Barbara Matijević

Barbara Matijević studied languages and literature in parallel with dance and acting in Zagreb (Croatia). With Giuseppe Chico, she is the founder and artistic co-director of the theatre company Premier Stratagème based in Paris. In her work she explores the impact of digital culture on storytelling through auto-fictional performances, lecture performances, radio plays, group choreographies, photo exhibitions and installations. Her work has been presented in over 35 countries, in theatre and dance venues, film festivals, art galleries and museums. As a dancer and actress she has worked with a number of choreographers and theatre directors in France, Croatia, Slovenia and Belgium (Boris Charmatz, Joris Lacoste, Bojan Jablanovac). She has taught at Osijek Art Academy, Zagreb Dance Academy, Helsinki Academy of Fine Arts and Lasalle College in Singapore. Invited by the Opéra de Lyon, Barbara Matijević created in 2022 the solo for Coralie Levieux, a dancer of the ballet, as part of the cycle Danser Encore.

The goal of this workshop is the exploration, via improvisation, of the link between speech and movement: how they measure up to each other, how they affect each other, and how they co-exist. No pre-existing choreography or texts are required for the workshop.The artist provokes an encounter between thought, word, and movement through stage composition. Barbara Matijević invites participants to experiment in a guided improvisation, progressing in complexity, to recreate the link between body and language in the artistic process.