I HAVE NEVER DOUBTED THAT DANCE IS MY LIVING WATER.

Feeling the dance deep in my bones are magical moments when my body and mind connect, and I can experience creative wholeness. I have learned about being in dance from excellent performers such as Nancy Stark Smith, Julyen Hamilton, David Zambrano, Mary O’Donnell, Lisa Nelson, Eva Karczag, Katie Duck, and Pauline de Groot.

Writing fulfills my passion to think about dance. Visually, energetically, meaningfully. Choreography, however, is the most creative adventure for me. I got lost in the thicket of evanescent movement material more than once, but I am still tempted to seek out how to cut through it with clarity of intention and the skill to compose moments of being.

I am more and more aware of how significantly the turning political point in Slovakia in 1989 helped me in discovering my own voice. The atmosphere of free breath in the whole society allowed me to step into the unknown and become an “independent dancer”. I founded the New Dance Studio in the center of Bratislava (1992 – 95), where I also had a space to create. It was both exciting and frustrating – completely out of the established ruts of cultural awareness at the time. Thanks to these activities, however, I was offered to teach contemporary dance and improvisation at the Academy of Performing Arts when a new field of study was being created.

I am grateful to all the artists and great dancers with whom I have been able to collaborate over three decades for their trust, because it strengthened my conviction that it is worth continuing, so that one day the professional conditions in contemporary dance in Slovakia. I thought we would be there sooner. It is necessary to endure!

The Laban Movement Analysis Certificate Program at the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies LIMS (2007-8) changed my perspective on dance, and my time in New York has pushed me professionally and personally. It was also a major impetus for the creation of the movement and dance platform Laban Atelier Bratislava. 

PROFESSIONAL CV

  • Education and academic achievement:

    2023 academic degree as Professor in Dance Arts at the University of Performing Arts in Bratislava

    2011 academic title of associate professor at the Faculty of Music and Dance of the Academy of Performing Arts

    2008 certificate in Laban Movement Analysis from the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies in New York

    2004 academic title Artis doctor at the Faculty of Music and Dance of the Academy of Performing Arts

    1985 – 1990 studies of dance pedagogy at the Department of Dance Production, Faculty of Music and Dance, Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava

  • Study abroad: training program at the Theatre de la Danse Contemporaine in Paris (1993), ArtsLink Residence in New York City (1996), Fulbright Scholarship in the USA (2007)
  • Cooperation with choreographers: Pauline de Groot (1992), Randy Warshaw (1996), Bill Young (1994, 1996), Willi Dorner (1996)
  • Choreographic work: I have led two artistic groups, a dato (1990-99) and Dajv (2003-2007), for which I have created shorter and full-length works. I have also collaborated with Hubris Company, Studio of Dance Theatre in Banská Bystrica, Jan Palárik Theatre in Trnava, Chamber Theatre in Martin and the drama troupe of the Slovak National Theatre. I have presented my choreographic work in France, Portugal, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Austria, Denmark, Hungary and the Czech Republic. 
  • I have been teaching at the Department of Dance Production at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava since 1995, where in 2015 I initiated the creation of a new curriculum Dance Theatre and Performance aimed at developing the skills required in contemporary performance practice. I have given master classes at universities at National Academy of Dance in Rome (2018, Shanghai Theatre Academy (2014), Dance Department of the Ludwik Solski State Drama School in Krakow (2011), SUNY Geneseo University, USA (2008).
  • I am the author of four publications and dozens of professional articles in Slovak dance and theatre magazines Dance, Salto, KOD.