I am proud to be able to participate at the first Improspections Festival. I have been truly moved by the ambition of these young people and the way how they use their bodies to communicate… My arches introduced a moment of surprise. I saw them slip away from me, slide down other people’s hands, I saw them become a tool for a different kind of expression. My most favourite material conquered other bodies, adopted to different dynamics, became an object of someone else’s imagination and in that way it keeps thirilling and surprising improvisers as well as audience.
That feeling was so strong and so moving that I would like to come back to Zagreb and spend a few more days improvising with my arches and these talented young people.
Denis Tricot
Mortagne, 19 October 2007
Watching the improvisation I know that the performance does not have pre-set meaning, message nor form. On the contrary these elements are continuously being built through the improvisation, second by second, from one movement to the other… This also makes my role as audience/a spectator significantly different… What seems to be specific about it is that I am allowed to create my own reference framework to watch/digest/ the performance which allows my experience of the performance free and authentic.
The second factor is that my role as a spectator becomes more active and demanding. Compared to the pre-set performances, in improvised performances it is much more important to trace the state of each performer, each of his movements, because this is where the performance unfolds… Improvisation allows me to interpret the performance in my specific way, with no pressure if I got the message right. It gives me the opportunity to give in to the sensation and reject the meaning. To dedicate myself to my inner experience. To feel the performance, not to ‘watch’ it.
I hope the Improspections Festival will continue in the future and give incentive to other art disciplines to try out the challenge which the improvisation brings in their field. I am therefore thankful to the organisers of the Festival to take the role of ‘pioneers of improvisation’ on the Zagreb cultural scene.
Ivan Zaluški, spectator
…different energies worked together towards a common expression and reflection, different views remained only to challenge the language and the composition oft he improvisation.
Culture and Information Centre Maksimir proved to be a good place both for work as well as for public presentations. Kindness of the organisers made these evenings even more pleasurable. Saturday performances at the Zagreb Observatory gave us the opportunity to face the audience and the space, whose architecture is challenging and enriching, in a different way.
Very soon there was a unanimous desire both to meet again and to include some other artists. I am happy to have been invited to the first improvisation meeting in Zagreb and I wholeheartedly wish these meetings continue in the future!
In Bordeaux, France we started an improvisation collective made of dancers and musicians and we regularly organise meetings similar to Improspections. Zrinka Šimičić has already participated at some of them. We would like to organise new get-togethers so we can invite other artists from Zagreb. We also collaborate with Ex Improviso from Toulouse (the organisation presented by Isabella Cirla at this year’s Improspections Festival) as well as with the Magpie collective in Amsterdam…
Lets continue intertwining and interlacing, connecting, creating, provoking with humour and serenity, looking for new forms and new areas!
Chris Martineau
Bordeaux, 25 October 2007
Both during the rehearsals or public performances, performers were ready to improvise without a set score, baring in mind the huge risk that such improvisation entails. These improvised sessions gave rise to truly magical moments in which all of us shared a common emotion.
In Tolouse we organise Ex Improviso meetings which brings together dancers, actors and musicians. Members of the improvisation collective Les Imprevisibles from Bordeauxa also participated at those get-togethers and subsequently they invited us to take part at their improvisation sessions in Bordeaux. We develop and improve our improvisation skills through such collaborations. Improspections Festival opened new possibilities for collaborations, exchange of experience, meetings and new developments in this improvised exploration.
Isabelle Cirla
I believe the programme of the festival is unique, really interesting and challenging for all who took part either as performers or as audience. Extraordinary and very creative instant performances were born/unfolded in collaboration with performers coming from other performing disciplines… This is exactly why I hope the festival will take place next year as well.
Ivana Levanić