SCHIMMER is an immersive dance installation for babies and their caregivers, designed to stimulate sensory perception through dance, light, and rhythm.
Inspired by the experiences children have with light and movement while still in the womb, SCHIMMER invites its young audience to explore a world of gentle sounds and glowing colors.
The project combines dance, light art, and live percussion to create a unique environment where babies can actively engage with their surroundings. The VRUM Performing Arts Collective continues its exploration of performing arts for the very youngest by creating a landscape that invites discovery, feeling, and lingering.
Do you know…
When each day brings joy anew,
When a kiss can heal and make you feel true,
When all is clear, and I understand,
Joy fills my heart, hand in hand.
Love, that is love…
Do you know…
When smiles linger on my face,
And the world’s embraced in a sweet, soft haze.
Love, that is love…
Mak and Iris inhabit Đumbatron,
a planet full of lush flora, fragrant flowers and an abundance of delicious fruit. Despite the natural beauty that surrounds their home, they are forbidden to meet because he belongs to one tribe, she to another; his skin is one colour, hers another – mixing is absolutely forbidden. But this prohibition challenges their young understanding: why shouldn’t they play together? Why not climb into the treetops together, sing songs in crazy variations, lose themselves in silly dances? Because when you find someone who understands you and whispers compliments to you, that person appears to you in a clear light, while everything else around you loses its significance, all other colours fade.
As you get older, when love has a firm grip on you and showers you with sweet kisses, all doubts dissolve: It’s just the two of us! If necessary, even against the entire planet.
Mak and Iris show no fear and are determined to do anything for their love, protected by the power of their deep affection.
LJUBIČASTO (PURPLE) is an award-winning piece by Sanja Tropp Frühwald, inspired by the classic “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare.
It was created in a co-production between VRUM and the Kliker Festival, in collaboration with PS Vindi, ekscena and the Varaždin National Theatre
Like Shakespeare’s tragic heroes who die out of love and misunderstandings, Mak and Iris – embodied by VRUM’s intergenerational ensemble – take us on a captivating journey through the galaxy. On this adventure, they learn indirectly about the world, about interpersonal relationships and emotions, about unknown and strange places, about extraterrestrial beings and their customs. They discover that the world is not only painted in black and white, but sometimes also in purple
https://curaidecko.bandcamp.com/album/ljubi-astost
Immerse yourself in the magical world of Baroque!
In Baroque times, people liked to set up cabinets of curiosities: collection rooms in which they kept wondrous things, curious exhibits and treasures, “mirabilia”.
VRUM Performing Arts Collective creates a cabinet full of wonders, secrets and surprises and invites everyone from the age of two to discover this mysterious universe. Accompanied by live performed music from the period, visitors are immersed in a world full of rich colours, intoxicating details and sublime emotions, in which they playfully explore the fascinating works of artists such as Corelli, Strozzi and Pergolesi.
VRUM Performing Arts Collective uses contemporary dance, its energetic language of movement, and figures full of folds and spirals to create a fascinating link between past and present. Adapted to the youngest audience, this creates a place of wonder, learning and inspiring encounters that brings an era to life.
The Great Word Factory
based on the picture book by Agnès de Lestrade
Speaking is expensive in “The Great Word Factory”.
The story takes place in a country where people hardly speak at all. Words are produced in the factory. To be able to speak them, you have to buy and swallow them. You can only afford valuable words if you are rich. That’s why many people have to search through the rubbish for discarded words in order to find a language at all. Some words are on sale. And if you’re lucky, sometimes words fly through the air. Paul catches three of them with a butterfly net. If he had the money for it, he would like to tell Marie that he loves her.
“The Great Word Factory” talks about poverty and exclusion as well as belonging and connection. The poetic picture book classic from 2009 has won several awards and has been translated into over 30 languages so far. In the production for Schauspiel Essen, there will be no language barriers for the audience – the piece will be understandable without knowledge of a particular language. The children are at the centre of the action and are invited to join in and play with words themselves.
VRUM Performing Arts Collective embarks on the adventure of confronting fear!
Based on the poem “Life doesn’t frighten me”, the intergenerational ensemble creates a production in which it confronts the dangers, horrors and craziness of everyday life.
Three adults and five teenagers engage in a dance and musical search for ways to combat fear. The famous poem by the American writer and civil rights activist Maya Angelou is the humorous, serious and rhythmic starting point for this search. With poetic texts and expressive musical images, they speak of being different, being afraid, being alone and being together.
VRUM takes a stand against the monster under the bed, against the shadows on the wall, against the anxiety that afflicts us when we look at the crises of this world.
