Ksenija Hribar and contemporary dance in Slovenia

February 18 and 19 2015
Cankarjev dom, Lili Novy Club

● panel

The choreographer, dancer, teacher and dance activist Ksenija Hribar (1938-1999) was a central figure within the contemporary dance history of Slovenia. Her biography is a series of political, social, aesthetic and cultural contradictions that she – intentionally or not – embodied. After finishing ballet school and anxious for fresh ballet skills, she headed to London and secured a place at the ballet school founded by the charismatic ballet legend Marie Rambert. In 1966, she entered the very first academic year of the London Contemporary Dance School, which was the first of its kind in the UK, and in 1967 became the founding member of the legendary London Contemporary Theatre. Between 1974 and 1978 Hribar studied drama at the University of Manchester whist at the same time she held lectures in dance improvisation and technique. In the late 1970’s she moved back to Ljubljana and stayed there. In the 1979-80 season she was the choreographer of many local theatre productions, and in 1985 she founded with a collective of young dance enthusiasts, the Dance Theatre Ljubljana (PTL) and then in 1994 in conjunction with the PTL members set up the Contemporary Dance Association Slovenia. From 1991 until her death in 1999 she taught at the Eukinetics Dept. of the Academy of Theatre, Radio, Film and Television (AFGFT) in Ljubljana.

A two-day panel dedicated to the life and work of Ksenija Hribar will be focused on three sections:
1. choreographic work at the PTL and teaching in the context of PTL and AGRFT
2. choreographic work with directors in Slovenian theatres from the late 1970’s to 1990’s
3. dance activism – a struggle for the conditions that promote creativity and production – and the affirmation of contemporary dance in Slovenia

Moderated by Rok Vevar