Vladimirs Goršantovs / SIXTH (Latvia) – VOLUNTARY SERVITUDE
Duration: 45 min.
The performance is part of the Baltic Dance Platform programme.
ATTENTION: The performance includes lound sounds and flashing lights.
Dark ironic contemporary dance performance: “Voluntary Servitude”
Genes build, direct, encode, and influence. And genes are passed on. Their force is inexorable, and their drive is relentless. Like a quiet architect, genes seek continuation in every living form. Their nature — adaptive and persistent — is inherently selfish, using organisms as survival machines to ensure their legacy, whether good, bad, or disturbingly twisted.
The performance is a journey that begins in the realm of the simplest components of the microworld, evolving into the socio-political processes of today’s world — where competition, power play, and cheap thrills prevail.
This is a new bid for an escapist strategy. The madness unfolding around you may no longer be blamed on planetary alignments, zodiac constellations, karmic principles, divine punishment, or even changes in air pressure. It might just be our predestined servitude to the genetic games we are blindly enchanted by — like the strange compulsion to voluntarily be possessed by cats.
Meow-meow.
Vladimirs Goršantovs is a contemporary dance choreographer and performer. He is a member of the “SIXTH” dance company and actively works in Latvian theatre and contemporary performing arts projects. In 2021, Vladimirs graduated from the Latvian Academy of Culture.
He is drawn to emotionality and the expression of personal experience in art. He is interested in the capabilities of the body and its limitations. Vladimirs explores new ways of combining pop culture and rave music with personal emotional experience.
As a choreographer, he created the contemporary dance performance “Mans skābais krējums” in 2021, for which he was nominated as a Young Dance Artist at the Latvian Dance Awards 2021–2022. He also choreographed and performed the solo “Es arī esmu Latvija” in 2024 as part of the solo performance evening “Sometimes I Do Something.” For this work, he was nominated for Best Contemporary Dancer, and the event itself was nominated for Best Contemporary Dance Production or Event at the Latvian Dance Awards 2023–2024.
As a dancer, he performed in the production “Tas ir viss, ko mēs varam” (That’s All We Can Do), directed by Andrejs Jerovojs. He continues to work actively with the “SIXTH” dance company as both a performer and choreographer, contributing to multiple productions in recent years.
Author of the idea and choreographer: Vladimirs Goršantovs
Dancer: Simona Ozola
Dancer: Kitija Geidāne
Dancer: Darja Turčenko
Composer and Sound Director: Ernests Valts Circenis
Costume Designer: Ieva Stalšene
Lighting Designer: d’n’a
Executive Producer: Elza Siliņa
Technical support: Vents Feldmanis
Producers: Dance company “SIXTH”
Co-producers: Ģertrūdes ielas teātris
Supporters: The State Culture Capital Foundation of Latvia, The Association of Choreographers, VVfoundation (planned), Nordic Capital Fund (planned)
Premiere: April 2025 at “Ģertrūdes ielas teātris” and was presented in the programme “Differenti Sensazioni“ at “CAOS”.
Photos by: Toms Harjo, Roberta Gailīte.
The Baltic Dance Platform is a biennial event held in a different Baltic capital since 2019. It consistently and purposefully showcases contemporary dance from the Baltic region and its artists in both international and regional contexts. At the same time, the Baltic Dance Platform provides opportunities for collaboration among cultural professionals and the exchange of knowledge.
