ASSITEJ Czechia

This practice-based workshop invites dance and physical theatre professionals to enter the artistic research process behind Mothers of Earth — a new interdisciplinary performance by Sanja Frühwald and the VRUM Performing Arts Collective. Rooted in eco-feminist thinking, Slavic mythology, and the ethnology of Slavic women, the workshop explores how ancient archetypes, embodied memory, and ecological consciousness can inform contemporary choreographic and performative practices for young audiences.

Drawing inspiration from mythological figures such as Baba Yaga, Rusalke, Mokosh, Vesna and Zorya, participants will engage in physical improvisations, voice and rhythm explorations, image work, and collective composition exercises. The workshop investigates the body as a site of transformation, resistance, ritual, and interconnectedness with nature, while reflecting on feminist perspectives and artistic approaches to urgent social and ecological questions.

Particular attention will be given to creating performative languages for young audiences that move beyond moralizing and instead open spaces for imagination, emotional engagement, participation, and dialogue. Participants will explore how choreography, sound, object work, and spatial practices can generate immersive and inclusive experiences that speak to younger generations growing up amidst ecological uncertainty and social change. The workshop will include a practical session and a lecture and public discussion on the themes and methodologies of Mothers of Earth, offering insight into the broader artistic research process and inviting exchange between artists, audiences, and other participants.

The Past in the Present

The past in the present is like a long Middle Ages that has not yet ended. We are interested in it today because we seek in it our origins, our birth or childhood, as well as the dream of a simple and happy life that we have just left behind. It is that world we have lost, even though we remain linked to it by nostalgic memories of our grandparents’ time and by an unbroken tradition of oral storytelling. We seek in it refuge and certainties that are evaporating in the fluid times of modernity…

Sanja graduated from SEAD in Salzburg in 2007. Since then, as the artistic director of the VRUM Performing Arts Collective, she has created more than 25 original productions, including Baja Buf, LARGE – Public Event at the End of Time, No Logo Opera(tion), Minimi, the killer in you is the killer in me my love, Doodles, Tiger Lilies, Above Us Only Sky (EU project Living Realities, Changing Perspectives), Sons, The Milky Way, Lover’s disco(urse), At Night, Purple, Hey, Alter! (for Staatstheater Kassel / tanz kassel), The Great Word Factory (for Schauspielhaus Essen), Life Doesn’t Frighten Me at All, Mirabilia, Hopepunks, Shimmer, Beacon, and many others.

She has also collaborated as a dramaturg and mentor with artists such as Jan Rozman and Julia Keren Turbahn (Things thing), as well as Gat Goodovitch / Lazuz (So nah wie nie zuvor). Most of her works have been presented in Croatia, Austria, and on international tours. For her artistic work, she has received numerous nominations and awards, including the NHG Award (2012, 2016), the Austrian STELLA Award (2022, 2023, 2024), and ASSITEJ Croatia Awards (2022, 2023, 2024), among others. She presented her work at the Biennale of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean (2005), received the danceWEB scholarship (2007), and participated in the EU research project Choreoroam (2009–2010). Between 2012 and 2014, she was a resident artist within the Fresh Tracks Europe network (tanzhaus NRW, Krokus Festival Hasselt, kopergietery Gent, Tweetakt Festival, Het Lab Utrecht, Imaginate Edinburgh, Dansstationen Malmö, Dschungel Wien, STU Tallinn), focused on the development of dance for young audiences. This experience strongly influenced her further personal and artistic development.

Sanja’s artistic practice is marked by a deep interest in intergenerational collaboration and creating impact within the wider community. Her work is recognized as innovative, interactive, inclusive, and politically engaged. Over the years, she has articulated a distinctive artistic language within the field of performing arts for young audiences, opening dialogue between different social groups with an emphasis on nonviolent communication and the creation of new perspectives.

Since 2009, Sanja has been the director of the Kliker Festival in Varaždin, Croatia, which from 2025 expands into a national pop-up festival with editions in Varaždin, Zagreb, Split, and Pula. She initiated the Croatian national platform KLIKER (2013–2019) and coordinated GENERATOR – a European collaborative platform for the development of dance for and with young audiences (2018–2022).

From 2019 to 2022, she was a board member of ASSITEJ Austria, and since 2017 she has been a board member of the Young Dance Network, a global exchange platform in the field of dance for young audiences.

Alongside her artistic and collaborative work, Sanja regularly teaches at theatres, schools, and festivals throughout Europe, including the ImPulsTanz in Vienna, Dschungel Wien, Think Big! Festival, and the Academy of Dramatic Art Zagreb.