EAST IS BEST
BOOSTING REGIONAL TALENT THROUGH TOURING IN THE CEEC
We are pleased to announce a comprehensive event programme of the international East is Best
project scheduled for the 2022 spring-summer season. Several dance and performing arts festivals in Central and East European countries will host a series of selected performances thus implementing one of the fundamental goals of the East is Best project – to promote and develop cooperation and mutual exchange of outstanding performative art projects from the region.
Within the East is Best project 8 festivals in 8 CEE countries will feature 24 events presenting 14 different performances; 11 partners of the project are touring 63 artists in total thus reaching several thousand unique visitors. Accompanying programme will feature several workshops with the renowned artists. We are also extending our newly developed experimental digital network, aimed at establishing active communication between our partners and audiences and promoting CEE artists globally. The project will thus enable new shared experiences, discovery and promotion of fresh and innovative regional talents.
East is Best digital network was established in 2020 in Ljubljana after the 1st Dance>Money
(un)conference produced by Slovene association Pekinpah as a part of a partnership network
Platform Center for Creativity. Public discussions at the named conference, where many artists and
producers from CEE region were present, revealed the need for creation of the more formalised
digital network, whose importance was subsequently recognised by the Perform Europe project. Perform Europe will support East is Best project for 18 months; after that initial period East is Best project will remain fully operative, further expanding its mission and goals. With the inclusion of additional partners from the region, digitalization and artistic development the East is Best project will thus strive to build an even bigger and more functional community in the region.
The East is Best project is aimed to develop network connections, endorse artist's visibility and expose new international projects. The nature of the partnership is rooted in balance and equity between the partners as they symmetrically share their know-how, experiences, and resources, to enhance live communication between regional producers, artists, and audiences. The platform tackles the issues of sustainability by implementing inclusive principles of social justice and commitments to human and societal wellbeing while promoting artistic practices that reflect contemporary conditions of the world.
Official partners of the project are:
Exodos Ljubljana (Slovenia - lead partner), Pekinpah – Spider Festival (Slovenia), AU Association “Contemporary Dance Platform” Zelyonka festival (Ukraine), Kulturanova (Serbia), Hrvatski institut za pokret i ples - Dance Week Festival (Croatia) and Workshop Foundation (Hungary).
Additional associated festivals are:
Dance fest Skopje, (North Macedonia), ZVRK Festival Sarajevo (Bosna i Hercegovina), Antistatic Festival (Bulgaria) and Laiks Dejot festival (Bulgaria).
Partners involved in the project are committed to promotion of fresh and innovative regional talents that tackle the established western art canon.
Essential artistic endeavor of the East is Best project consists of touring presentations of various
performative artistic projects from the region. Within the project 14 performances were selected and are scheduled for tour in physical and virtual venues in Ljubljana, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Skopje, Sofia, Budapest and Riga. Unfortunately, due to known and tragic reasons, the festival in Kiev was cancelled while Ukrainian performances will appear – due to mobilisation of the male artists – in digital version only. The war in Ukraine has once more revealed the urge to stress humanism as well as cultural and artistic achievements in the region – we believe the projects such as East is Best are a vital necessity for obtaining such goals.
The programme scheduled for the spring-summer season of 2022 (see full list below) will start at
Dance fest Skopje and finish at ZVRK festival in Sarajevo. Selected performances, simultaneously also
presented and archived on our digital platforms, will be accompanied by invited artist's workshops
that aim to further develop and empower local dance communities and to create new collaborative
opportunities. A guest critic/journalist will also join each tour, being appointed to study, reflect and
promote local dance scenes in various countries.
