{"id":4261,"date":"2025-06-11T11:35:59","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T11:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alenapeskova.cz\/?p=4261"},"modified":"2026-09-15T08:37:36","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T08:37:36","slug":"vlasta-tanecni-dokudrama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alenapeskova.cz\/en\/vlasta-tanecni-dokudrama\/","title":{"rendered":"Vlasta \u2013 a dance docudrama, site-specific"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ultra-Minimal Ballet (UMB) <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Vlasta is an original dance docudrama inspired by the true life story of a woman whose fate served as the starting point for an exploration of human memory, identity and the ability to come to terms with one\u2019s own past. Documentary footage, contemporary dance, physical theatre and projections are woven together here to create a multi-layered theatrical image in which reality is not merely narrated, but relived.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

The production was originally conceived as a site-specific project for the raw, unfinished space of Kino 64 U Hradeb in Prague, whose architecture became an integral part of the narrative. Alongside this original version, there is also an adaptation for a conventional theatre (proscenium) stage.<\/p>\n

Three dancers, one actor and a video projection bring to life scenes from Vlasta\u2019s extraordinary life. Vlasta, whose mother jumped out of a window; who was raped as a child; who was wrongly accused; who spent her youth in a concentration camp with Jesensk\u00e1, Jab\u016frkov\u00e1 and Jirs\u00edkov\u00e1; who was rejected by her own father after the war; who fell in love, who went through a divorce, who also jumped out of windows, who guzzled diazepam, who became a terror to her neighbours, who heard \u2018Jo\u017ein from the Marshes\u2019 everywhere, everywhere\u2026
\nIt uses texts of contemporary official documents, real letters and a recording of an interview with the daughter of the title character. Time does not have to pass linearly here, \u201ehigh\u201c and \u201elow\u201c art are mixed. Situations can be viewed from different perspectives and can appear tragicomic.
\nFor Vlasta, even for the observer, it is often not entirely clear whose mother, daughter, husband, son, father, tormentor... or who she is to herself.
\nThe themes are very contemporary \u2013 indeed, timeless \u2013 although they are presented to us through the lens of the past, so that we might view things \u201efrom a different perspective\u201c. This is the aim and intention \u2013 to allow the viewer to look at themselves \u201efrom a different perspective\u201c. To offer an outside perspective and the tolerance that stems from it as a solution to one\u2019s own and others\u2019 suffering. And that is why we find no visual attributes of that particular era here. Everything is happening now\u2026 in many places in today\u2019s world\u2026 still\u2026 unfortunately.<\/p>\n

Creative team<\/h3>\n

Script, direction and choreography:<\/strong> Alena Pe\u0161kov\u00e1
\nMusic:<\/strong> Michal Vejskal
\nScene:<\/strong> Richard Pesek jr.
\nCostumes:<\/strong> Pavla Mich\u00e1lkov\u00e1
\nDramaturgical cooperation:<\/strong> Barbora Truksov\u00e1
\nCollaboration on searches:<\/strong> Vlasta Vindu\u0161kov\u00e1
\nProduction:<\/strong> Martina Dibl\u00edkov\u00e1, David Pe\u0161ek Dvo\u0159\u00e1k<\/p>\n

Cast<\/h3>\n

Vlasta (the younger):<\/strong> Kate\u0159ina Iliina
\nVlasta (the elder):<\/strong> Alena Pe\u0161kov\u00e1
\nHe (the younger one):<\/strong> Michal Kov\u00e1\u010d
\nHe (the elder):<\/strong> Martin N\u011bmec<\/p>\n

