Folk Dunja Jocić / Spellbound Contemporary Ballet Rome

TR25 Schouwburg

In Folk, an exuberant club night slowly transforms into an intoxicating ritual. The dance floor transforms into an altar, and the night into a succession of rituals in which uniformity prevails. As the atmosphere shifts, the dynamics change as well: the group forms a shared identity that constantly shifts, without anchor, in which individuals are swallowed up or repelled.

Eight dancers take the audience on a physical and immersive experience in which group behavior unfolds according to a different logic each time. We are drawn into increasingly strange rituals, and our ideas about what we see and feel are turned upside down time and again. The performance makes us feel just how confronting, seductive, and frightening collective forces can be.

Jocić draws inspiration from the rich folk traditions of former Yugoslavia and from the turbulent 1990s, when ideological shifts profoundly changed daily life and personal identity. Outside this context, Jocić reconsiders her own roots and draws parallels with the world of today.

In Folk, Jocić uses the raw energy of Balkan music and dance to create new rituals: at the intersection of tradition, trance, and transformation, with echoes of societal upheavals.

About Dunja Jocić

Dunja Jocić creates cinematic dance performances that expose the depths of the human psyche. Her work, imbued with her background in ballet and as a top athlete in former Yugoslavia, was awarded the VSCD Dance Prize De Zwaan. As a highly sought-after choreographer for major ballet companies in Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, she is solidifying her international reputation.