EnKnapGroup (EKG)

EKG Group

The international dance company EnKnapGroup (EKG), founded in 2007 by Iztok Kovač and En-Knap Productions, is currently the only permanent professional ensemble for contemporary dance in Slovenia. Dedicated to producing fresh and engaging contemporary dance and theatre performances in collaboration with prominent choreographers and directors, EnKnapGroup’s work has been shown internationally to wide critical and audience acclaim.

Since 2009, the group has its permanent rehearsal spaces at the Španski borci Culture Centre, where they also present their newest works.

Production and international cooperation

Since its establishment in 2007, EnKnapGroup, a company of remarkable and diversely skilled dancers and performers under the artistic direction of choreographer Iztok Kovač, collaborated with a large number of (internationally) renowned contemporary dance choreographers and theatre directors, creating a considerable body of critically acclaimed work.

Initially, the group aimed at expanding its stage vocabulary by working with authors of different genres and poetics, such as choreographers, besides the group’s artistic leader Iztok Kovač, also Matjaž Farič, Andreja Rauch, Rosana Hribar & Gregor Luštek, Claudia de Serpa Soares, Mala Kline and theatre directors Tomi Janežič, Sebastijan Horvat, Bojan Jablanovec of Via Negativa, and Matjaž Zupančič. Since the start, En-Knap Productions has also enabled the group’s members to create and present their independent work and has thus far produced projects by Ana Štefanec, Tamás Tuza, Luke Thomas Dunn, etc.

EnKnapGroup have collaborated with many prominent and sought-after new names in European dance, such as Guy Nader & Maria Campos, Adrienn Hód, Guy Weizman & Roni Haver, as well as with Pavol Liska & Kelly Copper of Nature Theater of Oklahoma and Trisha Brown Dance Company, both USA. In 2018, EKG marked its 10th anniversary with a premiere of Dark Union, a continuation of the group’s collaboration with the world renowned choreographer and artist Josef Nadj.

EnKnapGroup s Trisha Brown Dance Company in Josefom Nadjem - trailer by knapeci on YouTube

In Slovenia, EKG's shows have been presented at Gibanica (Moving Cake) Festival of Slovene Dance, Ljubljana Festival, as well as the Maribor Theatre Festival, alongside extensive international touring to world-class venues and festivals, including Under the Radar Festival (New York, USA), Théâtre de la Ville (Paris), Kaaitheater (Brussels), Hong Kong Arts Festival, Noordezon, Performance Arts Festival (Netherlands), Rotterdamse Schouwburg (Netherlands), Staatstheater Mainz (Germany), Nitra Festival (Slovakia), Steirischer Herbst Festival (Austria), HAU Hebbel am Ufer in Berlin (Germany), Festspiele Ludwigshafen (Germany), kING Ingelheim (Germany), National Theater in Podgorica (Montenegro), Contemporary Dance Week (Croatia), Tanz im August (Berlin), Bratislava in Movement (Slovakia), Culturescapes Festival (Switzerland), etc.

Holding auditions every few years, EnKnapGroup is presently consisting of six regular members. In 2015 the cast was extended within the project EKG+, ensemble for contemporary dance, implemented through the instrument New Career Perspectives II, which is partly financed by the European Union.

Performances for children

Iztok Kovač and the group have also created children’s performances, developed with the musician Tomaž Grom, and didactic performance events: Beware, Dance! [Pozor, hud ples!], which inventively demonstrated creative procedures of contemporary dance and was expanded to include the international history and prominent figures of contemporary dance in Take a Chance on Dance [Pozor, hud ples 2].

romeo and public // romeo in publika by whitecrossproduction on YouTube

Trailer of the dance-theatre site-specific project Romeo and Public, 2008

External links

Gallery

Dance performance Surovo by EKG at Stara Elektrarna - Old Power Station in Ljubljana

Dance performance Beware, Dance! at Španski borci Culture Centre in Ljubljana