Airida Gudaitė is a dancer, choreographer, and educator who has been consistently forging her own path in the art of dance for more than three decades and shaping educational practices for nearly two decades. She took her first steps in dance at the age of six at the School of Choreography in her hometown of Rokiškis. Airida continued her academic studies at Vilnius University of Education, earning a bachelor’s degree in dance education and a master’s degree in theater and dance education in 2010, thereby establishing her creative and pedagogical calling in the academic sphere. Since 2023, Airida has been deepening her academic research as a doctoral student in the arts at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater (LMTA), focusing her research on the transformation of hip-hop dance in urban social and posthumanist contexts.
Throughout her creative career continuing more than three decades, Airida Gudaitė has consistently explored the transformations of hip-hop and their interplay with contemporary dance forms, expanding the possibilities of the language of movement and the relationship with space. In her work, dance is understood not only as a technique but also as a living language—a dialogue between the body and the city. Working as an artist, curator, and educator, Airida combines her international experience with the needs of local dancers, creating new artistic practices and fostering both the dancers’ technical mastery and their awareness.
In 2012, after co-founding Low Air—Lithuania’s first urban dance theater—with Laurynas Žakevičius, Airida became the first artist to officially teach street dance at institutions of higher education. Her academic and creative work extends beyond teaching movement techniques; it shapes new generations’ perspectives on dance as a social, creative, and transformative phenomenon.
THREE KEY EVENTS:
– In 1991, I took my first lessons in Lithuanian folk, classical, character, historical, entertainment, and contemporary dance at a seven-year choreography school in my hometown of Rokiškis.
– In 2011, winning the Arts Printing House “Open Space” program with our first urban dance performance, “Feel-Link.” This was the first attempt to present street dance on a theater stage. In 2021, the performance reached its 100th showing.
– In 2012, together with Laurynas Žakevičius, we founded Low Air Dance Theater and School, the first independent arts organization in Lithuania based on urban dance. Driven by a passion for fostering creative processes, mentoring young dancers, and cultivating a new audience in Lithuania, the school and theater have expanded dancers professional opportunities and broadened the perspective on art. In 2017, Low Air was granted the status of the Vilnius City Dance Theater and School.
