Watching an audience watching Dance, or being in proximity to a dancer, is a completely different experience. It is precisely this different experience, even though it is the same dance, manifesting in the same space and at the same time, that I call Dance. This dance is, in my opinion, the most magical form of art. - Matej Kejžar for Jutarnji List
Kejžar is the receiver of the prestigious Croatian Actor Award
(Nagrada Hrvatskog glumišta) for Best Dance Performance in its entirety
for the Zagreb edition of House Bolero.
“My motivation is to learn from Dance – that is, to learn from my fellow dancers. With such an approach, the hierarchical relationship between choreographer and dancers, which of course exists and is part of broader socio-political structures, begins to dissolve. Patriarchy sucks!” said Matej Kejžar upon receiving the prestigious Croatian Theatre Award (Nagrada Hrvatskog glumišta) for House Bolero.
With this piece, Kejžar also confronts generational hierarchies. House Bolero is a transgenerational artistic experiment centred around one essential question: how can we learn from Dance? The performance brings together dancers ranging in age from 21 to 69. “I was intrigued by how to write a story about dance together with dancers who have been performing for twenty years longer than I have (pure respect!) and, at the same time, with younger ones whose energy feels deeply enthusiastic and curious,” explains Kejžar. “In this way, we developed Bolero’s own diction.”
This diction emerged through dialogue, i.e. from collective discussions and one-on-one exchanges. Conversation, as a fundamental building block of civilisation, intertwines in House Bolero with the instability and fluidity of dance and with the body’s passion for movement. The dancers shape complex and nuanced modes of physical presence that spark new questions and point toward an ever-unfinished, yet exciting definition of dance as a force that resists normalisation – both in society and in art.
It is significant that Kejžar insists on writing Dance with a capital “D”. He approaches the concept in the same way he observes Digitality, which he sees not merely as digital technology, but as a force seeking to act upon the body’s illogical thoughts. Dance and Digitality are in constant confrontation. While choreography is a form of control, this does not mean that unchoreographed Dance lacks meaning. Even the seemingly arbitrary – the “anything” one might wish to attribute to movement – is always already something.
As is characteristic of Kejžar’s work, the audience is not excluded from the conceptualisation of the piece; it is never a passive recipient. “What interests me is how to live dance, not just perform it. My goal was – and still is – to carry this experience over to the audience, so that they too become part of Dance itself. Everyone who is physically present in a given space and time is part of this dance. Watching dance from a distance or being in close proximity to the dancers are entirely different experiences.”
CREDITS
Author: Matej Kejžar
Dancers: Georgeta Capraroiu, Christian Guerematchi, Polett Kasza, Gregor Luštek, Goran Tatar, Urša Vidmar, Mateja Železnik
Set & Lights: Petra Veber
Costumes: Tina Paulin, Matej Kejžar
Producer: Žiga Predan
Production: Pekinpah & SNG Opera Balet Ljubljana
Supported by: GO! 2025, Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia in Brussels, SNG Opera Balet Ljubljana
PREMIERE
1 October 2025, Les Brigittines, la Chapelle Petite rue des Brigittines, Brussels, Belgium
Matej Kejžar (1974) is a graduate of SNDO in Amsterdam and a dance artist who consistently develops his signature approach through the exploration of the relationship between body and digitality, as well as the power dynamics that emerge through rigid choreographic control over movement. He furthered his education at P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels and with the Trisha Brown Dance Company in New York. Kejžar is the recipient of the Croatian Theatre Award (Nagrada Hrvatskog glumišta, 2024) and the Ksenija Hribar Award (2023) for his body of work, praised as “an outstanding dancer and a visionary creator who inspires.” Over the past decade, he has developed his oeuvre between Brussels and Ljubljana while regularly working worldwide (India, Singapore, Brazil). He is the artistic director of the international Spider Festival and a dance pedagogue at SNDO and numerous other dance institutions.
Photo by Matija Lukić