SLO | EN
SLO | EN

DAY, NIGHT + MAN = RHYTHM: ANTHOLOGY OF SLOVENIAN CONTEMPORARY DANCE JOURNALISM 1918-1960


More about the book >>
Selected and edited by: Rok Vevar
Series: Special Editions, Book No. 19
Series editor: Amelia Kraigher
Editor: Gregor Moder
Publishers: Maska, Nomad Dance Academy Slovenia, and JSKD
Editorial assistance: Iztok Ilc, Jasmina Založnik
Authors of introductory texts: Rok Vevar, Aldo Milohnić
Language review: Iztok Ilc
Design and layout: Ajdin Bašič, Iztok Kham
With financial support from the Slovenian Book Agency, the City Municipality of Ljubljana, and Dance On, Pass On, Dream On (within the framework of Creative Europe).

Ljubljana, 2018

ISBN 978-961-6572-51-4

 

"DAY, NIGHT + HUMAN = RHYTHM, An Anthology of Slovenian Contemporary Dance Journalism 1918–1960 presents a selection of theoretical, historical, and critical articles on contemporary dance, modern ballet, and dance culture published in the domestic periodical press between the two world wars and in the fifteen years following the second. Research conducted for the anthology has shown how extensive and vibrant domestic journalistic production was and how remarkable the interest in this art form and its culture was during the period of both monarchies and the first socialist Yugoslavia. The cultural pulse of the capital and other Slovenian or multicultural towns (Maribor, Celje, Trieste) was very favourable to artistic and cultural novelties, through which the new Slovenian art and culture positioned themselves within the modern and avant-garde international space – a space where no technical obstacle could prevent the flow of ideas and artistic works. The cultural optimism of this period envisions Slovenian cultural emancipation within modern and avant-garde artistic contexts, where the flow of ideas and visions takes place between different nations and their diverse cultures. In such a context, the presence of other bodies is a matter of intellectual and sensory challenges, exceptional cultural appetites, and new artistic and cultural creations.

The anthology presents the first domestic journalistic contributions in the field of history and theory of contemporary dance and modern ballet according to thematic sections:
  • early attempts at reflecting on domestic dance history (Rado Kregar);
  • visionary theorizations of contemporary dance within the circles of domestic historical avant-gardes, specifically the Constructivists and the members of the Tank collective (Ferdo Delak, Avgust Černigoj);
  • the theory of contemporary dance and the modern body within the circles of the Christian-social youth movement, the so-called 'Križevci' (Franjo Čibej, Pino Mlakar); and
  • the cultural history of classical and modern dance art (Kristina Vrhovec, née Brenk).

These are followed by critical and essayistic contributions on the dance work of protagonists of contemporary dance and modern ballet in the Slovenian cultural space at the time (Lidija Wisiak and Vaclav Vlček, Rut Vavpotič, Meta Vidmar, Katja Delak, Pia and Pino Mlakar, Marta Paulin - Brina), which was, from its very beginnings, distinctly intercultural and international.

The journalists include a number of esteemed names in Slovenian cultural history: female and male writers, composers, actresses, and cultural journalists: Fran Govekar, Miljutin Zarnik, Minka Govekar, Emil Adamič, Marij Kogoj, Rado Kregar, Ferdo Delak, Slavko Osterc, Avgust Černigoj, Ludvik Mrzel, Vilko Ukmar, Maša Slavec, Anton Podbevšek, Peter Pajk, Marijan Lipovšek, Marija Vogelnik, Valens Vodušek, and others.

Some names are completely forgotten today for various reasons (e.g., Franjo Čibej, Peter Pajk, and Maša Slavec), even though their contributions are crucial for the history of Slovenian dance journalism. The chapter The Era of Dance and the Body is a very narrow selection from an otherwise vast body of dance-culture journalism from the interwar period and aims primarily to present the breadth of its spectrum to the reader.

The book concludes with the chapter The Devil in the Village – Dance in Slovenia 1946–1960, which documents, largely through writings by Pia and Pino Mlakar, an attempt to institutionalize modern dance art within the ballet of the Slovenian National Theatre in Ljubljana and to establish the cultural project of a new Yugoslav ballet. In the neurotic period of the development of the Yugoslav socialist exception, which also rapidly changed its possible directions in the field of art and culture, this proved, by the end of the 1950s, to be an increasingly impossible project for various reasons, as evidenced by two articles by Ksenija Hribar in the Epilogue chapter."