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My first visit to Slovenia was two years ago. I first met the MN Dance Company at an audition for Project: Icarus (2021), and I still vividly remember that day, and I am sure I will never forget it. I have been to many auditions in my life, but none have been as fulfilling as that one. There was so much wonderful work in a few hours of the audition, and I remember how much I would like to work with them. So, when I got offer the opportunity to work on the project: Icarus, was very appreciated that my dream had come true! At the same time, I tried to devote all my energy to the work with sincerity. Thankfully, I was also able to participate in the following year’s project: Perpetuum Mobile. And get to join with an ensemble member of the company. Then, I spent the year 2023 as MN Dance Company’s first cross-borders, international dance ensemble of the region. The ensemble is a vital part of the European Capital of Culture Nova Gorica – Gorizia 2025 flagship projects, the Borderless Body.

Major activities in 2023 include The Distance, Borderless Triptych and Perpetuum Mobile. Perpetuum Mobile was the revival of past season’s performances. I always find great feeling when I perform a piece again, because my understanding of the pieces deepens even more with practice and frequency. This time we performed in a different location with a different cast than the premiere. A new environment brings me new discoveries and new possibilities. And I believe that this not only improves the work, but also leads to my own inner growth.

The Distance is one of the biggest creations of a full-length evening performance in this year. The notion of distance is peculiar to modern society and is very well known. With the modern way of life and the introduction of digital technology, contacts between people are decreasing. Modern inventions for improving human life certainly work, but at the same time they interfere with millennia-old established ways of life, natural patterns of living, biological rhythms, social life of humans, which threaten human physical and mental health. The distance, which took on special dimensions in the half-past period of covid, deepened the gap between people, individualism, the distance of man from himself, which is already present in modern society. At the same time, it also accelerated the development of digital society and artificial intelligence. It is the latter, which has recently been on an explosive rise, that opens up new possibilities for the technological progress of mankind, but at the same time potentiates the most dangerous form of distance – distance from reality. Current dance performance does not distance itself from pressing social issues and with dance touches the essence of human existence – closeness. With an international cast of dancers, MN Dance Company in co-production with SNG Nova Gorica will contribute to the motto of uniting and connecting, overcoming all distances, which the European Capital of Culture Nova Gorica – Gorizia 2025 carries. This work made me think deeply about not only dance but also the issues we will face in the future. In a world that is becoming more and more convenient, is this really the correct answer? What will be the distance between humans or social life? Also, what is the distance between technology and humans? What is a natural life? I still don’t know what the answer is. However, the process in which everyone considers the answer will lead to a better future. This work was carefully created and completed from the concept, precisely because with MN Dance Company and in this city, Nova Gorica is surrounded by nature. I hope that the audience who saw it had the same questions as us and began to think about.

Borderless Triptych – To the Moon and Back is a dance evening featuring three choreographers. Human imagination has always been fuelled by ideas about life beyond the here and now, beyond this world, beyond the possibilities of ordinary existence. How to transcend oneself, the limitations of the human body and mind, the limitations of our planet. To travel to other worlds, to meet other intelligences that may exist somewhere. Once upon a time, man tried to make contact with life outside of himself through magic and religious customs, then through science, he tried to travel to the moon, and today he is trying to research artificial intelligence, which is supposed to finally surpass the human mind. What the future holds for us is, of course, uncertain, but it is certain that man will persist in his path of spreading awareness and getting to know the world and discover worlds that have been unknown to him so far. In the triptych of choreographers Nastja Bremec Rynia, Michal Rynia, Francesco Gammino and Luca Signoretti, the group of dancers MN Dance Company, an international dance ensemble that is part of European Capital of Culture Nova Gorica-Gorizia 2025, will travel with other dancers to the past, present and future, thus exploring the limits of human reach and possible. It was a huge challenge for me to dance three different dance pieces at the same time. The process of seeing the work gradually take shape and grow even better each time was a very fulfilling for me. Of course, there was a certain amount of pressure, but I think the work was more rewarding.

Living abroad is not just easy but a lot of positive experience. There are many aspects that can be discouraging, such as language, eating, culture, or religion. However, I believe meeting many people, feeling their differences, and trying to understand them will enrich your world and greatly expand your possibilities. This project will continue until 2025. Until then, I would like to devote myself even more to this project and send out more and more wonderful works to the world with MN Dance Company. Finally, my greatest thanks to the MN Dance Company and the EU-Japan Fest Japan Committee for giving me such a wonderful opportunity.