Easterly Wind

Direction: east! The 31st ULICA International Street Theatre Festival (5-8 July) hosts guests all the way from Asia. “We will showcase the most fascinating elements of Asian street theatre,” promises Jerzy Zoń, director of the KTO Theatre, organises of the event.

South Korean performers feature strongly in this year’s events. The magician and musician Charming JAY invites us to a Smoky Jazz Club, the pair of artist from the Seed Dance Project presents their spectacle Interaction, while the CCOT Collective take over Planty Garden Ring with their spectacle/installation Massager.

Of course the festival wouldn’t have been the same without artists from Russia and the former Soviet republics. The spectacle Foam on the Daze, based on a novel by Boris Vian, showcases the acrobatic and pyrotechnic skills of the AKHE Engineering Theatre from Russia. Performers from the Kiev Street Theatre “Highlights” invite the public to join them in a Dance Pageant to the rhythms of flamenco and Ukrainian kolomyjka, the puppet performance Paradiso by Our Theatre from Georgia reveals the charms of our autumn years, while the Green Theatre of Bishkek presents Song of Stones celebrating the beauty of Kyrgyz poetry.

What else? Kurdish Storytellers present traditional songs from the Diyarbakir region in Dengbêj Evi, the Singaporean juggler Jay Che Jia Jun reveals that Beethoven’s music can be performed using ping-pong balls, while the Israeli Duo Looky enact unusual, innovative circus displays. The festival programme is bursting at the seams, so the only thing to do is choose what to see – and then sit back to watch, listen and admire!

(Justyna Skalska, “Karnet” magazine)

You find the programme HERE.