SLAVONIA VERTICAL TRAINING CENTER (SVTC)
In July 2021, Marija Šćekić – Histeria Nova initiated the start of negotiations to launch a pilot
project called "Slavonija Vertical Training Center" with the aim of decentralizing vertical dance
art in the Republic of Croatia. Supported by international funds and the funds of the Ministry of
Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, the collaboration between Marija Šćekić and her
foreign partners from Canada and Great Britain was carried out over a period of three full years
when foreign guests came to the City of Đakovo to look at the potential conditions for establishing
the first year-round program of vertical practice and somatic learning in the country.
During the official presentation of the author's idea on Dance Day, April 29, 2023, due to the
technical-organizational conditions and the easier implementation of year-round training and
artistic-educational programs, the doors of the Slavonija VTC project are opened to other places,
cities and interesting locations in Slavonia and Baranja.
Author and Artistic director: Marija Šćekić
HISTORY OF THE IDEA
It can no longer be said that vertical dance is a new art form; his modern trajectory stretches back
almost 50 years of contemporary dance choreography and presentation. Although vertical dancing is
still not well known, today there are places scattered all over the world where artists have
established communities dedicated to this practice.
For two decades, Histeria Nova has been implementing programs of decentralization of contemporary
dance throughout the country. During the first decade of work in the Republic of Croatia (2000 -
2010), we introduced interior dance techniques and the importance of bringing somatic approach body
movement, anatomy and biomechanics of human movement into the primary school education. We followed
a similar pioneering path during the second decade of work (2011-2021), introducing and promoting
the importance of the emergence of vertical dance movement as a completely new artistic practice in
the world. We invested enormous personal, human and material efforts in order to promote the aspect
of the safety of dancers and buildings as the most important factor of this art form in new
territories of the Republic of Croatia. Gradually, we formed several such safe locations around the
country.
The first workshop of the Summer School of Vertical Dance and Somatic Learning was held in Paklenica
National Park within the framework of the Gates of Velebit project, after which an extremely
large
number of interested audiences were observed.
In 2015, Histeria Nova became a full partner of
Vertical Dance Forum originally created
on Retouramont company’s
initiative as a network of 7 vertical dance companies with various and complementary backgrounds
working in Europe and Canada.composed of vertical dance experts. This was the beginning of close
collaboration between members of Histeria Nova- Aeriosa Dance-Yskynna team of artists without whom,
the further development of vertical dance in Croatia would not have happened. Over the past two
years, there has been a great interest in vertical dance among younger generations (children,
pupils, students). The members of the HGSS (Zadar, Ogulin, Osijek) assumed and shared responsibility
for safety and protection, and the participants quickly moved from the national to the international
level. The project soon gained an international reputation and further engaged many cooperations on
projects co-financed by European funds promoting historical, cultural and natural heritage of the
Republic of Croatia such as Alka – the dance of
freedom in the City of Sinj.
In collaboration with our Safety expert, Colin Zacharias (Aeriosa Dance Society), the first free of
charge Safety and Risk Management Daily plan for dancers, riggers, height workers, insurers and
future vertical dance practicioners was published to educate artists, prevent them from injuries and
to protect buildings during negotiation and communication procedures between artists and
stakeholders.
PROGRAM
Download SVTC program April 2023 New Horizons and poster.
