The 20th anniversary year of Letní Letná begins

Aquanauts - Tribute to New Circus. Photo: František Ortmann.

"It is our anniversary and we want to pay tribute to the new circus, genre or discipline that has been part of our life at Letná for twenty years. That's why we have joined forces with Czech and Swedish artists to create something unique, something that has never been seen before on the Czech new circus scene. We invite the audience to come and see for themselves if it has been successful," says Jiří Turek, the festival's director and founder, about the opening. The Aquanauts show, in its Letná variation as a Tribute to New Circus, combines four elements – water, fire, air and, unusually, love – will take the audience below and above the water surface and high up into the sky. All this performed by nearly fifty top acrobats and synchronized swimmers. It will be staged only twice, on 16 and 17 August at the new water reservoir at Letná Park and will be free to all spectators.

After this festival opening, the audience will be served literally the Crème de la Crème of world and Czech new circus. The international programme consists of productions by world-famous troupes that have already conquered Letná in previous years. The French-Belgian Collectif Malunés, in directorial cooperation with Kaspar Vandenbergh from the MOVEDBYMATTER ensemble, have created the performance BITBYBIT, where brothers Simon and Vincent Bruyninckx are best friends and rivals, suspended by their teeth and connected by a rope like an umbilical cord. A year of artistic research and physical training preceded the experiment with this dangerous circus technique. The differences and what unites us are also explored in SABOTAGE, an energetic production by the NoFit State ensemble that breaks with established clichés and completely breaks out of the usual audience experience. Cirque Aïtal, from the cradle of the new circus – France – will give the audience a taste of what it is like to be propelled by the wind, illuminated by the stars and dancing, singing, jumping. In A CIEL OUVERT, traditional circus meets the new, poetry meets music, and acrobatic acts meet clown acts under a makeshift shelter. The Canadian Cirque Alfonse will come to Letná with a humorous "farmer's fantasy". Their production ANIMAL promises a slightly surreal mix of acrobatics, singing, dancing and theatre.

The festival area will also host two premieres of Czech new-circus pieces. Four performers from the Losers Cirque Company will present the performance Loop, and in the Czech tent, they will share the novelties they have presented on their home stage: the acrobatic collage Unbridled (Nespoutaní) and the all-female new-circus show Woman, Rose, Song, Bone (Žena, růže, píseň, kost).

The lead figures of the second Czech premiere are women. Crossing brings together four female performers who are primarily active on the New Circus scene as solo artists. Eliška Brtnická has teamed up with Eleonora Dall'Asta from Italy, Ilona Jäntti from Finland and Aki Yoshida from Japan. In their work, they will provide a new view of acrobatic tools as art objects. Eliška Brtnická will confront the audience with fear in her performance Hang Out, which has received professional and lay acclaim and applause. Other prominent female figures of the new circus scene, Eva Stará and Alžběta Tichá, will be brought together in one evening by the presentation of their projects Mass and Frequency.

Other examples of the local new circus productions will also be presented on the “Czech stage”. The Feel the Universe Circus Company has prepared a performance of three different acrobatic disciplines called Triptych of Existence. A wide range of circus and juggling disciplines is accommodated in the unique Galashow, which is usually the highlight of the Juggling Day at Letná Letná. AirGym Art Company acrobats will focus on dream interpretation during their production NonSen(s). This is just a brief selection of the Czech Scene Festival.

One of the goals of Letní Letná is to make new circus performances accessible to all ages, which is why this year, there is also a programme specifically for children. The theatrical and accompanying programme is, for the most part, for free and covers the whole day. Children will be entertained with art workshops, circus and juggling workshops, and 115 performances by Czech and foreign troupes await them. A packed accompanying programme of concerts, open-air performances and workshops awaits all those who stop by and want to get closer to the art of new circus.

Source: Letní Letná