JOHN
Creation and performance: Goran Bogdanovski (SI)
Creation process and directing: Tomi Janežič (SI)
Music and sound: Tomaž Grom
Co-production: Fičo Balet / www.ficobalet.org, Studio za raziskavo umetnosti igre, Gledališče Glej (Ljubljana)
Project is supported by: MOSKVA Ballet Co. (Moscow), New Dance Alliance Inc. (New York), Ministry of culture Slovenija, City Ljubljana.
Duration: 20`

JOHN is solo dance performance about JOHN.

The Fičo Ballet from Slovenia was represented by the universal genius Goran Bogdanovski, who is the originator, creator, choreographer and performer of the solo show John. Stripped to his underwear, John flapped like a bird, glanced and smiled at the auditorium, shifting from one foot to the other. And since the hero wore glasses, we could experience the presented figure as an intellectual in search of himself…

Maja Krilova, ИЮНЯ, Moscow, 6th June 2008

In this spatially-framed choreography, Bogdanovski is wearing only underwear. He focuses on movement details while performing similar combinations […] In doing so, Bogdanovski does not strengthen cultural stereotypes but rather shatters them – also by showing a number of Johns from various parts of the world not as portraits, i.e. linearly, but with swift transformations and even mutual overlaps; whenever it seems that we have recognised a cultural setting, he dissolves it by means of quick movements and atmospheric twists assisted by Grom's sound interventions, and transports us into another, different globalized ambience. Thus spiritualized Hindu Janez could as well be a citizen of London, Ivan could live in New York, and American John lives temporarily in Ljubljana, perhaps. In this short, 20-minute solo composed of interesting and original movement details, Goran Bogdanovski presented – after a long time – his dance and movement qualities and humour, which especially marked his early projects.

Mojca Kumerdej, Delo, Ljubljana, 22th May 2008

Goran Bogdanovski is a freelance choreographer / performer / pedagogue / art director. Since 1989 he has successfully worked as a performer with over 70 choreographers and directors in various fields of the performing arts – classical ballet, physical theatre, contemporary dance, film and video. For over 10 years he was a soloist of the Slovene National Opera and Ballet Theatre, as well as having a rich and versatile freelance career that brought him to work with many theatre artists and contemporary choreographers from the Slovenian and European art scene: Michael Clark, Matjaž Pograjc and Betontanc, Dragan Živadinov, Milko Šparamblek, Francois Michele Pesenti, Ema Kugler, Howard Katz Fireheart, etc. He has also taken part in research projects with Emio Greco, Josef Nadj, David Zambrano, Andrew L.Harwood, to mention a few, as well as acted and danced in a number of films.
He founded Fičo Balet in 2000, with which he has been developing his own style of expression. He has choreographed five full-length dance productions, led five international research projects and created an educational program. In his pieces he has collaborated with over 50 artists and took part in over 200 performances and workshops from Moscow to New York. In 2002 he opened up Kino Šiška as a rehearsal venue for contemporary dance and theatre in Ljubljana until its renovation in 2008. In 2003 he co-initiated the first biannual Slovene Gibanica dance festival. He has also co-initiated the NOMAD Dance Academy, educational and artistic research project launched with partners from Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Bulgaria. He received the Triton Award 2000 for his performance 1:0 and was elected Dancer of the Year bi the Nedelo weekly in 2000. He also received the DanceWeb scholarship in 2000 and 2002 in Vienna; and an Artslink Residency Award 2003 in New York, as well as a 2004 UNESCO Aschberg Award in Montreal.