Sendi Bakotić

Rijeka, Croatia

Sendi Bakotić is a versatile performer and theater maker with special interest in non-verbal, improvisational, activist, community and devised theater practices. She has performed as actor and dancer in numerous productions of Croatian National Theater “Ivan Zajc” (Rijeka), Ulysses Theater (Zagreb and Brioni Islands), Istrian National Theater (Pula), Dance Group Flame (Rijeka), KUD Transformator (Ljubljana) and others.

She is currently in the process of co-founding the artistic organization Igralke that will, while establishing an eco-feminist organizational structure and production frame, focus on socially engaged contemporary theater. Igralke Collective has already produced their first authorial play “Plastic Fantastic” – SF theatre cartoon, an interactive children’s performance/workshop that inspires creative means of reusing plastic waste. Their next project, satirical documentary play “Grandmas”, is in pre-production and should premiere in 2020. Igralke also stand behind Young Actors to the City of Rijeka festival.

Sendi holds a BA in Acting and Media (class of Rade Šerbedžija and Lenka Udovički) from Academy of Applied Arts (University of Rijeka), as well as MA in Comparative Literature and Russian Philology (University of Zagreb and Saint Petersburg State University). She is happy to work at times also as an announcer, performing arts critic, drama pedagogue and children’s animator. Sometimes she feels as a video maker as well (Footnote to Holy), loves being a film festival program selector (STIFF Rijeka), and strongly believes that human contact through (performing) arts is the forse that can transform the world for the better.

Andrea Crnković

Rijeka, Croatia

Andrea Crnković is a theatre director, performer and author from Rijeka (CRO) and currently works as artistic director of ArtTheatre BOUM!, the artistic organization she co-founded in 2017. She investigates interdisciplinary approach to theatre intertwining it with film/video, visual and digital arts, music and architecture.  Her work deals with alienation, non-places, absurd and perception of a contemporary spectator where form and content mutually identify.

Andrea worked as graduate and teaching assistant at Department of Theatre arts at Towson University (MD, USA), and with theatre company The PuppeTree (VT, USA) as performer and director. In Rijeka she was teaching Acting and performance class at the NGO for performing arts Prostor Plus, where she still serves as a board member. Andrea worked on a number of projects as author, director, actor and designer in United States and Europe, where she also participated in various festivals and manifestations, collaborated with theatre companies and institutions. She is author and co-author of several video installations exhibited in US, Croatia, Slovenia and Germany.

Andrea holds an MFA in Theatre from Towson University, an MA in Architecture from IUAV and has completed a school for professional acting training VeneziaInScena (Accademia Teatrale Veneta) in Italy.

Maja Kalafatić

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Maja Kalafatić (1984, Celje) is a dancer, choreographer, pedagogue and yoga teacher who lives and works between Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Belgrade (Serbia). In 2006, she graduated from Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance and in 2015 received her MA in Hochschule für Musik und Tanz, Köln: HfMT in the field of dance dissemination. Currently, she is PhD student at FMK (Faculty of Media and Communications in Belgrade) of Transdisciplinary Arts and Media. Her PhD research is questioning the concept of skill in performing arts.

Her practice combines theoretical and practical grounds and includes movement research, choreographing, facilitating workshops (contemporary dance, somatic practice, social choreography, activism, yoga) as well consist of reading and writing about dance.

Maja Kovač

Zagreb, Croatia

Maja Kovač is independent artist, working as an actress, contemporary dancer and drama teacher in Zagreb, Croatia. Last 19 years she’s performing in drama and dancing productions in Croatian professional and independent theatres where she shaped and create more than 40 roles. In her artistic work she used both movement and speech as equals in order to make her inner organic happening, which is invisible in their essence, visible via performing on stage. During this years she’s educating herself in other artistic fields like mime, clowning, film directing and vertical dance.

Iva Korbar

Zagreb, Croatia

Art theory, writing, linguistics and theatrology were mine tools of getting to know the performing discourses which led me into performing arts and brought me to my concept of theatre as conglomerate of knowledge, sub-knowledge and expression which I named Kazalište Nezamislivog (eng. Theatre of Inconceivable, Ti).

I am a researcher of perception possibilities. My theatre practice is based on physical theatre practices and on learning, experiencing and teaching how to embrace and tune into performing space, people watching, nature giving, the scene existing. Creating within the Ti means aiming to perform as a whole, in a total existence, using everything that is capable to enter a certain performance. This theatre operates at the edges of perception using techniques for expanding consciousness.

By carring a profound experience that nature always plays along in a site-specific way, I mostly create site-specific one-act monoplays in nature or tend to create interactive shows at locations with particular collective memory of the space. When creating a show I am interested in understanding the awareness of the (performing) space and observing its memories as a part of a wider landscape and its influences on our lives.

My work is based on joy, playfulness, broaden communication with nature, space, perception powers, body, audience and on the Inconceivable.

