists and musicians. In the past two decades, he has been creating experimental theater works and performances for various performance and exhibition spaces in co-authorship with performance artist Tanja Vrvilo. He participated in many international festivals of contemporary theatre, he was a permanent collaborator of Theatre &TD, a member of the Croatian Association of Independent Artists as a theater director and The Croatian Association of Fine Artists of Applied Arts in the scenography section. He was the winner of the City of Zagreb award in 2009 for his contribution to the alternative culture of Croatia. He won the first prize of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Zagreb at the MSU–THT competition in 2011 for the sound sculpture Schachtophone. For the theater work Tosca 914, co-authored with Tanja Vrvilo, he was awarded at the Prague Quadrennial in 2015 as one of the representatives of the Croatian selection. He is the recipient of the Vladimir Nazor State Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatre Arts in 2023.

Tanja Vrvilo is a performance artist, filmologist and film curator whose work connects radical artistic practices and education. For the last 20 years she has been working as a co-author and performer in numerous multimedia performances with visual artist and performer Damir Bartol Indoš and the House of Extreme Music Theater. She founded Film Mutations: Festival of Invisible Cinema, an international festival on the politics of film curatorship, which has been taking place in Zagreb since 2007. She worked as the Head of undergraduate film studies and teaching at Béla Tarr film.factory in Sarajevo and now she teaches at the Department of Film and Video and Department for Theatre Arts – Acting at the Arts Academy in Split. She is author of many essays and publications as well as a curator of a series of regular and festival film programs for various dispositifs. As an independent artist, she is a member of the Croatian Association of Independent Artists, the Croatian Association of Dramatic Artists and the Croatian Association of Film Critics. Together with DB Indoš and other Croatian artists, she was awarded at the Prague Quadrennial in 2015 and presented in 2019. The recent monumental exhibition-performance labyrinth Schachto-Culture (2024), co-authored with DB Indoš, animated three performances (Panic Under the Sun, Everybody Talks About the Weather We Don’t!, Ismene) and three workshops.

THE HOUSE OF EXTREME MUSIC THEATER / KEMK is an artistic form of the art organization Grupa Kugla, which emerged from the influential neo-avant-garde student theater group The Sphere Theatre of the 1980s, and for the past three decades has been creating and performing art works under the name DB Indoš House of Extreme Music Theatre. The works are based on the interaction of several media and performance forms (performance, acting, contemporary dance, art installations, film, video, computer, audiovisual instruments and live music), and commit special attention to research of different documentarist (archival) and literary-scientific genres as well as lesser known poetic, prose and dramatic texts. Long-term research and development of sound sculptures for performance has resulted in the construction of a series of performance boxes (in the footsteps of prepared instruments): audiovisual sculptures named Schachtophones. An auteur tandem Damir Bartol Indoš and Tanja Vrvilo develops complex thought structures using various artistic expressions: extreme-music theater, contemporary dance, interactive installation sculptures, exhibition-performances, develops ideas of essay theater with long-term archival research of materials. The group invites artists from various artistic fields and positions – from alternative performers of different generations to academic theater artists and juxtapose their performance styles in collaborative work. By developing the idea of Schachtophony, it supports dehierarchical processes in the organizational models of artistic collective production. The idea of using unusual instruments (Schachtophones), found through the process of spiritually recycled waste, or preparing existing classical instruments and isolating the function of their primary sound – originate from the desire to dehierarchize the academic system of understanding the practice music, economy and politics of such work. Graphic partitures reanimate the written, sound and image materials of neglected Croatian artists, such as Dunja Robić, Josip Stošić, Ivan Martinac, Vladimir Čerina, Janko Polić Kamov, Zoran Šilović, Branko Ve Poljanski, Slovenian artists Matjaž Hanžek, Marij Kogoj and others.

Supported by: Österreichisches Kulturforum Zagreb, Kultura Nova Foundation, Pogon – Zagreb Center for Independent Culture and Youth, Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, City of Zagreb – City Office for Culture and Civil Society.

Performance in Rijeka is co-financed by the City of Zagreb – City Office for Culture and Civil Society.

Work in progress "Salva" on the border between contemporary circus and dance, uses techniques of contortion, acro dance and hand balancing to explore the topic of tenderness.

Concept and performing: Jelena Vujović
Thanks to: my mother, Collective "Room100" and UBUS
Photo: Milica Vidović (b/w), Vlada (color)

Jelena Vujović was born in Novi Sad, Serbia where she first started doing circus as an autodidact. In 2021/22, she studied acro dance in school for contemporary circus "Flic" in Turin, Italy. In her work she combines techniques of acro dance, contortion and hand balancing. She is a member of contemporary circus school "Cirkoneo" from Novi Sad where she works as a circus pedagogue. Currently, she is collaborating with contemporary circus collective of introverts "Room100" on new derivate of the show "C8H11NO2 2.0" and her first solo that was born from the choreography "Mama, everything is itchy" awarded at the Festival of Choreography Miniatures in 2023 in Belgrade.
In parallel with the circus, she graduated from University of Novi Sad at the Department of Architecture and Urban Planning.

