MAY THE DEW RAIN FALL ON US

SomaHut festival 2023

Concept, choreography: Mia Štark

Performance: Ivana Bojanić, Valentina Miloš, Anna Javoran

Dramaturgical support: Anna Javoran

Work with voice: Jasmina Bojić

Scenography: Kristina Marić

The relationship to nature and the relations between modern life and past times are at the heart of Mija Štark’s first original play. The author’s interest is not motivated by ecological reasons, as one might suspect, although awareness of environmental preservation is present as a distant echo. The focus is on searching for connections with the origins of man in nature, recognizing elements of pre-Christian culture and agricultural ideas of the world related to the cult of the earth and fertility rites that, transforming over time, have managed to remain at least fragmentarily in the customs of the community, view of the world or language. Our relationship to phenomena is significantly different from the understanding of our ancestors. A closer relationship and life in harmony with the changes of nature can already be observed in the generations of our grandparents, and as we delve into the past, it becomes increasingly obvious that nature once defined man’s horizon, that is, that man viewed himself as a part of the universe conditioned, determined and subordinated to natural forces. With the advancement of civilization, man places himself in opposition to nature, diminishing the importance of its influence on life, suppressing its power, and at the same time suppressing nature within himself, while positioning and affirming himself as the creator who gives meaning and purpose to everything that exists.

Let the dew fall on us Rain focuses on the questions of whether dance and customs contained in folklore patterns, and inherited from agricultural rituals and Slavic mythology, emerged from a sacred or social moment, how the sacred conditions the social, and vice versa, how these rituals change with the transition to Christianity, and how to relate to heritage when even in rural areas there are no gatherings where communities used to address Nature with a symbolic gesture of customary repetitions, relying on its wisdom of cyclical balancing.

The performance was realized as part of the Pogonator and Koreospektar programs, produced by the Association of Professional Dance Artists PULS in co-production with Domino, with the support of the City of Zagreb and the Ministry of Culture and Media of the Republic of Croatia.