Upcoming events
- , Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana, SI
- , Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana, SI
- , Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana, SI
Two Men in Underwear – a tender wrestling match with two winners – explores the tension between social constructs of masculinity and our inherent need for vulnerability, an arena where the struggle for dominance between the performers imperceptibly morphs into desires and acts of intimacy. Exposed to the gaze, the dancers fall and get up again, undergoing a movement deconstruction marked by flying limbs that propel their intertwined bodies – like a moving pile of flesh eager for collision. With a desire of altering our perception of masculinity, the choreographer foregrounds the problematic nature of traditional male gender roles, their consequent stigmatisation and suppression of emotions, which are often replaced by excessive releases of anger. At the same time, the choreographer uses the work as an invitation to perceive power not as the absence of vulnerability, but as the courage to accept it.
Presentations of work in progress:
30 January 2026, NEFCD, Härnösand, Sweden
15 February 2026, Zuhause Arnhem, Arnhem, The Netherlands
Tickets: 14 € / 12 € ▶
Collaborators
Concept, choreography: Burja Podlesnik
Co-created and performed by: Oscar Magnusson, Koen Kaya Eye
Dramaturgy: Maša Radi Buh
Mentorship: Danielle Dietz
Light design: Veronika Hana Grubič
Photography: Nada Žgank
Executive production: Tamara Pepelnik
Support
Production: Emanat, Institute for Development and Affirmation of Dance and Contemporary Art
Co-production: Cankarjev dom
Co-production residencies: NEFCD New Education for Contemporary Dance, Performing Arts STUDIO, Härnösands folkhögskola, Zuhause Arnhem, Festival Velenje
Financial support: Ministry of Culture RS, City of Ljubljana
Burja Podlesnik (2001) is a dancer and choreographer. After graduating from the contemporary dance grammar school SVŠGUGL (Secondary Preschool Education, Grammar School and Performing Arts Grammar School Ljubljana), she continued her studies in Sweden at the NEFCD program (New Education for Contemporary Dance) and in 2025 graduated with a Bachelor of Dance degree from ArtEZ University of the Arts in the Netherlands. Burja was part of IlDance's youth company IlYoung, where she danced the work Self Contained, choreographed by Israel Aloni. She performed the work Addio Unplugged by ICK Amsterdam and worked with choreographers such as Mari Carrasco, Miguel Altunage Verdicie, and Caroline Finn. Burja received the Best Dancer Award at the OPUS 1 International Festival of Young Dance Creators in 2019 for her solo Med borovjem temnim (Among the Dark Pine Trees) and during her bachelor studies delved into choreography with the solo Snippet, group work Leftovers, and the duets In My Room and On the Mat. In critically responding to current reality, Burja seeks to reconfigure the space given to things that have no space and voice things that otherwise remain silent.
Swedish dancer Oscar Magnusson (2001) graduated in dance from ArtEZ University of the Arts with a Bachelor of Dance degree in the Netherlands. Oscar performed the work Addio Unplugged by ICK Amsterdam and worked with the choreographers Mercedes Pedroche, Faizah Grootens, Jelena Kostić, and Anderson Carvalho. With the choreographer Jasper van Luijk, he worked on the solo Pushing Waves and the group piece Krave. He was a choreographic assistant of the work come in but never come back by the choreographer Dalton Jansen.
Dutch-Turkish dancer Koen Kaya Eye (2002) earned his Bachelor of Dance degree at Codarts Rotterdam. Koen danced in the companies Introdans and Club Guy & Roni's Poetic Disasters Club. He performed works by Martha Graham, Marura Bigonzetti, and Andonis Foniadakis, worked with the choreographer Ed Wubbe, and was a choreographer assistant in Olivia Court Mese's The Breakable Us at Scapino Ballet Rotterdam. From 2025 on, Koen has been dancing with Ultima Vez in the work What the Body Does Not Remember, created by Wim Vandekeybus.
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