Czech Centre London initiated and in collaboration with Nová síť organized a presentation of Czech contemporary dance called Czech Dance Showcase that takes place in August in the Great Britain at one of the largest theatre festivals in the world, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. As a part of the programme of this world renowned event, the Czech Dance Showcase will feature in the course of the three-week festival marathon a total of fifty-one performances of productions by three Czech companies. At this year's Festival Fringe, Czech companies are represented by Spitfire Company & Damúza, Tantehorse and VerTeDance. Another part of the Czech Dance Showcase is a professional presentation of contemporary Czech theatre, organized in collaboration with the Arts and Theatre Institute. As many as 1,000,000 visitors come every year to the Festival Fringe in Edinburgh.
The world-famous theatre and performance festival Edinburgh Festival Fringe has over the past 60 years of its existence become one of the largest international theatre festivals and Czech artists have individually performed at this Edinburgh festival several times already. This year's Czech Dance Showcase, the second comprehensive showcase yet organized by the Czech Centre London presents a representative selection of contemporary Czech dance theatre, in which experts from the Czech and British theatre scene took part. The creative output of all companies that perform this year in Edinburgh for the first time ever is based on contemporary dance and movement theatre, yet it offers a different perspective on the genre. Humour is not missing either, the same can be said of the overlap to fine arts and a pure acoustic experience.
"Fringe offers a unique opportunity to present the Czech dance and theatre production to large international professional and lay audiences alike. Moreover, due to competition from hundreds of other top companies from all over the world, it is, above all, a big challenge for the artists themselves. It is this involvement of Czech culture in a bustling international context that I see as one of the main goals of Czech centres and I believe that the London office succeeds in the coming years in supporting the participation of Czech theatre and dance not only at the Fringe," says Tereza Porybná, director of the Czech Centre in London.
At this year's Fringe festival, the Czech presentation consists of projects One Step Before the Fall by Spitfire Company and a production unit Damúza. For her open confession in a dance production dedicated to the phenomenal boxing champion Muhammad Ali and all those suffering from Parkinson's disease, Markéta Vacovská has been nominated for the prestigious Czech Thalia award. Recently, she also holds the award for Czech Dancer of 2013. The production with an outstanding musical accompaniment by Lenka Dusilová was also awarded by a professional jury at this year’s Czech Dance Platform a prize for the best lighting design. VerTeDance bring to Edinburgh a production called What Is the Weight of Your Desire?, which was awarded the prize for Czech dance performance of the Year 2012 and dancer Lucia Kašiarová was awarded the prize for Dancer of the Year 2012 for her performance in this show.
The almost every-day August marathon of Czech theatre performances at Fringe is complemented by a series of informal meetings and professional presentations of contemporary Czech theatere, organized in collaboration with the Arts and Theatre Institute. The third representative at the festival is a dance-visual piece S/He Is Nancy Joe by Miřenka Čechová and Tantehorse, dealing with transgender issues. This production has been ranked among the best cultural achievements of 2012 in the contemporary dance category Best of Dance, 2012, announced by the magazine The Washington Post; for her performance, Miřenka Čechová was nominated for the Dancer of the Year 2013 award.
Czech centres are the agencies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the promotion of the Czech Republic abroad. Their aim is to promote the Czech culture in the international environment. The network of Czech centres operates in 22 capitals on three continents. General Director of Czech centres is Vilma Anýžová. Czech centres for performing arts encourage international cooperation between Czech theatres, dance and movement companies, mime and puppet theatre and foreign partners. The key activity is the presentation of work of an artist or group of artists, co-participation in organization of international tours, festivals and shows across all disciplines and genres. They initiate Czech participation in international theatre showcases and major trade fairs abroad, some of them in the form of excerpts from particular productions (i.e. showcase). They use foreign events in public spaces for the presentation of Czech artists. They bring an unaffected perspective on the contemporary Czech theatre scene and support translations of theatre plays. For more, please check: www.czechcentres.cz, www.czechcentre.org.uk

 
Czech Dance Showcase programme
One Step Before the Fall / Markéta Vacovská, Lenka Dusilová & Spitfire Company & Damúza: August 3^rd – 22^nd, 2013, 20:30 Zoo Aviary What Is the Weight of Your Desire? / VerTeDance: August 2^nd – 25^th, 2013, 18:00 ZOO Monkey House

S/He Is Nancy Joe / Tantehorse: August 2^nd – 18^th, 2013, 13:30 ZOO Main House

Czech Performing Arts Presentation, August 16^th, 2013, 11:00 - 13:00, Fringe Central - Concourse Hall

Source: Nová síť