Bodies in dialogue

BODIES IN DIALOGUE

Two performances. Two stages. One conversation.

27 August, 7:00 PM
Kaunas City Chamber Theatre

What does the body remember when words run out?

Fear changes the way we breathe. Loss changes the way we move. Loneliness increases the distance between people, while trust allows us to bridge it. Personal and collective histories do not remain outside the body — they become embedded in its posture, gestures, and reactions.

Over the course of one evening, the UA Contemporary Dance Platform will present two works by Ukrainian choreographers in Kaunas:

“A Story of a Body” by Viktoria Khoroshylova

and

“2-1=4.5.0” by Krystyna Shyshkariova.

Together, the two performances form a stage dialogue about the body as a space of freedom, intimacy, loss, and resistance.

The first work explores the possibility of contact — with oneself, with another person, and with one’s own reactions. The second reveals how war enters everyday life, severs familiar bonds, and forces a person to rebuild themselves.

The audience will move from one stage of the theatre to another — from the intimate story of an individual to an experience shaped by a shared historical catastrophe.

“A STORY OF A BODY”

Created and performed by Viktoria Khoroshylova

The body never exists separately from the world. It holds on to lived experience, responds to others, absorbs its surroundings, and transforms the space around it.

“A Story of A Body” is an invitation to encounter oneself, another person, and the reactions we often fail to notice.

Movement, sound, and bodily positions do not form a fixed language here. Instead, they become points of departure from which a new experience may begin.

The work draws on the practices of American choreographer Deborah Hay and the concept of the “body without organs,” introduced by Antonin Artaud and later developed by Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari.

Music and sound design: Vitalii Fesenko, The Cooking Potatoes, Rayo
Scenography: Oleksandr Lohinov
The scenography incorporates a kinetic sculpture by Vasyl Dmytryk.
Duration: 35 minutes

“2-1=4.5.0”

Choreographer: Krystyna Shyshkariova
Created by Julia Gonchar and Krystyna Shyshkariova

What remains when one is subtracted from two?

In the title of the performance, a mathematical operation becomes a formula of loss.

2-1 is the loneliness and emptiness left by the disappearance of someone close.

4.5.0 is a military code meaning “all is calm.”

Yet behind this outward calm, there may be a space in which nothing is calm anymore.

“2-1=4.5.0” explores the psychological and social transformations experienced by women during wartime. It is a work about trauma, resilience, adaptation, and the painful process of forming a new version of oneself.

Physical theatre and electronic music create a fragmented stage world in which direct statements give way to images, sounds, and bodily states.

Here, war does not remain an event outside the stage. It enters the human being and changes how a person moves, feels, and stays connected to others.

The performance was created in collaboration between the Theater of Playwrights and Schaubühne Lindenfels.

“Bodies in Dialogue” is an evening about a body that remembers more than words can express. About the body as personal territory — and as a place where history leaves its traces.

The two performances will be presented as a single programme across two stages of the theatre. A conversation with the artists will follow the performances.

 The event is organised to mark the 35th anniversary of Ukraine’s Independence by the UA Contemporary Dance Platform