DANCE ME A STORY: Five short dance films
DANCE ME A STORY
Five short dance films
17 October 2026
10 - 13h as part of MDC Open Day
Mediterranean Dance Center, Svetvinčenat
Dance Me a Story is a series of five short dance films created in 2021 through a workshop and research process involving the then members of Zagreb Dance Company and residents of the Ksaver Home for Older Persons, led by dramaturge Anja Pletikosa. Conversations, personal stories and memories became the starting point for five solo choreographies, which were then captured on film.
Choreographed by the then ZDC members Andreja Jandrić, Gendis Putri Kartini, Jovana Zelenović, Margareta Firinger and Sintija Kučić, the films bring the stories and experiences of another generation together with the artists’ own experiences, translating conversations and memories into movement and film. Across the five works, themes of love, youth, family history, time, memory and forgetting emerge.
TIME IN A GLASS
Through glass and water, the familiar image of the body begins to change. Andreja Jandrić uses the camera, light, reflection and image distortion to enlarge, reduce and fragment parts of the body, creating a different rhythm and perception of space and time.
Concept, choreography and performance: Andreja Jandrić
Dramaturgical support: Anja Pletikosa
Music: Miro Manojlović
Costume: Andreja Jandrić
Direction and editing: Miro Manojlović
Camera: Nina Đurđević
NOSTALGIA
The film takes as its starting point Mr Ante’s memory of his first love and a school trip to the theatre with a girl named Zdravka. Over time, the details of the event have become unclear, but the feeling has remained. Gendis Putri Kartini connects his story with her own experience and explores the memory of first love through dance.
Concept, choreography and performance: Gendis Putri Kartini
Dramaturgical support: Anja Pletikosa
Assistant choreographer: Filip Jurjević
Music: Karlo Lugarić
Costume: Nanci Filipović
Direction and editing: Miro Manojlović
Camera: Nina Đurđević
IN ONE BREATH
In One Breath deals with forgetting and the deconstruction of one’s own and others’ memories. Inspired by the stories and memories of another generation, Jovana Zelenović translates narrated pasts into dance material, using choreography to explore the fragility of memory.
Concept, choreography and performance: Jovana Zelenović
Dramaturgical support: Anja Pletikosa
Assistant choreographer: Margareta Firinger
Costume: Marijana Cigić / ten:ten
Direction, editing and sound design: Miro Manojlović
Camera: Nina Đurđević
GITA
Gita was prompted by conversations with “people with more experience than her own” and Margareta Firinger’s desire to explore her family history. Through conversations with her mother about her great-grandmother and her rebellious nature, the artist finds connections with her own experiences and upbringing.
Concept, choreography and performance: Margareta Firinger
Dramaturgical support: Anja Pletikosa
Assistant choreographer: Jovana Zelenović
Music: Miro Manojlović
Costume: Margareta Firinger
Direction and editing: Miro Manojlović
Camera: Nina Đurđević
ENGRAM
In neurology, an engram is a trace of memory recorded in the nervous system. Taking the relationship between remembering and forgetting as its starting point, Sintija Kučić creates a short dance film dedicated to human memory, combining choreography with motion capture technology.
Concept, choreography, direction and virtual dance: Sintija Kučić
Dramaturgical support: Anja Pletikosa
Acting: Vera Sekula
Music: Gavin Luke, What Once Was, Dissipate
Music arrangement: Sintija Kučić
Camera: Ante Delač
Motion capture and video editing: Veselin Krstovski
Animation: Alex De Bruin
PRODUCTION
Production team: Petra Glad Mažar, Nina Križan
PR: Ivana Sansević
Production: Zagreb Dance Company, 2021
Supported by: Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia, City of Zagreb