LUSTOPIA is an intergenerational and inclusive stage piece on the themes of desire and utopia, co-produced by choreographers Laurynas Žakevičius and Airida Gudaitė, the urban dance company LOW AIR from Vilnius, Lithuania, and contemporary choreographer Silke Z. from Cologne.

The project brings together six dancers from Lithuania and Germany who differ greatly in age, generation, ability and dance biography.

Individually and as a collective, they follow the lure of Pleasure moments and develop a utopian blueprint of their unique and shared pleasure.

Is LUST bound to certain characteristics such as age, gender, body or disability?

Do shame and insecurities caused by gender ascription, age or disability get in the way of UTOPIA?

The project moves playfully between pleasure, obscenity, bodyshaming and bodypositivity and consciously rubs up against social norms and existing taboos. In the search for a lustful freedom, the joint dance exploration of boundaries and in contact with each other, LUSTOPIA follows the utopia of a moving fusion of bodies.

LUSTOPIA invites the audience to a dance performance experience that explores the differences of each individual and the utopia of a shared identity.

Voices on the performance:

It is one of the best performances to be seen in contemporary dance in recent times…
What is being lost in these times is desire. The lust for life, the lust for other people, no matter who they are. The lightning bolt that goes through your soul when you look another person in the eye, the unconcealed desire for someone who triggers more in you than the mere, already delightful feeling of a soulmate. Choreographer Silke Z. even goes so far as to ask about desire as a utopia, i.e. about something that does not exist, something that lies in the future and is possibly irredeemable.

– Michael S. Zerban (O-Ton Culture Magazine)

 

The performance shows in a very strong way that desire exists completely independently of age, ability or gender. So often older, queer or disabled people are denied their sexuality, but in LUSTOPIA it is celebrated and made visible. Not just their sexuality, but their lust for life is celebrated here. We see half-naked bodies in maximum exertion, in passionate dance, which otherwise almost never find a place on stage. As we watch, however, we also see the pressure, the inner struggle and the fight for self-empowerment. Then again, the tension is released and absorbed by exuberance, lightness and loving embraces.

 

I saw you tonight – and you saw me. I want to thank you very much!!!

 

I was very touched by the emotional intensity and mutual understanding with which the dancers enter into the encounters and challenge social norms.

– Franziska Nagel

I haven’t had such intense eye contact for a very long time. I felt so much during the performance – I was kind of scared, fascinated and deeply touched at the same time. I thank you very much for this hour – for this contact.

– Audience member

LUSTOPIA is a multi-layered work for which one definition, one theme, one experience is not enough, in my opinion. We challenge you to be brave, we surprise you with unexpected decisions, we offer you the opportunity to experience a pleasant discomfort. We will touch you and not let go, but above all we will notice you and invite you to listen to us.

 

During the performance you will discover yourself in each of us – maybe you will eat a delicious meal, maybe you will feel lonely, question yourself and your place in space, be filled with lust and pleasure, maybe question moral norms, feel like the happiest person, be fat or thin, red-haired or shaved, dancing slower or faster. Or maybe you will simply be yourself – with your own life experiences, desires, wishes, ideas and feelings.

– Dmitrijus Andrušanecas, dancer