Alina Sokulska (UA) – Maria Plotnikova (UA): Magura/ Territory & People

Part of the 12th International Monodance Festival

According to ancient Ukrainian pagan beliefs, Magura is a winged woman, a magical bird, the female deity of war, who flies over the battlefield to bless brave soldiers with a kiss on their final journey…

In their collaborative work, Sokulska and Plotnikova explore the radical corporeality of wartime: its vulnerability and strength, and the fragility and power of physical effort and resistance. The character of Magura—who was once lost among vanishing meanings and sensations—approaches this physicality through the mystical side of Ukrainian culture, ancient archetypes, and beliefs.

Sokulska’s choreographic material was developed in parallel with Plotnikova’s performance concept. In the latter, the performer moves a body made of clothes and filled with earth, desperately trying to bring it into a vertical position with physical force, while the earth continuously spills out of the body.

The flesh-and-blood presence in the performance resonates with the choreographic interpretation of the Magura myth. Thus, the ontology of the body is questioned: we see it as radically material and beyond material at once. The body here is earth and soil, flesh experiencing pain, and the spirit that transcends it, dissolving into the process of its own possible transformations.

Concept & Choreography: Alina Sokulska

Performance Concept & Direction: Maria Plotnikova

Music: Dakha Brakha, Ukrainian folk songs

Costume Design: Kimôh (Anne-Cècile Espinach)

Duration: 40 min

The performance Magura/ Territory & People is realized within the framework of the dancEUA Creative Europe project (2024–2027), established by Studio Contemporary Dance Company (Croatia), Central Europe Dance Theatre (Hungary), Vitlycke – Centre for Performing Arts (Sweden), M Studio (Romania), and UA Contemporary Dance Platform (Ukraine) to support the local development of contemporary dance.