Nika Korenjak

Ljubljana, Slovenia

Nika Korenjak was born in Slovenia, in 1993. She finished her BA studies at Philosophical faculty of humanistic in Ljubljana of comparative literature. Now, she is studying dramaturgy and performance at Academy of dramatic arts in Zagreb. She was working as a performer in theatre Glej in Ljubljana with Slovenian directress Brina Klampfer and American director Eric D. Scott. In 2018 she performed in performance piece called An oral monument, based on work of artist Igor Grubić in production of Queer Zagreb Domino, directed by Anica Tomić and Jelena Kovačić. In 2018 she performed in performance piece of Loreta Vaskova in Vilnius, Lithuania in the production of LMTA (Lietuvos muzikos ir tetro akademija). She co directed and wrote a performance piece inspired by Roland Barthes: A Lovers discourse at festival KrADU (production of ADU Zagreb) and they were the winners of the festival. She performed as a dancer at the Bienale of Music in Zagreb as a part of opening performance in the theatre Knap, called Tenzije (director Kristina Grubiša). She performed in a group performance in 2019 in Stara Elektrarna in Ljubljana Without filter with Slovenian performance artist and actors. The performance developed in after the workshop with Sofia Rodrigez. She presented Croatian student delegation in Prazske Quadriennalle 2019 with the video performance installation Visible/Invisible: (un)veiling the mythology and made live performance for first two day in the quadriennalle at the Croatian part of the student pavilion.

Frane Meden

Pula, Croatia

My theater education is grounded in physical theater. As I discovered corporal mime it took my attention and focus. I started to build myself up in it and attend workshops with international artists mostly in France.

After I enrolled in Lecoq theater school, mask work and devised theater were my creative interests. Today my focus is on clown and performance authenticity.

My work is based on mime, developing movement for modern pantomime and clowning. Through admiration of great silent actors and their work my effort goes on developing small actions/acts into thoroughly explored stories and possibilities. Moving with different angles and emotions, points of view, searching for many ways to say the story until it becomes a new one, better one or just feels stage excellent.

Experience in teaching theater gave me different perspectives for developing artistic thinking and creating. Playing with others creativity for me is a fun part of making theater and molding shared ideas in real space and time.

I’m interested in every artistic aspect that can connect and translate body movement, emotion, shape and rhythm into sharp, defined and methodical manner.

Uroš Mladenović

Novi Sad, Serbia

Uroš Mladenović is an actor and youth worker. He finished the Academy of Arts and he is enrolled in doctoral studies in dramatic and audiovisual arts (Novi Sad). He performs at the Serbian National theater Novi Sad, Bitef theater Belgrade, and various independent productions.

Uroš finished university course “Leadership and Development Youth Work” at Jönköping University (Sweden), implemented by Center for Youth Work.

Since 2014, he is leading Teleport theater and drama school, dealing with youth artistic education. He is a member of the Association Kulturanova (Novi Sad), as the artistic director and actor/artist. As a drama pedagogue, he is using methodology of documentary theatre for creating youth dialog on social topics (nationalism, loneliness, diversity, alcoholism, forgiveness etc.), especially in small areas, ending with public performances.

Selected non-formal education:

Comedia del arte, Summer production school, Dramatheraphy, Artistic intervention at organizations, Social Inclusion Through Applied Drama, Summer school of art and activism, Devised theatre, Master class by Zijah Sokolović, Narractive method etc.

Current international art projects:

– Language reversal, by Arron Landsman, LaMama experimental theatre (USA)

–  Ab project, by David Glass, Serbian national theatre

– Port of dreamers, exploring narratives, memories, and places of migrations by creating artistic projects. Dubrovnik summer festival (Croatia), Slovenian national theater Maribor (Slovenia) – as artistic coordinator/actor.

– Play Mobile, encouraging cultural participation in micro-regions of Europe. Pro Progressionе  (Hungary), Di Mini Teatro, (France), Magma (Romania), Meetlab (Hungary) – Workshop leader/theatre director.

His hobbies are orienteering, cycling and traveling.

Kristina Paunovski

Rijeka, Croatia

Kristina Paunovski is movement artist and artistic director of K2K dance center in Rijeka, she works as choreographer, teacher and performer.  She attended Academy of Dance in Amsterdam, AHK – Amsterdam School of the Arts (2010-2011) – docent danse department and has finished Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management in Opatija, Croatia.

Since autumn 2012 she continues her work as a dancer, choreographer and teacher in Rijeka. Her passion for teaching is followed by establishment of K2K Dance Center in autumn 2013 which she is a co-owner of. Within K2K center, she is continuously engaged in organisation of different events, workshops and creative projects. 2015./2016. she is hired as a dancer and performs in China.

2018/2019. Kristina launches the ARTissue platform through which she explores contemporary movement and visual arts. Paunovski founded this platform to create intermedial approach to choreography, audio and visual content. In June 2019. she  worked on live “Body Exhibition”, “Photo exhibition” and show piece where she united all of this ARTissue ideas.

Miljena Vučković

Novi Sad, Serbia

Miljena Vučković is Stage & Production Designer | Location Scout | Spatial Designer | Entertainment Industry Professional.

She comes from Novi Sad, Serbia, where she gained M.Arch diploma. Main interest and topic of her work is space and its performative qualities, which she explores through theoretical studies, various activities, spatial interventions & installations, and set creation. She gained significant professional experience working on projects various in style and scale – theatre plays, performances, movies, commercial events, festivals, music videos, etc.

Miljena serves as vice-­president in “Scenatoria” – Organisation that promotes built heritage, its potential and protection through staging performative arts in abandoned and neglected heritage objects & locations, and educates about it through organized walks, publications, workshops, etc.

She held lessons and workshops about space, ambiente theatre, cultural and built heritage as stage, activation and protection of heritage & old urban fabric, urban events on various professional occasions, including conferences, seminars and other. Miljena is also co- and author of different texts and publications about site-specific theatre, architectural & cultural heritage. She participated in Berlinale Talents, Prague Quadrennial 2015 and 2019, and is one researcher in “Case Petrovaradin – Managing Historic Urban Landscapes” for Europa Nostra Serbia.

She considers continuous education crucial for professional development.