Neényi | Perform Czech

What captures your attention here and now? What captures other spectators, whether adults or children? We are looking forward to sharing a space in which everyone, children and adults alike, are simultaneously equal creators and spectators. Neényi, however, is not just about a shared act of creation between the audience and the artists. Above all, it hopes to restore the social value of mutual care across generations.

Neényi is about being together, kindness, compassion, social justice, collaboration and rest. It seeks to reconnect the world of families with the world of people without children, the world of young children with the world of adults, and – ideally – the world of women with the world of men. Mutual understanding and perception require our integral presence.

“The concept of Neényi […] offers a safe, free space for children and adults alike and even aims to connect participants across generations, to involve everyone without distinction. Age, nationality, gender, identity, and parenthood do not play a role, everyone comes from the same place, and everyone has the same impulses. This project encourages kind cohabitation in a space where it is possible to play, whether you are a child or not.” – Lucie Štádlerová, Taneční aktuality

“It was something absolutely therapeutic. Calm, totally comfortable, soft and nice, that’s how I would describe the performance […] The entrance to the hall was completely magical, a pleasant aroma wafted through the whole space. Live music, dance, movement and lots of sensory elements, beautifully imagined.” – Audience reaction

About the company

OSTRUŽINA is an artistic association focusing on contemporary movement art and creation. Since 2010, the founders of Ostružina have been creating high quality dance works with a focus on young and adult audiences and touring successfully across the Czech Republic, internationally and overseas. Participation is a common denominator in all of our productions. Our creative processes are motivated by an interest in the active sensory, cognitive and creative development of individuals, groups and communities; the audience is in focus from the moment work on a new piece begins. OSTRUŽINA is characterised by interdisciplinarity, an openness to innovative approaches, new formats of presentation and an interest in presenting work in non-traditional theatre spaces.

With a great deal of sensitivity, OSTRUŽINA productions reflect on current issues, such as
quality of life, social cohesion, diversity, equality, integration and access to culture. We aim to create conditions in which an individual can actively and creatively develop their full potential, as well as their relationship to society and the environment. OSTRUŽINA implements innovative practices to encourage the emergence of new patterns of thinking and behaviour in individuals, groups and communities in order to strengthen open, cultivated and socially aware communities. OSTRUŽINA’s productions have no language barrier and are accessible to a wide and multicultural audience.

Lenka Jabůrková studied scenography at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno. Her theatre work was initially associated with HaDivadlo. In regular collaboration with Ivan Buraj, she worked on realistically conceived projects, often with elements of live cinema. The themes of co-authorship, motherhood and inclusion are currently central to her work. In collaboration with Marika Smreková, she develops inclusive and non-hierarchical principles in theatre and public space.

Barbora Látalová graduated from the Duncan Center conservatory in Prague with internships at Hunter College and NYU in New York. Barbora is a dancer, choreographer and teacher, as well as the initiator and co-founder of the art association Ostružina. She has co-managed the Children’s Studio at PONEC – dance venue for many years and is committed to the Dance in Schools project. She is currently also involved in Tanec Praha’s international project Dance Well – research and movement, which is focused primarily, but not exclusively, on people living with Parkinson’s disease.

Anna Línová graduated from the eight-year program at the Bratislava Dance Conservatory, the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava and the Infant Developmental Movement Education major at the Body-Mind Centering® school. As a dancer, she worked primarily with Anka Sedlačková, Aňa Hlaváčová and Ioana M. Popovici. As a dance teacher, she has worked with young children and students at the Duncan Center Conservatory and in higher education, in the Dance and Theatre Faculties at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (HAMU, DAMU) and the Janáček Academy of the Performing Arts in Brno (JAMU). She has also worked with dance teachers, parents and babies. Currently, she is engaged in somatic movement and touch work with adults at the DanceLab studio.

Anna Romanovská studied violin at the Prague Conservatory and violin and music education at the Faculty of Education at Charles University in Prague. She is a permanent member of the Berg Chamber Orchestra and collaborates with Petr Kotík on the Ostrava New Orchestra and New Opera Days Ostrava. In 2009, Anna started studying the koto, a Japanese instrument, which she currently uses primarily in improvisations with Trio Romanovská Tichý Hrubý. Anna teaches violin and music theory at the Jaroslav Ježek Conservatory in Prague and collaborates with the Children’s Studio at PONEC – dance venue.

Marika Smreková studied theatre directing at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno (JAMU), where she is now completing her doctoral studies. She is the founder and curator of the UM UM community festival. Her theatre work pursues participatory art forms to support a non-hierarchical dialogue between artists and spectators, and the majority and minorities. She primarily deals with topics related to equal parenting, feminism, inclusion, non-hierarchy and social-ecological transformation.