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LENKA VAGNEROVÁ
Artistic Director / Choreographer
LENKA VAGNEROVÁ
Artistic Director / Choreographer / Pedagogue
Lenka Vagnerová is the artistic director and choreographer of the contemporary dance theatre ensemble Lenka Vagnerová & Company, which she founded in 2012 in Prague. She has created a series of original, internationally acclaimed productions and has been active as a choreographer, director, and pedagogue on both the Czech and international dance scenes. Her works have received numerous awards and nominations at home and abroad.
She studied modern dance pedagogy at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague under the guidance of Doc. Ivanka Kubicová.
Lenka has choreographed and directed a wide range of original productions for Lenka Vagnerová & Company, including Panoptikum, Amazones, Riders, The Lešany Crib, Gossip, María de Buenos Aires, Sorcerer, La Loba, Jezdci, Mah Hunt, and the children’s performance Hansel and Gretel.
These shows have been recognized with numerous awards and nominations: Herald Angel Award (Edinburgh Fringe Festival), Best Dance Performance (Singapore Fringe Festival), City of Pilsen Award (Skupova Plzeň Festival), Dance Production of the Year, Audience Award, Dancer of the Year (Czech Dance Platform), Total Theatre Award Nomination (Edinburgh), and 10× Thalia Award nominations, among others.
As a guest choreographer and director, she has created productions for: the National Theatre Prague (POE), Staatstheater Kassel, Norrdans, 2Faced Dance Company, VERVE NSCD Leeds, City Theatre Prague, Viirus Theatre Helsinki, DOT504, Accademia Nazionale di Danza Rome, as well as opera (Sternenhoch by Ivan Acher / National Theatre Prague), and children’s theatre (Snow Queen and Robin Hood at Minor Theatre Prague).
She also choreographed the commercial ORANGE – “Trust Journey”, directed by Seb Edwards and produced by Wanda Production.
Lenka is an active teacher and pedagogue, leading workshops and masterclasses across Europe and beyond. She teaches her own method, “Talk Through Your Body,” which focuses on the specific movement language and principles developed in her work. She has taught at institutions such as:
GöteborgsOperans Danskompani, Carte Blanche, Norrdans, Skånes Dansteater, Dansehallerne Copenhagen, Danscentrum-syd Malmö, Danscentrum-nord Gothenburg, Danish Dance Theatre, Ballet de Marseille, B12 Festival Berlin, Dance Institute Belgrade, TFYD Mexico – Escuela Profesional de Teatro Físico, VERVE NSCD Leeds, 2Faced Dance Company, Stopgap Dance Company, Viirus Theatre Helsinki, Accademia Nazionale di Danza Rome, Cirkus Cirkör, the National Theatre in Prague, Theaterwerkstatt Hannover, Il Giardino delle Esperidi Festival, Israel Festival, TanzOffensive Hannover, Academy of Performing Arts Prague, and the Dance Conservatory Prague.
In the Czech Republic, she has worked on projects across drama, opera, and new circus with institutions such as: Minor Theatre, National Theatre in Prague, Prague City Theatres, South Bohemian Theatre in České Budějovice, Klicpera Theatre in Hradec Králové, Cirk La Putyka, and the Shakespeare Festival in Prague.
From 2011 to 2017, she also worked as a rehearsal director for the Swedish company Norrdans.
As a dancer, she collaborated with choreographers and companies such as: Claude Brumachon & Benjamin Lamarche (CCNN, Nantes), Akram Khan Company (Opening Ceremony – London Olympic Games 2012), Cirk La Putyka, Veronika Riz, DOT504, Bratislava Dance Theatre, and Torzo Ballet.
She has received several awards for her performances: 3× Thalia Award Nominee (2003, 2005, 2010), Nokia Dance Award / Dance Personality of the Year (2003), Dancer of the Year (Czech Dance Platform 2005).
Media:
„ Lenka Vagnerová a fabulous dancer and a great choreographic talent.
She has attained a refined physical expression owing to her bold sense of theatre and urge to voice her opinion of substantial issues – the question of power, the question of the co-existence between humans and other natural beings. She excels in finding subjects and creating sceneries, as well as coming up with original movement variations, and, what is more, she possesses a great sense of dynamics and humour.
She has confirmed her reputation as the most gifted young Czech choreographer.“ (Nina Vangeli, New York, Master Lecture about Czech Dance)
"Vagnerová is a truly original choreographer with a strong feeling for theatre. Her topics include existential questions of life: she is occupied with human life and the related worries, fears, anxiety, relationships, conflicts, and the eternal struggle to survive to the bone. However, she has a sense of humor and she can soften and downplay the dramatic situation and comical solution. And only very few people can do it. She does not spare the dancers, yet it is visible how she sympathizes with them. Her choreographic methods are full of technically challenging obstacles, requiring artistry and the ability to take a risk, which is very close to physical theatre. Her style is truly easy to identify." (Marcela Benoni, Taneční aktuality)
"TALK THROUGH YOUR BODY" WORKSHOP:
“Dance, as I conceive it, is able to awaken imagination in the spectator, stir emotions, it can enshrine values and communicate things that cannot be communicated in words. For me, the basic building block in training is to understand the body through imagination. In this way we are able to reveal in the body many various movement qualities and principles, to find a specific dynamic, coordination and chiefly inside logic. My training system is based on the principle of "the body as a puppet". This method strives to achieve the maximum kinetic possibilities in a person’s body without needless muscle tension and stress, develops plasticity, musicality, the ability to react to impulses, we learn to listen to our own inner rhythm, perceive the space around us and listen to the others.
An integral part of the workshop is partnering, where use of the mentioned principles, the perception of the partner and absolute trust lead to perfect coordination.Thanks to an understanding of physical patterns, partnering can become a logical and powerful tool of communication. Limits of balance, manipulation, passing and receiving impulses, listening, guiding and following form parts of partnering and move dance on to a magical level. During workshops we enrich a person’s own kinetic possibilities and the borders of physical and mental conception of dance. We ask the question what dance means to us and what attracts us to it, what purpose training serves, where a performer’s own interpretation of dance begins. What role does a physical action and dance play when communicating an idea or creating a theatrical situation.
We will work individually, in partnering, we try to touch theatrical situations through physical action, ... We will "talk through our bodies". Lenka Vagnerová
Lenka in video documentaries:
POE / ČT ART / documentary 2022
Divadlo žije Lešanské Jesličky
2 Faced Dance Company / Fallen Angels / documentary