About the life of Vlasta<\/strong><\/em>
\nI learned about Vlasta's life from Vlasta. This second Vlasta was the daughter of the first Vlasta and my<\/em>
\nassistant at the time when I was \u201ehead\u201c of the ballet in Liberec. The other Vlasta once apologized to me that<\/em>
\nshe was late because her mom died. \u201eAnd you know what her last words were?...\u2018Put that yogurt away.<\/em>
\n\u2019Bloody hell\u201c\u2026 \u2018You know, she had a tough time of it.\u2019 And so I listened\u2026<\/em>
\nVlasta was born in 1925. She grew up as an only child. When Vlasta was a little girl, her<\/em>
\nmom committed suicide by jumping out of the window - probably she couldn't handle her addiction to pralines - note<\/em>
\nbene on alcohol - she worked in a Prague praline factory. From then on, Vlasta lived alone with her<\/em>
\nby her daddy and she was learning to be a seamstress. One day Vlasta was met in the corridor by a neighbour - the owner of the house.<\/em>
\nHe liked Vlasta, liked her so much that he raped her in the corridor. Vlasta was fifteen and a half at the time.<\/em>
\nThe neighbor became afraid. He became afraid that Vlasta would talk about him to someone. He was so scared that he<\/em>
\ndecided to get rid of Vlasta. He put leaflets with communist texts in her briefcase and called the Gestapo. Gestapo<\/em>
\ncame, saw and took Vlasta away. Vlasta's father distanced himself from Vlasta's actions. Vlasta's daddy is no longer<\/em>
\nhe wanted nothing to do with Vlasta. Vlasta was taken to Pankr\u00e1c. There Vlasta waited for her<\/em>
\nfor at least 16 years so they can take her somewhere else. Actually, Vlasta was looking forward to it. Things were bad at Pankr\u00e1c - she was often beaten - so she was looking forward to wherever they would take her, it would be better. Vlasta was really taken away. The train<\/em>
\nheading for Dresden, but he didn't stop there... he stopped in Ravensbr\u00fcck. In the concentration camp.<\/em>Rivers
\nRavensbr\u00fcck was not much better, but Vlasta was lucky, she could sew and so she could repair<\/em>
\nthe costumes of SS wives and to match the coats of prisoners, which might have hidden jewels or<\/em>
\nmoney. It happened many times that Vlasta was \u201eborrowed\u201c by an SS man during his work...<\/em>
\nhe zipped up the fly and sent her back to work. This is also where Vlasta met the famous 3 x J -<\/em>
\nJesensk\u00e1, Jab\u016frkov\u00e1 and Jirs\u00edkov\u00e1. Two of them died in Ravensbr\u00fcck, but Jirs\u00edkov\u00e1 survived.<\/em>
\nWhen famine struck, relatives were able to send food parcels to the prisoners. And then it happened that a hidden<\/em>
\nin bread, M\u00e1cha's May also arrived at the stages. So there was reciting, dancing, theatre...<\/em>
\nRavensbr\u00fcck was liberated by the Russians, Vlasta remained for a long time. She had to take care of those who<\/em>
\ncouldn't walk or were dying. When Jirs\u00edkov\u00e1 said goodbye to her, she told Vlasta that when her daughter was born,<\/em>
\nshe can call her and she can make her daughter a ballerina. After Vlasta had taken care of the necessities, she set out<\/em>
\nto look for Daddy. She found him in a cottage in Litnia. Papa had remarried and had more children. For<\/em>
\nThere was no room for Vlasta in the cottage... And so Vlasta wandered the countryside, repairing clothes in cottages<\/em>
\nfor a piece of bread or an egg... until she arrived in Prague. Here Vlasta applied to the committee for former<\/em>
\na prisoner and fell in love with it. He spent the war in Sachsenhausen for wanting to go to fight in Spain.<\/em>
\nThey got married and took a place in Liberec. They had a daughter together, then they divorced, but Vlasta found out that<\/em>
\nis expecting Vlasta... and so the divorce<\/em> sit worked. They both had tuberculosis, they both had pain, pain... Vlasta heard<\/em>
\nVoices. Vlasta did not want to live and so - like her mother - she often jumped out of the window while her small children<\/em>
\ncrying and screaming behind locked doors. Little Vlasta didn't want the big<\/em>
\nVlasta called Jirs\u00edkov\u00e1, even though she really wanted to be a ballerina. Vlasta had to take diazepam,<\/em>
\na lot of diazepam... and so when her husband died, or later one of her daughters, she just felt a strange<\/em>
\nrelief. Vlasta frightened the neighbours. Vlasta dismantled the gas stove because she could hear Jo\u017ein from the swamp in it.<\/em>
\nVlasta heard Jo\u017ein everywhere. Vlasta died when she was ninety years old. Her last words were: \u201eThe<\/em>
\nStick the yogurt up your ass already.\u201c<\/em>
\nV.V. + A. P.<\/p>\n

64 U Hradeb<\/p>\n

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