CONTOURS. Klaipėda Puppet Theatre and Šeiko Dance Company (Lithuania)

Dance and shadow performance

Director: Gintarė Radvilavičiūtė
Playwright, Text author: Virginija Rimkaitė
Choreographer and Dancer: Dovilė Binkauskaitė
Composer: Rita Mačiliūnaitė
Lights: Vilius Vilutis

Photos by: Kristijonas Lučinskas
Co-production of Šeikos Dance Company and Klaipėda Puppet Theater

Premiere: March 21, 2024 

 ‘When you look at the dark for a long time, it starts to reveal contours.’

The performance is a man’s inner journey, a confrontation with his deepest darkness. It’s an encounter with a force that draws you in, making it very difficult, sometimes even impossible, to break free. At times, this darkness becomes so overwhelming that it turns into a desire to simply not exist. However, if you dare to face it, the darkness can become recognizable. Then, the outlines of concrete feelings and emotions emerge, allowing them to be named, accepted, released, or simply allowed to be. While the darkness may not disappear, you can always find something to help you endure it, to survive, to move forward, and to balance it with light. That something is your own body – your beautiful body that can dance. Ultimately, the desire to live is driven by the desire to act.

Klaipėda Puppet Theatre is a modern repertoire puppet theatre famous for its unique modern performances and projects for children, teenagers and adults. Klaipėda Puppet Theatre puppeteers continue to experiment and search for new means of artistic communication and forms of plasticity, introduce Klaipėda and Klaipėda region audience to traditional art of puppetry as well as to its modern trends, help developing intellectual and cultural knowledge of children and teenagers, influence their system of values. According to theatre theorists, Klaipėda puppet theatre is one of the most noticeable and ambitious puppet theatres in Lithuania.

Founded in 2012 in Klaipėda, Šeiko Dance Company is one of the most dynamic professional contemporary dance companies in Lithuania. Led by choreographer Agnija Šeiko, the company creates and presents dance performances of various genres and forms, recognized with the highest national awards, to audiences both in Lithuania and abroad. In addition to stage productions, the company engages in dance education, organizes public performances in urban spaces, and collaborates with diverse communities.