Lustopia (2024)

“Lustopia” is a dance performance that connects different generations and bodies, an international co-production of Vilnius City Dance Theatre “Low Air” and Silke Z. / troupe “Die Metabolisten” (Germany).

Contemporary dance choreographer Silke Z. and “Low Air” founders and choreographers Airida Gudaitė and Laurynas Žakevičius, together with dancers, explored the perception of one’s own body, its limits and boundaries, acceptable and unacceptable body parts, movement, and utopian attitudes created by societal stereotypes, what different bodies can and cannot do. They were driven by the desire to (re)find a connection between two different cultures, six different bodies, and personalities rich in experience.

Can the theme of lust and pleasure be related to such characteristics as age, gender, body or disability? Does the differentiation of our gender, age or (in)abilities cause shame and insecurity that hinder our desires?

Lustopia playfully maneuvers between everyday pleasure, obscenity, body shaming and body positivity, consciously questioning social norms and existing taboos. The plot of the performance follows the utopia of the fusion of bodies, searching for the much-desired freedom and exploring its limits in the context of dance.

Lustopia is a multi-layered work for which one definition, one theme, one experience will not be enough. The audience is invited to a dance experience that inspires a celebration of human differences and the utopia of a common body.

Information

Premiere: 2024

Duration: 65′

Concept author: Silke Z.

Choreographers: Silke Z., Laurynas Žakevičius, Airida Gudaitė

Dancers: Caroline Simon, Hanna Held, David Winking, Grėtė Vosyliūtė, Dmitrijus Andrušanecas, Darius Strankevičius

Light designer and scenographer: Garlef Kessler

Music and sound: Liam Giles, Laurynas Žakevičius

Costume designer: Melina Jusczyk

Manager: Hanna Held

Organiser: Rica Hellige

Asistant: Franziska Nagel

The creation and distribution of the performance was partly financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and the Vilnius City Municipality.

Also by the NRW Landesbüro Freie Darstellende Künste, Kulturamt der Stadt Köln, Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft in Nordrhein-Westfalen, Das nrw landesbuero tanz e. V. The partners of the dance performance are the mental health arts festival “Ryšiai” and the “Žvelk giliau” initiative of the mental health ambassadors.

The organizer of the mental health ambassadors project is the Institute of Hygiene. The source of funding is the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Lithuania.

Tours

Bonn, Tanzgenerator Bonn, Germany, 2024
Vilnius international theatre festival “Sirenos”, Vilnius, 2024

See us live – upcoming performances

2025 09 09

Menų spaustuvė • Šiltadaržio g. 6, Vilnius • Lietuva

2025 09 20

Menų spaustuvė • Šiltadaržio g. 6, Vilnius • Lietuva

Awards and nominations

Spectators award in the Vilnius International Theatre Festival "Sirenos", 2024

Reviews

“The description of the performance talks about the categories of desire and pleasure, as if they were the most important here. However, while watching the performance, many more thoughts arise about the legalization of bodies, the possibility for bodies to be themselves and to occupy a place in this world that is meant for them. Not smaller, not larger, in other words, not distorted, but exactly the one that we can occupy. The place of a heavy body. The place of a body marked by time or illness. The place of a body that is safely and pleasantly touched or filled with anxiety. One mise-en-scène of the performance LUSTOPIA stuck, in which the bodies gather in one group, and their upper parts are covered by paintings. So the audience can only see the bottom – from the stomach down, down from the back. There are only dancing, walking, stretching legs and simultaneously moving pelvises. Thighs and their stories. Here the performance strips the faces and personalities from the bodies and leaves the audience to be with impersonal fragments of bodies. It is very interesting, "That such a fragmented body image fails to garner any appreciation. Pure legs, nothing more, very beautiful."

Dovilė Zavedskaitė, 7md, 2024-11-08

“The collaboration between Vilnius LOW AIR choreographers Laurynas Žakevičius and Airida Gudaitė and Cologne (Germany) "resistdance" Silke Z. – the contemporary dance performance “Lustopia” – brought together a group of performers of different generations and abilities. Starting on an open stage, the performance invited the audience to move and explore the space and life-sized boxes, literally putting their hands into them through openings covered with material. This situation was somewhat reminiscent of the legendary VALIE EXPORT film “Tap and Touch Cinema” from the late 1960s (although the touches offered in the performance were much more restrained). Some of the boxes, on the sides of which various leather textures were depicted in close-up, soon found themselves on the walls of the theater hall from the center of the stage, skillfully creating a situation where the audience becomes part of a larger communal body and figuratively gets under the skin. We were particularly impressed by the duets performed, and enjoyed watching the collaboration and communion that unfolded between different performers. The multilingual approach to music and lyrics is commendable. While the fundamental question of what approaches to dance are best suited to people of different physical characteristics and abilities remains largely unanswered, Lustopia has given us food for thought on the inclusivity and accessibility of contemporary performing arts.”

Sirenos, 2024-10-15

“A natural somatic reaction to excessive excitement or fear is trembling. Animal behavior studies show that trembling protects them from psychological and physical damage after a frightening experience. It seems that in the dance performance “Lustopia” by Laurynas Žakevičius, Airida Gudaitė and Silke Z., bodies of different generations, genders, nationalities and abilities have finally found a space not only to cause themselves a frightening experience by opening up and exposing themselves, but also to take care of themselves by shaking off at least some of the generated stress. “Lustopia” is probably not a revolution, but at least a dance performance that brought a sense of common humanity, showing that in one way or another we all crave a donut with chocolate glaze.”

Ugnė Sasnauskaitė, Bernardinai.lt, 2024-11-02

“I had to think a lot about contexts and time in the premiere of Laurynas Žakevičius and Airida Gudaitė / “Low Air” and Silke Z. / “Die Metabolisten” in “Lustopia”. Here, six dancers of different ages and physical data – Caroline Simon, Hanna Held, David Winking, Grėtė Vosyliūtė, Dmitrijus Andrušanecas and Darius Stankevičius – created, according to the authors, a utopia of fusion. One of the main emerging themes in it is desire. Are we able to desire a “different” body? But… do we have to desire everyone? The audience who comes to the hall is greeted by the liberated space of the Black Hall of the “Arts Printing House”. Here are three cubes made of walls of photographs of body parts, into which, as in an immersive exhibition, you can insert your hand through the cavities. Although you don’t expect anything at first, you are not surprised when you touch the skin, after all, we have gathered to talk, think, see, and so – why not – touch the body. Our touch is controlled by the dancers, you avoid the feeling of discomfort - it seems like you're just saying hello."

Sigita Ivaškaitė, Menų faktūra, 2024-10-01

"Low Air latest performance, Lustopia, is a beautiful postcard against social, gender, body type and age inequality. This becomes apparent as soon as the performance begins, when six different dancers appear on stage: two young and middle-aged women, a larger-bodied, older man and a man with Down syndrome. They emerge from cubes constructed from four connected photo canvases, depicting close-up patches of uneven human skin."

Greta Vilnelė, 7md, 2024-10-11

“Lust prevails these days. The desire for life, the desire for another person, no matter who they are. The lightning bolt that pierces the soul when you look into the eyes of another person, the obvious desire for something that evokes in you more than a simple, already happy feeling of soul kinship. It was necessary to answer whether desire is “linked to certain characteristics, such as age, gender, body or disability”. Yes, whether “the shame and insecurity caused by gender assignment, age or disability” would interfere with the utopia of desire.”

Michael S. Zerban, O – Ton, 2023-10-28

Photos made by: Sophia Ebner