The Wilds: The Vanity of Plumage

"Grotesque essay on the beauty and guile of nature in all of us, on missing heroes and narcissism, on the fight for survival and the intraspecific aggression that drives us forward in the form of personal ambitions and conditioned dreams of happiness. Through motion visualisation, uniquely beautiful basic reflexes, motivational processes and intuitive behaviour, Jana Burkiewiczová leads us into a paradise where dancing creates silence, screams, pleasure and the omen of death in a fast sequence of situations, texts and images," reads the summary of the latest production by Burki&Com called The Wilds on their website.

Tension, uncertainty and humour

Choreographer Jana Burkiewicz is not relying solely on displaying scenes of wilderness and animalism, she also uses the natural realm as a reference to the world of humans and highlights the parallels between them. The boundary between animal and human behavior is often almost invisible. She asks what is nature and points out that people are (despite themselves) ruled by primitive drives and instincts.

The choreography is not scarce on deeper messages nor humorous moments. It works well with tension and uncertainty - one can never be sure if seduction and innocent games will not end in violence.

"The motion material is very fresh, original and raw, everything fits together. The performance is full of physically very demanding dance which does not fool around with finesses and subtleties, but goes straight into action. The dancers interfere whilst running, sometimes mid-air one of them throws away his partner with acrobatic agility and the movement never stops, it follows a uniform flow," says Lucie Kocourková on the website Taneční aktuality (Dance news).

About the dance company

Dance connects the recently formed group Burki&Com with theatrical, musical and visual art styles. The main effort of the group formed around the young choreographer Jana Burkiewicz is to discover new means of expression of performance and contemporary theater.

Dance performance The Wilds premiered in December 2015 and has been accompanied by a positive response, as well as her successful new circus piece from 2015 called Walls and Handbags.