KAJ ČE…/ WHAT IF … / Maja Delak (SLO)

A dance solo on the mental patterns and prejudices that limit life. First international presentation of our new VÝCHODISKA series of indie dance and theatre from Central and East Europe.

„With Luka Prinčič’s music in the background in magical harmony with her body, Delak performs the mental patterns and prejudices that limit life. Her naturally beautiful bodily posture and movement inspire the space which is slowly permeated with the idea that the world is actually a movement sound composition.
RTV Slovenia, The News, Saška Aleksandra Gruden, 4th October 2013“

What If …
we lived differently? What if – we didn't? Kaj če… /What If… is a performance about not living differently. It is a performance about how time measures out the rhythm of our lives; how instability and hyperproductivity dictate the rhythm of work and how resistance often frames the rhythm of feeling. Kaj če… /What If … is a solo of a dancer and a solo about a dancer; it is a dance solo about what the body is capable of doing and what not (any longer). It is a dance solo about the exposure and vulnerability of all bodies. Kaj če… /What If … is a performance about an insecure, unstable and vulnerable situation the dancer on stage is pushed into, the body of a dancer at work, the body of a dancer in life, who is continuing her investigation of the intersection between the body, gender and society, while critically addressing production conditions of contemporary dance (and art in general), which are the ongoing themes of Maja Delak's work.

And then I realised
I have to work more
And then I realised
there is no future
And then I realised
it would be easier if I were a boy
And then I realised
I work out of pleasure
And then I realised
I am ashamed
And then I realised
my body clearly and decidedly sets its own limits
And then I realised
I would come to the same conclusions
Also if I didn't do art.

In English with Czech subtitles

Maja Delak is a choreographer and dancer. She studied contemporary dance at CNDC L'Esquisse in Angers, France, and at numerous dance seminars, lead by internationally renowned pedagogues. She was, from 1993 to 2002, a member of the international dance group En-Knap, and a programme leader of the realization of a high school programme for contemporary dance, provided for at the Pre-School Education and Grammar School Ljubljana.
In 2006, Maja Delak established institute EMANAT, with which she aims for the affirmation of contemporary dance – both with performance production as well as with a book programme (Transitions series) and education (AGON).

In 2010 she won the Prešeren Fund Award, the highest recognition for achievements in the field of art in the Republic of Slovenia. In 2013 her performance Shame was awarded as best performance of the Slovenian Dance Platform Moving-Cake. In the same year Luka Prinčič and Maja Delak received Liberal Acadamy Golden Bird Award for the artistic achievements on the field of performing arts.