“The POGO DOLLS” is a performance that finds its choreographic and dramaturgical solutions in punk culture. The creation process leaned on the punk environment, particularly its spatial elements, drawing inspiration from the distinctive components of punk concerts: the circle as the epicenter of energy, the mosh pit as a defined space, and the clear procedures inherent in every punk show, including pogoing, the shifting positions of performers and audience, and the chaos. The performers sourced material from their own stories, recalling their first concerts, including bodily sensations, euphoria, disorientation, and the feeling of a crowd that dictates movement possibilities, from which they extracted procedures and translated them into dance material. The starting point for creating the material was character masks, forming the backbone of the entire performance. By naming the performance after a band and using the concert environment, an equivalence is established between a contemporary dance collective and a band, capturing a broader audience beyond the usual enclave of dance creators and followers. The working conditions mirror those faced by bands – an outside-the-institution approach, the need to record albums to be heard, and the necessity of being called a band to attract an audience. Without concerts, new albums, and songs, there’s no new audience, and interest in the band, album, or in this case, the performance, dwindles dramatically. There’s a growing trend for dance to occupy new, alternative, or even inadequate spaces. In Croatia and the region, this need arises from a lack of infrastructure and the fact that traditional theater spaces haven’t captivated young people as places for meeting and exchanging ideas that resonate with the current socio-economic context.
Dance is not dead, The Pogo Dolls are here!
Creative Team: Šimun Stankov, Espi Tomičić, Boris Barukčić
Collaborators: Una Štalcar-Furač, Eva Kocić, Ema Kani, Gendis Putri Kartini, Margareta Firinger
Set Design, Costume Design, Poster Design: Ivana Stećuk
Music: Sara Renar, Dimitrije Simović
Co-production: Udruga Domino, UO Škvadra, Centar mladih Ribnjak
Collaborators: Una Štalcar-Furač, Eva Kocić, Ema Kani, Gendis Putri Kartini, Margareta Firinger
Set Design, Costume Design, Poster Design: Ivana Stećuk
Music: Sara Renar, Dimitrije Simović
Co-production: Udruga Domino, UO Škvadra, Centar mladih Ribnjak
