Maja Delak: What if

And then I realised
I have to work more
And then I realised
there is no future
And then I realised
it would be easier if I were a boy
And then I realised
I work out of pleasure
And then I realised
I am ashamed
And then I realised
my body clearly and decidedly sets its own limits

What If … we lived differently? What if – we didn't? What If is a performance about not living differently. It is a performance about how time measures out the rhythm of our lives; how instability and hyperproductivity dictate the rhythm of work and how resistance often frames the rhythm of feeling. What If is a solo of a dancer and a solo about a dancer; it is a dance solo about what the body is capable of doing and what not (any more). It is a dance solo about the exposure and vulnerability of all bodies. What If is a performance about an insecure, unstable and vulnerable situation the dancer on stage is pushed into, the body of a dancer at work, the body of a dancer in life, who is continuing her investigation of the intersection between the body, gender and society, while critically addressing production conditions of contemporary dance (and art in general), which are the ongoing themes of Maja Delak's work.

And then I realised
I would come to the same conclusions
Also if I didn't do art. 

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Maja Delak is a choreographer, dancer, performer and pedagogue. She studied contemporary dance at CNDC L'Esquisse in Angers, France, and at numerous dance seminars, lead by internationally renowned pedagogues. She was, from 1993 to 2002, a member of the international dance group En-Knap, and a programme leader of the realization of a high school programme for contemporary dance, provided for at the Pre-School Education and Grammar School Ljubljana, where she teaches. In her choreographic opus, Maja Delak has traversed numerous worlds, which – despite the different themes and approaches to work – whirl into an anchorage of the author's dance poetics, with which she is making a clearer and clearer definition of the methodologies of contemporary art and dance. In 2006, Maja Delak established institute Emanat, with which she aims for the affirmation of contemporary dance – both with performance production as well as with a book programme (Transitions series) and education (Agon).

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Created and performed by: Maja Delak
Music: Luka Prinčič
Texts: Saša Rakef, Maja Delak
Dramaturgy: Katja Čičigoj
Scenography:  Irena Pivka
Costumes: Urška Recer
Programming: Jakob Leben, Luka Prinčič
Light design: Urška Vohar
Graphic design: Saša Kerkoš
Translations: Katja Kosi, Nataša Živković
Photographer: Nada Žgank
Executive producers: Saša Rakef, Nina Janež
Production: Emanat
Co-production: Festival City of Women, Dance Theater Ljubljana
In collaboration: Bunker / Old Power Station
Partner: Mediterranean Dance Center
Financial support: Ministry of Culture RS, City Municipality of Ljubljana