Mak and Iris inhabit Đumbatron,
a planet full of lush flora, fragrant flowers and an abundance of delicious fruit. Despite the natural beauty that surrounds their home, they are forbidden to meet because he belongs to one tribe, she to another; his skin is one colour, hers another – mixing is absolutely forbidden. But this prohibition challenges their young understanding: why shouldn’t they play together? Why not climb into the treetops together, sing songs in crazy variations, lose themselves in silly dances? Because when you find someone who understands you and whispers compliments to you, that person appears to you in a clear light, while everything else around you loses its significance, all other colours fade.
As you get older, when love has a firm grip on you and showers you with sweet kisses, all doubts dissolve: It’s just the two of us! If necessary, even against the entire planet.
Mak and Iris show no fear and are determined to do anything for their love, protected by the power of their deep affection.
LJUBIČASTO (LILA) is an award-winning theatre play by Sanja Tropp Frühwald, inspired by the classic “Romeo and Juliet” by William Shakespeare.
It was created in a co-production between VRUM and the Kliker Festival, in collaboration with PS Vindi, ekscena and the Varaždin National Theatre
Like Shakespeare’s tragic heroes who die out of love and misunderstandings, Mak and Iris – embodied by VRUM’s intergenerational ensemble – take us on a captivating journey through the galaxy. On this adventure, they learn indirectly about the world, interpersonal relationships and emotions, unknown and strange places, extraterrestrial beings and their customs. They discover that the world is not only painted in black and white, but sometimes also in purple
Everything you can do with gym mats and much more!
A dance performance that doesn’t stay on the mat. It’s sport and dance.
It’s square, but still soft. It’s exhaustion and rest, jumping and then landing, falling and getting up again.
MATTA MATTA 2.0 is about safety and taking a risk.
Three dancers get lost in a landscape of soft floors and the audience is right in the middle of it instead of just being there.
MATTA MATTA 2.0 is an interactive dance performance in gyms for children and adults.
3 dancers initiate a game with 2 large soft floors and 16 small gym mats, in which all visitors find themselves in situations involving safety, risk and cooperation.
The small mats serve as seating and structure the space, but also change shape and role during the show. They become a labyrinth, with dangerously tumbling walls, a tower, a sea of boats around an island, a shield to hide behind, a bed you’ve always dreamed of. The children are busy (re)placing these in a variety of ways in collaboration with the dancers. In these collaborations, the audience is moved and also becomes part of the landscape of the performance. The situation in which the audience is divided into two camps by a wall contrasts with a balancing duet in which everyone sits close to the edge of the large mat. The sound alternates between playful rhythms and beats as well as the sounds of gym mats being pulled and dropped. MATTA MATTA 2.0 needs no words!
The safety of children is a timeless but topical issue in today’s society. The internet and the smartphone offer the opportunity to always know where a child is, to follow them and to limit information and communication with others. On the other hand, children are more accessible to outside information, as well as strangers, and rely on technology more often than their physical knowledge and capabilities.
In theatre for young audiences, too, questions are being asked about the need to increase the supervision of parents and carers. How free can a child play and experiment? How free can theatre still be?
With MATTA MATTA 2.0, Jasper Džuki Jelen and Mojra Vogelnik Škerlj are looking for a physical and tangible way to question these tendencies. The assumption is that children have no direct connection with the concerns of adults and should not be confronted with them in a concrete form. Letting go of the traditional role and attitude of the audience creates an unpredictable situation. MATTA MATTA 2.0 is a practical exercise in dealing with new situations and strangers, an exploration of courage, physical skills, co-operation and self-confidence.
Big questions about small things – or vice versa?
There are moments when we are small, but big, so no longer small, already too big to be small … Are we now small or big?
“From Molehill to Mountain” deals with identity, growing up, real wonders that can be found in everyday life and triggers imagination through movement.
Based on children’s play, the performance explores the specific behavioural patterns of the individual, the influence on group dynamics to creative power. Self-confidence and friendship are addressed through various playful principles. The language of the play is based on movement, non-verbal communication and includes different possibilities of storytelling. Whether with language, music, video or by means of a familiar object: a cube that offers endless possibilities for playing.
INTERACTIVE PLAYING, DANCING AND DISCOVERING FOR BABIES AND THEIR ADULTS
“The Milky Way” is a walkable, crawlable, experienceable and tangible installation for the very youngest and their adult companions: Objects, shapes and colors inspire the audience to move freely through the space, wander around, enjoy different perspectives, explore, be active or relax in the soft environment. Each object stimulates the senses in a different way.
“The Milky Way” invites audiences ages 6 to 18 months to be part of an immersive, all-senses artistic experience full of color, music and movement. Adults are encouraged to be just as active in the event, supporting their child, following along and sharing the experience.
The Milky Way dance installation is exclusively for babies 6-18 months!
ABOUT “THE MILKY WAY”
VRUM Performing Arts Collective is back on the trail of the very youngest in their latest research. After the overwhelming success of the last baby production Baja Buf in 2011, Sanja and Till Frühwald decided to create a new interactive performance for the pacifier audience. Interaction and unusual stage concepts are becoming more and more the trademark of the collective, so it plays an essential role in the new production as well. The audience is also again actively involved in the play.
