Aretas Piaseckas is a contact improvisation teacher and contemporary dance performer. Dance entered Aretas’s life in 2016, when he began attending popping classes — a street dance style — where he learned the nuances of this unique dance technique and body control. Around the same time, he began attending the “Experimental” classes taught by Kamile Karpalovaite-Kamilla. In these classes, he discovered a freer way of moving within himself, and most importantly, Aretas was introduced to movement while maintaining constant physical contact with a partner or group — Contact Improvisation.
In 2021, Aretas decided to enroll in the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (LMTA), specializing in contemporary dance. This plunged him into entirely new experiences; tried himself both in dance performance and in choreography, and gained a wealth of diverse knowledge, including contact improvisation lectures at the academy led by Giedre Kirkile, where Aretas learned the fundamentals of this dance practice, had the opportunity to hone his skills, and experiment.
During his studies, together with Sandra Konovalova, he created the contemporary dance piece “Desert”, in which the dancers drew heavily on the principles of contact improvisation.
He participated in various contact improvisation and partnering workshops, learning from Aistė Jančiūtė, Giedre Kirkile, Nica Andrea Portavia, Benno Voorham, Katja Mustonen, Marion Sparber, and Alan Fuentes Guerra.
During his studies in 2022–2023, he participated in various dance and creative workshops in Finland and Estonia.
During his studies from 2021 to 2025, he participated in various dance performances:
“Wreck – list of extinct species” (choreographed by Pietro Marullo);
“Druska” (choreographed by Aira Naginevičiūtė);
“Nail salon next to the graveyard” (choreographed by Elina Pirinen);
“Rave of Riot” (choreographed by Agnietė Lisičkinaitė).
In 2024, together with Sandra Konovalova, he led a contact improvisation workshop at the international dance event “CN D” in France.
In 2025, he taught contact improvisation classes to the advanced “Grow Air” group at the Low Air dance school and created a short performance for International Dance Day in the Šnipiškės district.
THREE KEY EVENTS:
– Studies in dance and related pedagogy at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater.
– A desire to provide teenagers with a safe space to connect with their peers.
– A passion for creating, experimenting, and sharing with others.
