villa\wigman
stands with Ukraine

On January 27, 2023, on the occasion of the opening of the exhibition "Loss and Hope" by Vira Dumke, the association Plattform Dresden, together with villa\wigman and depart.one, initiated a round table discussion. The aim was to sensitize Dresden's urban society to the solidarity activities of and for cultural workers from Ukraine, as well as the personal and artistic processing of the state of war at home and in exile. The TANZPAKT in residence program enabled the choreographer and dancer Valeriya Koptseva to spend four weeks in Dresden, which included a workshop at TENZA and a presentation of her film work at the Ukrainian House. Her dance films speak of the personal urge to move in order to come to terms with the flight from Donetsk that has been ongoing since 2014. But also about the longing for a homeland. A homeland that combines with the iconic images of cultural places from Kiev and the song "Як тебе не любити, Києве мій" to generate moving moments.

Very impressive for the audience was the latest cinematic work by Valeriya Koptseva, which deals with the experience of flight from the point of view of a young Ukrainian woman in Berlin. In addition to scenes of dealing with German bureaucracy or shopping, which were very familiar to the Ukrainian audience in particular, the focus is on the processing of emotional states - through daily following of the Ukrainian news - via physical expression.

In January 2023 we welcome the choreographer Valeriya Koptseva. She already had to leave her homeland, the Donbass, in 2014 and now for a second time with 24.02.2022.

"When you hear explosions and see death, your psyche tries to find a way to escape. You start to distance yourself from your body. You stop feeling it. You don't want to eat, you can't sleep, you disappear." Valeriya Koptseva

Valeriya Koptseva is a resident of villa\wigman - space for performing arts Dresden as part of the project "TANZPAKT in residence".

Further information about her residency

Praetorian Non-Profit Art & Health Consulting and Villa Wigman for Dance cooperate with the intention to support the artists who fled from the war of aggression of the Russian Federation with public performances in our institutions. For this we used the event SOLO² on 30.10.2022 in the villa\wigman.

Under the title "Dance+Blue+Yellow" we invited Ukrainian artists to perform solo dance pieces together with Dresden artists. Daryna Bulakovska, Olexandra Chetveryk, Anastasiia Dzhun, Kateryna Kuznetsova, Illia Miroshnichenko and Roman Varava took part.

The performing arts serve not only to promote the mental and emotional health of the audience, but also, and above all, the health of artists. It is a matter of psychological well-being to express oneself on stage. Especially when artists face difficulties in their lives. Our goal with "Dance+Blue+Yellow" is to address these needs and connect artists with their audience so they can enjoy the transformative power of art together. "Dance+Blue+Yellow" exemplarily presents with this selection the sophisticated art of dancers who had to leave their homeland due to the war in Ukraine. The initiative " Dance+Blue+Yellow" wants to become a unique meeting place for Ukrainian artists. They come from different corners of Germany to unite for one evening and celebrate the art that exists despite all the difficulties.

"SOLO² x Dance+Blue+Yellow Gala" was a cooperation event of Praetorian Non-Profit Art & Health Consulting and Villa Wigman Verein für Tanz e.V. with the intention to support the artists who fled from the war of aggression of the Russian Federation with public performances.