MOVE Fest Starting off in Ostrava

Today, Ostrava has witnessed the beginning of the contemporary dance, physical theatre and new circus festival MOVE fest 2014, lasting till 15 November. The city of Ostrava is thus becoming, slowly but surely, a new centre of dance art. The festival of contemporary dance, new circus, physical theatre, site-specific and new media builds on twelve editions of the Dance Ostrava festival, offset of the Dance Prague festival. MOVE fest has got independent as its successor. Most of the programme will take place in the Multi-disciplinary Contemporary Arts Centre Cooltour that has been operating in Ostrava for three years now. The main organiser of the festival is the dancer and dance teacher Jana Ryšlavá. The MOVE programme is full of performances, lectures and other accompanying events. All the performances are followed by discussions.

The festival will open on Monday, 10 November, with the presentation of the project Culture Confessional and Karolína Hejnová’s lecture focusing on all the necessary things a freelancer needs to push his way through the obstacles interposed by authorities, sceptical fans and themselves. Is it actually possible to survive such a struggle? And is it possible to become a happy freelancer or is it a way to a mad house? The first day of the festival will feature the piece Korekce (Correction), danced by VerTeDance company (from 7pm) and accompanied by Clarinet Factory’s live music. Tuesday will bring an opening of the exhibition Čím by ten prostor mohl být (What could the space be?). Matěj Smrkovský presents his installation which radically changes the exhibition space. It attempts to reduce the gallery’s area multiple-times and to create a sector-shaped bulge as a place for imagination, where the visitors can ”cast their anchor” for a while, and - half “immersed” and half “washed up” - listen to the sound recordings inviting them to active imagination of “what could be“. The Tuesday evening will present two pieces: Karlheinz Stockhausen‘s composition Harlekin performed by Karel Dohnal (it is a piece on a halfway between concert and theatre) and a guest performance Blue Men given by the PR Evolution Company from Hungary. For Wednesday, 12 November, the festival prepared Blanka Marková’s lecture Umělci jdou do světa (Artist are going to see the world) about European centres and the opportunities for artists they provide. The evening, we’re going to see the performance FAiTH by Miřenka Čechová and Andrea Milnerová. On Thursday, the festival visitors can look forward to Lenka Vagnerová’s highly praised choreography Jezdci and a duet SuperNaturals performed by the dance company ME-SA.
There comes a time for new circus on Friday – at first in Šárka Maršíková’s lecture Cirkus v tanci, tanec v cirkuse (Circus in Dance, Dance in Circus). New circus has become a full-fledged and sought-after stage form, influencing and being influenced by other genres. Circus people dance and dancers do circus tricks. And nobody in the Czech Republic knows more about it than Šárka Maršíková from Prague’s Cirqueon. To prove the fact that new circus produces high-quality performances, the festival will feature the piece Losers(s), a brainchild of the DaeMen duo and choreographer Jarek Cemerek. On Saturday, the visitors can end off the festival programme with Vanda Hybnerová’s lecture Herče, pohni se! (Move Your Body, Actor!): “What happens to an actor if he’s set in motion? We can learn how much movement is important for actors from a woman who has been oscillating between pure acting and physical theatre for some time already. And we must admit that she’s damn good at it and we want to know why and what it gives and takes and so.” Times, venues and ticket sale links to be found at this address: http://www.moveostrava.cz/