INTEGRATION OF THE DISABLED IN THE PROFESSIONAL PERFORMING ARTS

CREATIVE EMPOWERMENT IN THE INTEGRATION OF THE DISABLED IN THE PROFESSIONAL PERFORMING ARTS 

 

This project creates the inclusive platform Spectrum, which is intended to provide an opportunity to create for those people with different disabilities who did not have the opportunity to professionally study performing arts or their integration into professional art is complicated by disability, but they want to create theater, participate in creative theater processes, acquire competences of performing arts creators, to grow as independent performing artists. For the project participants, it is an opportunity to overcome exclusion, and for the artists participating in the project – to discover the possibilities of artistic expression in such situations, where a professionally trained artist usually does not find themselves.

 

This is a project implemented by the Kaunas City Chamber Theater together with Kaunas - European Capital of Culture 2022, involving 10 people with different disabilities in the creative process and cooperation with professionals from the very beginning of the idea creation. and the effect of training on the ability to manage and reduce one's disability. Thanks to careful creative work and individual training, a way to "unlock" speech was discovered for a project participant suffering from cerebral palsy, a girl with memory impairment was observed to be able to remember repeated things, the self-confidence, self-esteem and self-concept of many participants strengthened, the positive emotional effect of creativity on the physical energy of an organism exhausted by disabilities was also observed.
In 2021 the partners of the project were Ulna Dance Company directed by choreographer Indrė Puišytė Šidlauskienė and the Arka community. In 2022 the project was joined by Ukrainian choreographers Inna Falkova and Maria Bakalo.

 

In 2023 we continue the project in cooperation with performing arts company Alternative Stage and VMU theater. The platform will aim to provide people with disabilities with professional theater knowledge, support and develop the gathered community, to expand audiences and community circle.

 

 

STREET PERFORMANCE “PINOKEYS’ MOVEMENT” (2021)

"Pinokeys’ movement" is a route of 7 performances in the city, each stop of which is a different interpretation of the Pinocchio theme. "What is Pinocchio to me?" - this question started the creative process of the performance of each stop. The content of "Pinokeys movement" is exclusively for those people who have limited possibilities of stage resolution. The role of professional artists here is to help discover ways for this content to be heard, seen or touched by the audience. Using different forms of expression - image, movement, dance, word, music - the artists presented a 7-part performance together with positive project participants overcoming complex daily challenges.

 

Author, director, and choreographer - Indrė Puišytė - Šidlauskienė

Composer – Kristijonas Lučinskas

Costume designer – Radvilė Kisieliūtė - Kaikarienė

The author of the masks – Martynas Gaubas

Video artist – Simonas Ginevičius

 

Creators of performances - performers: Jurgis Jarašius, Laura Stadalninkaitė, Rosita Aleksejūnaitė, Lina Laura Švedaitė, Donatas Urbonas, Eduardas Saprykinas, Indrė Puišytė Šidlauskienė, Vytautas Gasiliūnas, ULNA Dance Company, Marijus Tamošiūnas, Andra Kavaliauskaitė, Simonas Kriaučiūnas, Lea Milašauskė, Simonas Ginevičius.

 

See more:

„Sukilimo“ savaitgalį — „Pinokeys judėjimo“ performansas apie visus lygius, bet su skirtingais iššūkiais - Kaunas Pilnas Kultūros

 

 

PERFORMANCE “IS IT EASY?” (2022)
 

Is it easy for you to travel without Google maps? To make connections? Speaking in front of an audience? Or at all, to communicate without words? For some it may seem like a huge challenge, for others it may seem like an inspiration. What is new, unfamiliar and difficult for some, is ordinary and easy for others.

 

The performance "Is it easy for you?" explores the possibilities of each of us to contact another person, to ask for help, to love, to empathize, the need of each of us to feel support, to have a friend, the right of each of us to be angry, to worry, to not understand, to be disappointed. Autobiographical stories of the project participants are here become choreographic etudes of communion, sharing, symbolic rebirth and hope, in which the creations of the participants sound - poetry, storytelling, sung poetry, movement.

 

The movement performance highlighting the differences and (dis)abilities of each of us is created by performers with various (dis)abilities together with professional Lithuanian dancers Ema Senkuviene and Marius Eidrigevičius and choreographers Inna Falkova and Maria Bakalo from Ukraine. This is a project of the Kaunas City Chamber Theater and "Kaunas 2022", which aims to actively involve and encourage the creation of people with disabilities in the performing arts. Performers and co-authors of the movement performance: Ernesta Žemaitytė, Laura Stadalninkaitė, Rosita Aleksejunaitė, Eduardas Saprykinas, Marijus Tamošiūnas, Simonas Kriaučiūnas. See more: Judesio spektaklyje „Ar tau lengva?“ atsiskleis pasaulio trapumas - Kaunas Pilnas Kultūros

 

 

The idea of the film was inspired by the tales about the Beast of Kaunas, created thanks to the Kaunas - European Capital of Culture 2022 initiative. Maksim, who aspires to become a director, is inspired by these tales and creates scenarios in which the legendary, fairy-tale world and reality collide. His short film, created with the help of a team of professionals - this is a new "open" secret of Kaunas Beast. Maksim is already writing the script for the sequel of this film ;)

The author of the idea and script, director-intern is Maksim Golubev, who was assisted by director-mentor and producer Kastytis Miliauskas and producer Ieva Kupstė.
Cinematographers and editing directors: Žygymantas ŽYGAS and Rapolas Jagofarovas, and composer and sound designer - Rytas Populaigis Mornie. The film stars: Alina Česaitytė, Vytautas Gasiliūnas, Maksim Golubev. 

SERPANTINE LABORATORY

The purpose of the inclusive performing arts platform "Serpantino Laboratory" is to implement equal rights for people with disabilities to participate in cultural creation. It is an annual series of events and creative workshops with specialized training programs aimed at the integration of performing arts creators with disabilities into professional performing arts. 

This platform is a legacy of the "Kaunas - European Capital of Culture 2022" program, implemented together with non-governmental organizations, independent Lithuanian and foreign artists, and social workers. A team of artists is invited to implement the program, which researches and looks for new possibilities and methods of integrating people with disabilities into professional performing arts and working with them, so the platform also functions as a laboratory.