Preliminary programme: Contemporary Circus

If I Play a New Game...

ENCOUNTER

NIKOLINA KOMLJENOVIĆ, aerial silk dance

ŽARKO DRAGOJEVIĆ, music

The Dubrovnik Summer Festival has prepared a special preliminary programme which will present contemporary circus and street art, currently rapidly developing as art forms in Croatia as well as Europe, and to which the Festival wants to give visibility.

The Encounter between performance artist Nikolina Komljenović and musician Žarko Dragojević, which will be held as part of the conceptual project If I Play a New Game... on the Island of Lokrum on Friday, 7 July at 11 am and 6 pm, and on Saturday, 8 July at 6 pm. This is a performance that  combines the body, suspended in air, and multimedia, wherein the body improvises on two ribbons of silk reaching for the heights and creating its own ever-moving steps by placing the the smooth material under limbs with great physical effort. Improvisational movement is determined by the mutual listening and observation of all participants in the performance – sound, light, time, space and everyone present. Contemporary dance and circus artist, choreographer and acrobat Nikolina Komljenović has a master's degree in art history and comparative literature dealing with the idea of performativity of the body as a subject. She explores concepts such as subconsciousness, movement, gaze, voice, presence, space, time and relationship on a cellular, experiential and relational level through self-creation. Komljenović deals with the body and body-in-air through various media forms. Dubrovnik musician Žarko Dragojević has been active on the culture and arts scene for more than 15 years, and he has been composing music for film and theate since 2016. He began his musical journey in 2008 as the frontman of the band Embassy 516, and through his albums he boldly speaks about today's society. In the last decade, as an employee of the Marin Držić Theatre, he worked on more than 80 productions with some of the most distinguished domestic and regional directors. Dragojević also writes original music for a number of television, radio and multimedia projects.