The program is implemented in cooperation with the Domino Association within the framework of the Croatian Performing Arts Network 2024 project, which is supported by the Kultura nova Foundation.

Dance until the end.

This workshop focuses on being moved by connection and interaction – connecting to oneself, the other, the collective, and the unknown. We will first ensure inner stability by finding one’s personal anchor and then expand our journey by activating voice, breath, and movement – the three keys to embodiment, free-flowing expression, transformation, and empowered interaction. Like this, we will find our individual entrance to the Being Moved states and how to share them with others – how to be moved together. We will use practices based on shaking, whirling, laughing, screaming, and silent meditation and integrate by drawing, writing, and verbalising. We will learn from each other about the healing power of interaction, how to see a master in every emotional trigger and what to do with projections and interpretations. The practices in this workshop aim for energetic sustainability in our daily life and to access the transformative power of one’s artistic and creative practice. They support the body-mind alignment, give access to honest and deep listening to one’s own needs and boundaries, to the needs of others, and allow a healthy relationship to change. It sounds like a lot, and still, it comes down to celebrating connection while relaxing into ‘there’s nothing to do’.

Simon Mayer, born 1984 in Austria, is a choreographer, musician, performer, lecturer and curator. He studied at the Vienna State Opera Ballet School and at the P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels and was a member of the Vienna State Opera Ballet.
As a musician and singer, Simon founded and played in various bands (Rising Halfmoon, C.O.P.), released audio performances of his stage productions, and continues to create his own music.
As a dancer, choreographer and musician, he has been involved in productions by Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker/Rosas (The Song), Wim Vandekeybus and Zita Swoon. His choreographic repertoire includes solos, duets, group pieces, operas, and socially engaged and immersive events: SunBengSitting, Sons of Sissy, Oh Magic, Volxfest, Being Moved, Bones & Wires, Gaz / Nova Opera (Ukraine). His pieces are performed internationally: Festival Actoral (FR), Kunstenfestivaldesarts (BE), ImPulsTanz (AT), steirischerherbst (AT), BelluardBollwerk (CH), BIT Teatergarasjen (NO), Tweetakt Festival (NL), Homo Novus Festival (LV), The Place (UK), The Dance Center (CA), Power Station of ART (CN) among others. Together with his brothers, Simon curated the festival "Spiel" in Upper Austria and was co-curator of festivals such as Tanzplan Ost (CH) and The Ecstatic Body Festival (Tanzquartier Vienna).
Simon offers workshops in the arts (contemporary, traditional and community dance) and practices of Tantra, Mindfulness, Trance & Creation (together with Corine Sombrun). He is a guest lecturer at international festivals and universities and holds seminars (HfMDK Frankfurt, Impulstanz Festival, MUK Vienna, RITCS Brussels). He received the Outstanding Artist Award of the Austrian Federal Chancellery in 2017 and the Recognition Award of the State of Upper Austria in 2018.
Info: www.simonmayer.at/workshops

This masterclass explores the innovative realm of counterweighted aerial acrobatics. It fosters a unique interplay between aerialist and base, merging physics with artistic expression. Participants will learn about safe counterweighting techniques, including rigging methods, safety protocols, and movement strategies, in a facility equipped with high ceilings and multiple rigging points.

Sophie Zoletnik and Lennart Paar, both acclaimed artists with unconventional paths into the performing arts, initiated their collaborative journey in 2016 by co-creating a captivating street theatre performance. With backgrounds not rooted in circus education—Sophie holds a Master of Science degree in Architecture, and Lennart in Computer Science—they have carved a unique niche for themselves within the performing arts. Their primary discipline, hand to hand acrobatics, was honed under the guidance of sports acrobat coach Yves van der Donkt, laying a solid foundation for their distinctive movement style. This style seamlessly blends dynamic partner acrobatics with fluid partnering moves, enriched by unexpected falls and rolls.

Their teaching style is based on what they love, playfulness and exploration. While they are based in Budapest, they have taught workshops across Europe at acro and flowarts conventions to a diverse set of participants.
https://www.instagram.com/sophizol/
https://www.instagram.com/lenni.two.many/

The Counterweighting Aerial Acrobatics Masterclass workshop is supported by the European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists – EFFEA, an initiative of the European Festivals Association (EFA), co-funded by the European Union.