The Lion`s Den

The Lions’s Den started as performative research into media, political populism and their manipulative powers. Two performers become the embodiment of physical and visual images inspired by the media space. In an unceasing duet, they – along with the audience – fall into a symbolic lion’s den, opening an abyss of uncertainty.

In their new piece, Sabina Bocková and Johana Pocková walk a fine line between entertainment and perversity. Moving from manipulating the audience to self-manipulation, they oscillate between the roles of leader and victim. With unusual lightness and openness of meaning, they pass through well-known figures and socio-cultural references, opening space for interpretation, critical thinking and the audience’s own positioning.

The Lions’s Den is an electrifying performance with high intensity and a strong emotional charge. Accompanied by vivid, live music, the resulting atmosphere is used – and sometimes abused – to build a sense of powerful, emotional pressure. 

Audience: adult, children 11+

About the company

POCKETART z.s. is an association of choreographers and performers in the fields of contemporary dance and physical theatre. Over the last three years, they have created four full-length performances, which have been presented at the Ponec – the Dance Venue, Palace Akropolis, Venuse ve Švehlovce, Studio Alta, and regional theatres in the Czech Republic and abroad. An emphasis on current societal engagement is a defining feature of their work. Their productions Treatment of Remembering, The Lions’s Den, On the Scales! and Full Stores of Emotions are inspired by topics such as the environmental crisis, media manipulation and populism, stress in a competitive environment and intergenerational perspectives on femininity.

Johana Pocková (*1992) is a Prague-based choreographer and dancer working in contemporary dance, physical theatre and the performing arts. In 2019, she founded the company POCKetART z.s. As a performer, Pocková collaborates with Tantehorse, Cirk La Putyka, tYhle, Miřenka Čechová, Jana Stárková and other independent Czech artists. She studied at the Duncan Centre Conservatory in Prague and at SEAD (Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance) and benefited from a scholarship to attend the Peridance Capezio Centre and Limon Institute in New York. Following her studies, she received the 2017 Jarmila Jerabková Award for her choreography MURDER! A Little Comics History at the New Europe choreographic competition. In 2020, she received the first prize of the Czech organization Dance News.

In her creative practice, Pocková searches for a lyrical and poetic dance language that draws on absurdity and irony to address current social topics. She is also interested in combining dance with other art forms, such as classical singing, acting and visual art. Her work includes the dance pieces: Why Not Now?, Spectrum, On the Scales! and Turned Away Faces II. She also created Full Store of Emotions, a piece that brings together a 90-year-old grandmother and an 8-year-old girl who perform with four professional dancers. This project is currently being adapted into a dance film titled Folds of Touch.

In 2019, she created the duet The Lions’s Den with Sabina Bocková, which was selected for the 2020 Czech Dance Platform and Aerowaves21. Her newest production, Treatment of Remembering, co-created with Inga Zotova-Mikshina and Sabina Bočková, deals with environmental pollution and was selected for the 2021 Czech Dance Platform. 

Sabina Bocková (*1995) is a dancer and choreographer based in Prague (Czech Republic). She studied classical and modern dance and, after dancing in ballet companies for three years, she decided to work as a freelance artist. In 2019, she created the duet The Lions’s Den in collaboration with Johana Pocková, which was selected for the 26th edition of the Czech Dance Platform and Aerowaves21. This work was inspired by mass media and political populism. The same year, she created another duet in collaboration with Slovak performer Tomas Janypka: songlines: expedition 97/18, a piece that delves into the loss of a close one. In 2020, she created Treatment of Remembering with Johana Pocková and Inga Zotova-Mikshina. This full-length work tackles environmental pollution and was selected for the 27th edition of the Czech Dance Platform. She is a member of the POCKETART collective with which she produces her own projects. Alongside her own work, she has collaborated for a long time as a performer with the Tantehorse company, the company tYhle led by choreographer Marie Gourdain and most recently with Cirk La Putyka. Fascinated by simple and obvious body language, she transforms movement through choreographic structures while at the same time addressing topics and themes that echo social and cultural issues.

The Lion’s Den trailer/Jáma lvová trailer