IN THE MIDDLE OF EVERYTHING

In the Middle of Everything by Vesna Mimica has its thematic footing in Gestalt psychology. In other words, the starting point is the gestalt technique of an empty chair, the uniqueness of which is reflected in the affirmation of the therapy attendants’ experiences as an independent whole, with as little intervention from the therapist as possible, and without the presence of the person with which the attendant has possibly shared the experience laid out in front of the therapist. Gestalt psychology was a challenge: in order to understand it, one has to have their own experience of gestalt therapy. In order to avoid the therapeutic procedures with which only a part of the creative team has had an experience, choreographic, performative and dramaturgical focus shifted to the research of the mechanism which is outlined against the empty chair technique – the mechanism which has been sublimated from that technique, but can be used to create a meaning and a performative context. In this case we are dealing with the mechanism with the same origin, but different results, which respects the performers as separate wholes and interferes with their givens as little as possible. Chairs have been chosen as the common scenic footing, but their importance also arises from generating a different dance vocabulary for each performer; that is, from generating, keeping and separating different performative wholes despite the fact that they share the same scenic objects in the same scenic space.

Choreographer: Vesna Mimica
Dramaturge: Luka Bosanac
Dancing, speaking, performing: Branko Banković (Contemporary Dance Studio), Matija Gašpari ( ADU)
Set and graphic design: Robert Štimec
Lighting design: Marino Frankola
Photography and video: Neven Petrović
Costumes: The House
Music: Random choice / Allure and Lemon
Music editor: Siniša Tvorić ( thank you, Siniša)
Technical support: Duško Richtermoc

Many thanks to professor Danijela Bučević and Nenad and Marko from the National television disc and tape library for their extreme patience
As a part of ZDC non-residential programme, this project has been realized with the support of Zagreb Dance Center, Zagreb City Office for Culture and the Croatian Ministry of Culture and Media