EAST IS BEST 2022
PROGRAM:
Dance Fest Skopje - Skopje, Makedonija
9. - 18. april 2022
Rade Obradović in Katarina Bućić: The road to the moon (Srbija)
9. 4. 2022, 19.00 09/04/2022, 19:00 / v živo (Home of the Army)
Žigan Krajnčan: Interview (Slovenija/Latvija)
12. 4. 2022, 19.00 / v živo (Home of the Army)
Khrystyna Slobodianiuk: Poslukh (Ukrajina)
18. 4. 2022, 19.00 / v živo in preko spleta (Home of the Army)
Kultura nova - Novi Sad, Srbija
7. – 8. maj 2022
Saša Božić: Love will Tear us A Part (Hrvaška)
7. 5. 2022, 20.00 / v živo (Laza Kostić Gymnasium Theatre)
David Somló: Drift (Madžarska)
8. 5. 2022, 18.00 / v živo (pred SPENS-om)
Workshop Foundation – Budimpešta, Madžarska
8. maj 2022
Leja Jurišić in Marko Mandić: Together (Slovenija)
8. 5. 2022, 17.00 / v živo MU (Színház)
Antistatic Festival - Sofija, Bolgarija
9. maj 2022
Jasna Vinovrski: Healers (Hrvaška)
17. 5. 2022, 19.30 / v živo (Toplocentrala, Hala 1)
Dance Week Festival – Zagreb, Hrvaška
1. – 12. junij 2022
Žigan Kranjčan: Love me tender (Slovenija)
2. 6. 2022, 20.00 / v živo (Zagreb Dance Centre)
Rade Obradović in Katarina Bućić: The road to the moon (Srbija)
3. 6. 2022, 20.00 / v živo (Zagreb Dance Centre)
Adrijana Danchevska: Don’t touch my eyes (Severna Makedonija)
9. 6. 2022, 20.00 / v živo (Zagreb Dance Centre)
Smirna Kulenović: Our Family Garden (Bosna)
11. 6. 2022, 18.00 / v živo in preko spleta (video) (TBC)
Smirna Kulenović: Our Family Garden (Bosna)
12. 6. 2022, 18.00 / v živo in preko spleta (video + intervju) (TBC)
Khrystyna Slobodianiuk: Poslukh (Ukrajina)
12. 6. 2022, 18.00 / v živo (video + intervju) (TBC)
Willy Prager, Iva Sveshtarova: Shamebox (Bulgaria)
12. 6. 2022, 20.00 / v živo (TBC)
LAIKSDEJOT 2022 - Riga, Latvija
13. – 18. junij2022
Adrijana Danchevska: Don’t touch my eyes (Severna Makedonija)
13. 6. 2022, 19.00 / v živo
Yaroslav Kainar/Totem Dance Theatre: Annihilation (Ukrajina)
14. 6. 2022, 19.00 / v živo in/ali preko spleta
Smirna Kulenovic: Our Family Garden (Bosna)
18. 6. 2022, 19.00 / v živo
Spider festival - Ljubljana, Slovenija
15. – 19. junij 2022
Willy Prager, Iva Sveshtarova: Shamebox (Bolgarija)
15. 6. 2022, 21.30 / v živo (Plečnikovo letno gledališče, Park Tivoli)
Gundega Rēdere: In Horizon (Latvija)
15. 6. 2022, 23.00 / v živo (Plečnikovo letno gledališče, Park Tivoli)
Smirna Kulenovic: Our Family Garden (Bosna)
16. 6. 2022 / 21.30 v živo (Plečnikovo letno gledališče, Park Tivoli)
ZVRK - Sarajevo, Bosna in Hercegovina
27. – 29. maj 2022 & 25. – 26. junij 2022
Žigan Krajnčan: Love me tender (Slovenija)
27. 5. 2022, 20.00 / v živo
Gundega Rēdere: In Horizon (Latvija)
25. 6. 2022, 20.00 / v živo
Khrystyna Slobodianiuk: Poslukh, (Ukrajina)
25. 6. 2022, 18.00 / v živo in preko spleta
Leja Jurišić in Marko Mandić: Together (Slovenija)
26. 6. 2022, 18.00 / v živo
