Giedrė Kirkilė (Lithuania) – DOWRY

Duration: 55 min.

In her solo movement performance ‘Kraitis’, choreographer and dancer Giedrė Kirkilė explores human identity formation and transformation. Today, we no longer accumulate material dowries – we don’t embroider lacy nightgowns for the first night, nor weave tablecloths or bedspreads. However, consciously or unconsciously, we collect values, attitudes, beliefs, and behavioural patterns that confine us to various roles and expectations. We bring this ‘invisible dowry’ into our independent adult life, and it becomes part of who we are. Some aspects help us be the best version of ourselves and build lasting relationships, while others hold us back.

How much of our identity forms on its own, and how much can we actively shape and reshape it?

Searching for answers to these questions, the artist employs yarn and knitting as metaphors. A heavy garment knitted from thick threads, covering the artist’s face and body, becomes a symbol of our beliefs and values – an ‘armour’ that both protects and constrains us.

I’ve knitted and knotted, threaded and twisted. 

Others taught me, and I learned, willingly or unconsciously. 

To get tangled up, to get knitted.

To unravel and untie, to wash, to untangle and sort out.

To knit up anew.

Each time I reknit the same armour, I repeat the same pattern, again and again. Faster, more efficiently, but it’s always just as uncomfortable.

Because I know how to crochet a pretty doily and how to feel constantly inadequate, I know how

to knit and take on all tasks, I know how to sew and lose myself in others.

How do I recreate my dowry?

Giedrė Kirkilė is a dance performer, creator, and teacher. For more than twenty years, she has danced with Vytis Jankauskas Dance Theatre and was twice nominated for the Golden Stage Cross Award for her roles in the theatre’s performances. In 2022, the Contemporary Dance Association honoured Giedrė with their award for the most memorable dance roles of 2021.

Since 2014, Giedrė has been teaching improvisation and contemporary dance technique to dancers and actors at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, actively participating in shaping the dance studies curriculum. In 2023, she received the highest award from the Ministry of Culture – the honorary ‘Carry Your Light and Believe’ badge – for her contribution to fostering Lithuania’s contemporary dance scene. 

Concept, choreography, costumes, performance: Giedrė Kirkilė

Music: Ka Baird, Isao Tomita, Mindaugas Tamošiūnas (lyrics by Marcelijus Martinaitis), Giedrė Kirkilė (soundscape)

Light design: Povilas Laurinaitis

Premiere: 3 December 2023, Vilnius, Lithuania. 

Instagram: @giedrekir

Photos by Vilma Paulikaitė and Miglė Markulytė.

Facebook:  @GiedreKirkile