ConTempo 2025: SAITAIS | Gabrielė Bagdonaitė / Be Company (Lithuania)

Saitais (Links) is a poetic miniature of sound and movement, inviting the experience of subtle, often invisible connections that bind us to other forms of life. The starting point is the lichen—an unnoticed, often overlooked life form that calls us to expand our gaze beyond the human-centered world. Exploring the symbiotic nature of lichen inspires a rethinking of individuality: to see oneself as a multilayered body, constantly acting and being acted upon by other life forms and the environment.

This performance invites presence, sensing, listening, and seeing oneself as a fellow traveler among other living beings. It encourages empathy toward those with whom we may not feel an immediate connection. It is an attempt to tune into a slow, quiet life—to imagine the fragility and vitality of micro-environments. Saitais offers a shift into a different scale—where delicate interaction emerges from a quietly active presence.

The Young Creators Program is supported by ‘Baltisches Haus’.

Idea, choreography and text: Gabrielė Bagdonaitė
Choreographic material creation and performance: Gabrielė Bagdonaitė, Liza Baliasnaja, Giedrė Kirkilė
Audio mentor: Vladas Dieninis
Miniature mentor: Andrius Katinas
Production: BeCompany/Agnietė Lisičkinaitė
Miniature visual graphic design: Normantas Matonis
Lighting artist: Povilas Laurinaitis
Residency: Aleknaičiai Culture and Education Space, Kintai arts, Horos residency.

The creation of the miniature is partially financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture and the ConTempo Festival.

Gabrielė Bagdonaitė is a Lithuanian-born dance artist, performer and choreographer. In 2023, she graduated from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. Gabrielė has collaborated with internationally renowned choreographers, including Rósa Ómarsdóttir, Liza Baliasnaja, Alexandra Pirici, Judith Sánchez Ruiz, Nicolas Cantillon, Agnietė Lisičkinaitė and Greta Grinevičiūtė (Be Company). In her artistic practice, Gabrielė is interested in the more-than-human perception of the world and the embodiment of various natural organisms, especially holobionts.

She seeks to promote a sensitive and empathetic relationship with our environment, using poetic metaphors of movement and sound. Gabrielė combines writing, drawing, reading, soundscape creation and various movement practices in her ongoing research. These elements intertwine with imagination and embodiment, forming a distinctive artistic language that helps create new connections between humans and the more than human world.