TORNADO

The performance will bring together a large number of performers who will turn the tornado into an unprecedented power.

The tornado, as a natural phenomenon, is a metaphor for a devastating, inevitable movement. Tornado enchants with its power, strength and omnipotence, fascinates, hypnotizes, dominates and absorbs. Tornado subjects everything to a unifying movement.

The idea of the performance “Tornado” is to initiate artistic synergy by combining different artistic practices in one process around contemporary dance. The creators reveal:

“By reconstructing the tornado as an artistic process, we hope to experience kinesthetic shifts, sensory transformations, and perceptual transformations in dance. At the epicenter of this process we expect to see the formation of a whole from fragments and elements, focusing our attention on a holistic vision of art.”

The artistic team offers visitors the choice to watch the performance as a spectator or engage in a unifying movement. The performance will take place continuously for 4 hours, but the visitor is given the opportunity to choose which part of the performance to watch.

Olga Žitluhina (Latvia) is a choreographer, dancer and teacher – the most influential personality in Latvian contemporary dance scene, head of a program of contemporary dance in Latvian Academy of Culture. She has been the artistic director of Olga Zitluhina Dance Company from 1996 to 2012. The company was the only professional contemporary dance group in Latvia for more than decade. Olga’s productions have been performed and she was teaching in China, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Lithuania, Macedonia, Mexico, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, UK, USA. She is the Artistic Director of artistic Association PARTY and a member of the international project “East is Best”. Since 2006 Olga is the director of the International Contemporary Dance Festival “LAIKS DEJOT” in Riga.

Valery Olehno was born in Jekabpils (Latvia). He started his dancing with the street dance style. He has studied at the Latvian College of Culture Dance department (I. Zīriņa). In 2005 he was accepted as a dancer in Olga Zitluhina’s dance company. He has choreographed several dance performances “Maloko”, “Esperanza”, “What? I? No.” and others He has worked with foreign choreographers both as a performer and as a co-author. In 2011 he left Olga Zitluhina’s dance company and created a musical dance performance “Without Wires” (GIT). Graduated from the film directing department of the master’s program of the Latvian Academy of Culture (2014, G. Šmits / P. Krilovs). He has made several experimental and feature short films.
His short film “PA PA” received 3 Lielais Kristaps prizes – the best short film, the best director, the best actor (Latvian National Film Festival “Lielais Kristaps 2015”).
Since 2016 he has focused on the film industry and represents Latvia in European and American film festivals as well as in international projects. In 2020 together with Olga Žitluhina, he created a dance performance “Tornado”. He is currently actively involved in interdisciplinary art projects as a performer, video artist and choreographer. He also works on film directing and commercial video / photo projects.