The main highlight of the program is two Lithuanian premieres inviting you to look at everyday life, fairy tales, and contemporary circus from an unexpected perspective.
Two Lithuanian premieres – from the absurdity of everyday life to uncensored fairy tales
The festival will begin with the performance “Saucisosn” by Elena Kosovec and Izabelė Kuzelytė (“Taigi Cirkas”). In it, time does not flow normally, and the logic of cause and effect is replaced by absurdity, unexpected transformations, and constant uncertainty. The creators of the performance ask what happens when everything we are used to becomes uncontrollable and eventually disappears. The play of circus techniques, the tension between beauty and disgust, and the paradoxes of everyday life merge into a unique stage world.
A kind of prehistory of “Saucisson” is the installation “This is not a death scene,” which will be exhibited in the foyer of “Menų spaustuvė” during the festival. It invites you into a dreamy and slightly unsettling world where the familiar imperceptibly becomes strange.
The second Lithuanian premiere is the performance “Grimmasos” by “Teatronas” and “Kanta Company,” based on three lesser-known Grimm brothers’ fairy tales from the first uncensored edition. In the performance, circus, dance, and the art of fairy tales merge into an intimate, engaging show filled with death, revenge, rebirth, and absurd twists of the story. “Grimmasos” invites you to ask whether the circus can become a place to encounter the inexplicable and whether the audience and creators can create together.
International program – four different experiences of time
The festival program also includes four performances by foreign contemporary circus creators from Switzerland, Spain, Belgium, and Finland.
Swiss creator Julian Vogel’s “Ceramic Circus” will meet ceramics and circus on the edge of breaking, while the Spanish troupe “Kolektiv Lapso Cirk” will immerse the audience in a 360° space in “Qoroq,” where trust, balance, and risk will be tested. The Belgian troupe “Modo Grosso” will try to make time visible and tangible in the performance “Tout / Rien,” and the highlight of the festival will be the Finnish visual artist and illusionist Kalle Nio’s “Tempo” – a performance inviting you to observe time as if it has stopped.
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“For the contemporary, especially the city dweller, this year’s festival can become not only a space to pause and step back from the rush of everyday life but also a place to philosophically reflect on time – that which physically does not exist but which we constantly feel,” says the festival program coordinator Gabrielė Kundrotaitė.
The festival – not just performances
The “Helium” program will be complemented by educational and discussion activities. Students in grades 9–12 are invited to the “Young Critic” program, adults to “Scenos konTEKSTUS,” and participants with stage movement experience to microbatics workshops led by “Tempo” performer Winston Reynolds.
During the festival, the contemporary circus school CIRCulus will also open its doors, and in the discussion “The politics of contemporary circus without persuasion: is it possible,” creators, critics, and researchers will invite conversations about contemporary circus art and its relationship with politics.
The contemporary circus festival “Helium” will take place from September 10–20 at “Menų spaustuvė.” The full festival program is here.
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