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Zaimon Vilmanis

What

Zaimon Vilmanis participated in the Annual SloveniaCroatia-Australia Artists Exchange (SCADE), a sixweek cultural and artistic residency between four experimental dance artists from Slovenia, Croatia and Australia (Brisbane and Darwin).

Zaimon also attended the NagiB Contemporary Dance Festival in Maribor, Slovenia which invites emerging talents in the field of contemporary dance and performance from Slovenia and abroad to present their work.

Through participation in these events, Zaimon improved his improvisational skills and acquired a clearer understanding of the artistic landscapes in Darwin, Australia and Slovenia. From discussions with leading dance professionals and producers Zaimon also gained a better understanding of where his work is positioned in relation to others.

The SCADE residency and NagiB Festival allowed Zaimon to extend his dance practice and to increase awareness about his practice and his company Prying Eye.

When

April to October 2014

Where

Brisbane, Croatia, Slovenia

Arts Queensland contribution

$7000 – Individuals Fund

Outcomes

  • Zaimon was able to explore new choreographic and improvisational tools which he will be able to utilise in future works with his company, Prying Eye.
  • Through SCADE and under the umbrella of the NagiB Festival, Zaimon established new connections and exchanged valuable knowledge with many new dance, theatre and visual artists from all over Europe. In the two weeks post SCADE, he also established relationships with many local independent artists from Ljubljana, Slovenia and Rijeka, Croatia.
  • Zaimon was able to profile his practice and Prying Eye through a number of opportunities. He wrote about his experiences online on the Slovene performing arts website, SiGledal, was interviewed by an Austrian reporter for her blog page and met with producers in Slovenia to share information about Prying Eye and their latest work.

Learnings and reflections

Zaimon found that the set structure during the NagiB Festival's incubator residency encouraged in-depth research and creative exploration:

Having clear objectives for everybody to achieve each day helped me to engage in a greater depth of artistic exchange. A communal dinner each evening sparked a great degree of conversation and formed the most genuine and meaningful long term relationships of the project. This fortnight was my highlight of the SCADE program.

Ready access to studio space and the opportunity to focus on his practice was also found to be invaluable. Zaimon was able to explore, research and reflect and able to:

  • generate new choreographic tools to use
  • expand knowledge of and application of improvisation techniques
  • develop plans, ideas and processes for future projects and
  • expand skills for engaging in effective collaboration.

At the end of the SCADE program, Zaimon took the opportunity to pursue his own activities and follow up some new connections:

Hiring a campervan during this time gave me increased flexibility to travel whenever I needed to and meant that I was able to associate with lots of people, see numerous performances, as well as teach workshops all within a limited timeframe. During this time I gained greater insight of the Slovenian and Croatian contemporary dance landscapes and was able to increase awareness amongst the Croation and Slovenian arts industry about my company Prying Eye, my work, and my practice.


Contact for further information

Website: www.pryingeye.org

Links

Videos of SCADE 2014 and NagiB Festival 2014

 

 

A pdf version of  Zaimon's experience (PDF) (307.33 KB) are available .