This afternoon was the colour of water falling through sunlight;
The trees glittered with the tumbling of leaves;
The sidewalks shone like alleys of dropped maple leaves,
And the houses ran along them laughing out of square, open windows.
Under a tree in the park,
Two little boys, lying flat on their faces,
Were carefully gathering red berries
To put in a pasteboard box.
Some day there will be no war,
Then I shall take out this afternoon
And turn it in my fingers,’
And remark the sweet taste of it upon my palate,’
And note the crisp variety of its flights of leaves.
Today I can only gather it
And put it into my lunch-box,
For I have time for nothing
But the endeavour to balance myself
Upon a broken world.
Amy Lowell: “September, 1918”
Aldina Michelle Topcagic is a contemporary dance artist, choreographer, producer and the founder of Art Alive. Born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, she has been based in Austria since 2007, when she relocated to study at the Karl-Franzens University in Graz. She has trained under international choreographers including Isael Cruz Mata Rojas, Liz King, and Robert Pool. From 2004 until 2007, she toured internationally as a company member and soloist with the company of Dijana Jajcevic, which received the World Award in Modern Ballet. In the 2011/2012 season, she performed at the opera house in Graz and the Schauspielhaus. As a freelance artist, Aldina has danced with international choreographers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, France, Finland, Belgium and Cuba. In 2016/2017, she was part of the production La Rondine under the direction of Rolando Villazon at the Opera Graz. Her performance Timeless in Space premiered in March 2016 at the Universalmuseum Joanneum Kunsthaus Graz and is currently touring internationally to venues including the Royal Museum of Fine Arts of Belgium, Artlemo Galerie Berlin, Musiikkitalo – Helsinki Music Center, and Fabrica de Arte Cubano in Havana, Cuba. She has created and produced the following international dance productions: Timeless in Space, Zeitlos, Voice of the Silence, Crossing Arts, Inroots, Living Sculpture and Transition. Through the interaction of spirituality and physicality, her multi-disciplinary work is marked by profundity and a focus on personality. In 2017/2018 she is performing at the Opera Graz in the production Ragtime. In May 2017 she was named Artist of the Month by the Österreichisches Kulturforum Brüssel in Belgium.
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