Talk no. 11: Vita Osojnik & Samo Oleami

22.11.2016
expressivity as the collage surface

Metodologije beleženja / Methodologies of notation: Vita Osojnik & Samo Oleami foto/photo by: Nada Žgank

About

The discussion will centre on the performance Other People's Children by Vita Osojnik, more specifically on how it tackled movement, dance, visual, and music materials as potential for producing atmospheres, associations, and images that are not psychologically/internally justified, but are selected from an external position of artistic direction. The performance seems to place the imagery of femininity and motherhood in the space between reality and dreams, between the personal and the societal; however, Vita Osojnik’s presence suggests that it arises especially out of the latter, the collective, wrapping up separately each individual. As a dancer, Vita produces a presence that, while being distinctly expressive, floats on the thin surface, perforated by social codes and which is interwoven into the visual language of the performance, while staying completely calm, almost meditative in quality. Glimpsing on different aspects of Vita Osojnik’s professional and personal path, we will try to shed light on her eclectic creativity and methodology.

Biographies

Vita Osojnik is a dancer, choreographer, dance pedagogue and street artist. She  graduated in Ballet high school in Ljubljana and finished her studies with a diploma in dance and choreography in Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance. 
She is a mentor in dance center Qulenium in Kranj, regular teacher in Artistic high school for dance in Ljubljana, one of regular teachers in Šugla (School for street art), guest teacher in  SEAD-u (Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance), mentor in international workshops MoveMentors in Salzburg, occasional teacher  also in other programs and associations (Bitnamun, Praktikum, Center plesa MB, Toscana Dance Hub in Florence,…). In october 2015 she was invited as a guest choreographer  for a post graduate company from  the dean of Tisch School of Arts on Broadway in New York. Recent years she is focusing a lot on directing, choreography and performance in street dance and street theater. 

Samo Oleami is a writer and practitioner in the area of performing arts. His work as a writer and critic includes a wide spectrum of performance practices, from dramatic theatre, contemporary performing arts, performance art to collaborations with intermedia artists and critics (Ljudmila Art and Science Laboratory) and festivals of improvisation and street theatre (Naked Stage and Ana Desetnica). Adopting different roles – as director, assistant, dramaturge, performer, media spokesperson, or occasional technician – has given him a comprehensive insight into the different aspects of the creative process and its group dynamic (especially in the area of “contemporary theatre” and contemporary dance). Oleami graduated from, wrote articles about, and participated in art projects dealing with the Slovene neo-avantgarde of the 1960s, particularly the groups OHO and Pupilija Ferkeverk, including the global context of the beginnings of contemporary performing arts. As dramaturge, assistant director and/or video artist, he has collaborated with Janez Janša (Emil Hrvatin), Vlado Repnik and Martina Ruhsam, Milan Tomašik, and Jelena Oleami. He wrote critics for newspaper Večer and worked with many festivals (Mladi levi Festival, City of Women Festival, Naked Stage, Ana Desetnica).

Previous events

  1. , Pritličje, Ljubljana, SI

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