FOREST

An ecofeminist statement about an absurd system cutting off the very branch it sits on.

Forest is the final chapter of the personal trilogy Niti PraGozd by Slovenian choreographer Danijela Zajc. Following the performances Threads (2019) and Threshold (2021), Forest (2024) comes as a symbolic return to what is primal – and to what is deeply personal. Throughout the trilogy, the author explores the “engine” of social change – non-violent radicalisation – and examines the relationship between individuality and collectivity, between personal and systemic crisis.

In Forest, she intertwines the theme of ecofeminism with the image of today’s patriarchal, neo-capitalist, consumer society. Like trees in a dense forest, the individual struggles to survive within a system that is slowly collapsing from within. Society knows it needs change – and yet continues to postpone it.

On stage, five performers and two live musicians join the author in creating an organic whole – a body as a tree, a voice as a root, a movement as branches swaying in the wind of resistance. The project was developed through an international network of residencies stretching from Timișoara to Rijeka, Košice and Ostrava. The performers were selected via an open call organised in cooperation with Tabačka Kulturfabrik (SK) and MOVE Ostrava (CZ) and collaborated with the author during an intensive creative residency in Košice.

The result is a physically charged and poetically reflective performance about a world that knows it must act – but still hesitates. Forest invites us to slow down, to listen, and to take responsibility – for ourselves and for the planet.