This time we were inspired by Oskar Schlemmer’s Triadic Ballet with its geometric and colored forms or bodies, the editorial of photographer Tim Walker for Dazed & Confused magazine, Erwin Wurm and his deformed bodies, as well as the Japanese Artist Yayoi Kusama and her Polka Dots.
SHAPES AND BODIES IN MOTION.
The piece invites the audience to experience and grasp movement and motion in space, with the help of a wide variety of forms that fill the space and are usable and movable. The dancers themselves, some of whom manipulate the bodies and forms, or become them themselves, whether through costume, or through quality of movement, are part of the changing space.
The experience in Baja Buf, with our differently shaped beanbags, has shown that the little ones understand very early how objects can be used to change space. The Milky Way again takes place in a space that can be walked on and crawled on, allowing the action to be viewed from all sides. Inspired by the dancing figures and forms of the triadic ballet or the formal language of Erwin Wurm, a crawlable world was created that introduces the youngest children to shapes and colors in a playful and comprehensible way. Giving them the opportunity, through interaction, to set the space in motion and discover the magnificent world around them. At the same time, through interaction, through action and reaction, their own body is perceived as a powerful instrument for changing the environment. As in Baja Buf, in order to initiate a change, the children must take action themselves. Of course, the visual stimuli are provided by the abstract stage concept, but the interaction must come from the participant. The bodies are in that sense only receivers, the change in the space a reaction to the impulse of the baby.
The dancers Sanja Tropp Frühwald, Gat Goodovitch and the actor Till Frühwald have gone on a quest and together with the musician Oliver Stotz and the costume and set designer Mael Blau created a soft, warm environment filled with large and small objects that encourage touching and discovering, accompanied by exciting and pleasant sounds.
AUDIENCE COMMENTS
“We enjoyed it very much! I highly recommend it! Thank you, it was fantastic.”
“My baby and I enjoyed every moment of being your audience, the setting was very calm and appealing, the music was soft and pleasant, and your dance and movements a joy for me and my baby. It really was like visiting another planet.”
“Watching this performance was as enjoyable as being served a big ice cream cone…”
“So magical! Everything about it! I can’t wait to see it again, it felt like a stimulating mystical embrace!”
“The performance had the ideal dose of interaction, communication, independent exploration and new experiences (but not too much either). All in all, a big thumbs up.”
Love is all WE need
Losing the ground under your feet, falling down and then flying high on Cupid’s wings – all this is and makes: Love. Six love activists* with different life and love stories go in search of it and explore everyday, but also emotional extreme situations. What do these feelings do with me, how far do I go for love and do I dare to risk everything for it? What about falling in love, about freedom, what about morals and norms, what about growing up and maturing? What about expectations, waiting, absence and in what way does love moves me?
“Loverʼs Disco(urse)” invites you to a party celebrating love and lovers, lust and diversity and above all: the freedom to love – who and how we want. The performer surrender to this wonderful madness and invite the audience to be part of this wild, gentle, crazy and uncertain journey.
VRUM Performing Arts Collective and a generation-spanning ensemble take on the theme and create, based on Roland Barthesʼ “Fragments of a Language of Love”, a wild, dance-like image of the different varieties of love.
TO LOVER’S DISCO(URSE)
“Love is a catastrophe
Look what it’s done to me
Brought me down here so low
Stranded, nowhere to go”
(Pet Shop Boys)
Man is an abyss. OKAY. All right. Let’s jump in then. Head over heels into this jumble of desires, fears, hopes, biological and social conditions. Deeply (gender) insecure, deeply in need of love. But – Attention! Attention! – LOVE IS A BATTLEFIELD – LOVE IS BLINDNESS – LOVE IS A CATASTROPHE and above all: LOVE HURTS.
Pop culture agrees on this.
LOVE is one thing above all else: a huge mountain of fragrant, tempting, frightening garbage, on and in which, women and men and all those, who cannot and will not submit to this order, crawl around and spend the time of their lives, lying on all those fluffy cushions scattered between shards and steel beams and being scratched by them until they bleed. As soon as the wounds are scabbed, there is this strange, unbeatable urge to scratch them again, just to check if the blood is still as red as the famous sun, which supposedly sinks into the sea near Capri …
Enough of this! Let’s put an end to the catastrophic two-person relationship with house and garden behind the white garden fence – POLYAMORY is the new (old)! I am a unicorn and I love whomever and however I want. Every day I organize the most incredible parties in my studio and … And you know what? YOU ARE INVITED! WE ARE A MATCH! Because only friends are “FRIENDS” – PLEASE SWIPE ME TO THE RIGHT! HERE and NOW!