Gordana Vnuk: commissioner for NID Platform 2017
Curated by Lisa Cadamuro – NID Platform editorial staff
Gordana Vnuk is the founder and artistic director of Eurokaz (International Festival of New Theatre) in Zagreb. A dramaturg and a theatre scholar, she is a member of the artistic committee of NID Platform 2017.
You have been appointed as a commissioner for NID Platform 2017. Had you heard about this project before? What are its strengths, in your opinion?
Yes, I have heard about NID Platform before and I regret I could not attend its past editions as it is a good occasion to follow trends in Italian dance, get acquainted with new generations of choreographers and dancers and to avoid the same names in touring circuits.
Do you believe that nowadays there is a new creativity in Italian dance?
I don’t know the recent situation in Italian dance so well as until now I have been involved more with Italian theatre than with dance. On one hand, this is good as it will enable me to cast a fresh and unprejudiced look at the dance scene, on the other hand, this will be a good opportunity for me to learn more about what have been the recent achievements.
What are your expectations from the companies and shows which will apply to NID Platform 2017?
I hope to see authentic and original artistic expressions which do not only repeat what I have been seeing in the European dance scene for the past decades. I hope to find something that will surprise me, something I haven’t seen before.
What sort of advice would you give to a young choreographer/dancer?
Be yourself. Be independent. Take a risk. Do not imitate what others are doing only because they are successful in festival circuits. Get away from “styles” which are dominant in contemporary dance today. We all have to break perception habits and open ourselves to unique and surprising theatre and dance languages.
One of the newest developments in NID Platform 2017 is the effort to find a point of contact with the public. Does such a thing as a “public of contemporary dance” exist? If so, what can NID Platform offer to this public?
I think the audience in Europe has already been fed up with contemporary dance as it all looks the same and decreasing audience numbers are showing that. What twenty or thirty years ago was revolutionary and helped some artists make their international breakthrough, gave rise to an endless series of epigonal reproductions which were efficient in the theatre and dance market: dance has become silent in the same globally understandable language which does not cause perception problems. Supported by globalizations trends and networks, this aesthetic caused an overall uniformity of artistic expression. All Europe is dancing to the same tune, and the critical voices are few.