Partners: SCS-JADRO and YOUNG OPEN THEATRE – MOT Festival in Skopje the International Interdisciplinary Artist Consortium and with support from the GPS/Global Practice Sharing as part of Movement Research, NYC and funding from the Trust for Mutual Understanding.
WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION:
Krista DeNio (USA) and Iskra Shukarova (N. Macedonia) will co-teach a workshop at SCS-Jadro in Skopje, North Macedonia from November 15-17 for community members, dance students and professionals, and theater professionals. This workshop will explore interdisciplinary approaches to site-specific performance making and utilize dance and theater methodologies. DeNio and Shukarova will bring together embodied practices and site-specific devising techniques, that support participants in exploring storytelling and creative making, investigating the architecture of the Jadro gallery and engaging the nearby park, trees and nature in our explorations. DeNio will draw on research from her project: the NETWORK project, inspired by ecological systems of communication, resource-sharing and survival employed in tree communities and what human communities can learn from them. Shukarova will bring her work in subsystems of Non-Verbal Communication to guide somatic practices as a framework for artistic expression.
The workshop will incorporate movement and voice training that includes somatics and developmental movement, some partnering and weight sharing, based in the Contact Improvisation and some Action Theater techniques, bringing together voice and movement through the use of strongly structured improvisational exercises. The workshop will culminate in short performance scores that the participants create.
ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE/ PRESENTATION:
DeNio and Shukarova will also create a performance and presentation in SCS-Jadro in Skopje on November 20th, 6pm as part of the International Theatre Festival, MOT FESTIVAL.
Iskra Shukarova as an artist has been interested in the relation between body and voice, as well as finding connections with nature and animals. She also explores new ways of relating to the audience as part of the performative process. Shukarova is especially drawn by the interdisciplinary approaches where she can explore mediums intersecting as part of the research process which she shares with the community, professionals, as well her students.
Krista DeNio works with movement, sound and narrative storytelling. Her performance work currently explores the creative design of interactive, participatory experiences. The research and performance experiences include the site where they are housed and often include both scripted and choreographed work as well as improvisational interactions. She is interested in how interdisciplinary exchange can create new kinds of experiences, rather than replicating predictable performances.
In the performance, Krista and Iskra will present together the outcome of their research in Skopje. After the performance there will be a talk with the audience to share together on interdisciplinary approaches to body-based work as a medium for interactive exchange.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES:
Iskra Sukarova accomplished her contemporary dance studies at the National Conservatorium Superior in Lyon. In 2002 she obtained her Masters Degree at the Laban Center – London. Iskra Shukarova is a choreographer, performer and professor. She has completed numerous dance trainings with established artists. Sukarova’s pieces have toured regionally and internationally. She has been honored with fellowships such as CEC Arts Link (New York) and Dance Web (Vienna).
Iskra was a principal soloist in the Macedonian Opera and Ballet since1991. She is one of the founders of Lokomotiva-Centre for New Initiatives in Arts and Culture. She was also the co-founder and co-programmer of the contemporary dance festival Locomotion in Skopje and one of the founders of the Balkan Dance Network and the NOMAD Dance Academy network. Shukarova is also a member of Movement Research’s Global Practice Sharing (GPS) network, and a member of the dance board as part of the Macedonian ITI Center as well as participant of the International Interdisciplinary Artists Consortium. Since 2010, Iskra is a professor at the University Ss. Cyril and Methodius – Faculty of Music – department of Dance pedagogy in Skopje. In 2014 she obtained her PHD a the University Ss. Cyril and Methodius-Faculty of Dramatic Arts.
Photos of Iskra Shukarova by Ana Lazarevska
Krista DeNio is an interdisciplinary choreographer, director, performer, writer and educator. She facilitates creative projects utilizing principles and practices of ensemble-based theater. Her work integrates embodied experience, education, community engagement and human-to-human interaction. As Artistic Director of MovingGround, she works with her collaborators to produce interdisciplinary performance experiences using site-specific and audience-interactive models, with a focus on building community, facilitating dialogue across differences and creating common ground. Each experience is accompanied by forums for interaction. Krista has worked with many choreographers and directors, in the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout the U.S. For the past (7) years, Krista served as a leader of Arts, Education and Advocacy programs within the social service organization, Larkin Street Youth Services, working with young adults navigating homelessness. She is a House Artist at CounterPulse, where she has also been a two-time Artist-in-Residence and is a member and ongoing participant with the International Interdisciplinary Artists Consortium. She received her BA in Dance/Dramatic Art and I.S.F. [Development and Human Rights] from U.C. Berkeley and her MFA in Theater: Contemporary Performance from Naropa University.
Photos: Left: Krista DeNio by Anna Maynard, Right: Krista DeNio by Hillary Goidell
