Baltic Circus on the Road: BIG WOLF COMPANY

21.05.2021.

Residency of BIG WOLF COMPANY in the frameworks of Baltic Circus on the Road

The members of the Big Wolf Company (Estonia) have spent their time period at “Baltic Circus on the Road” residency. The residency was held in “Sakala3” space in Tallinn during April 2021 and the dramaturgical consultant and mentor was the director Kati Kivitar.

The Big Wolf company’s pitch at the open call competition was chosen by an international jury and they were selected as a company with great potential to represent the quality of the Baltic circus arts in European scope.

During the residency artists Grete Gross, Lixeth Wolk and Ghia Lumia Fieandt were working on their show “Three sisters” indoor version. The show is about the great women of the Baltic-Nordic countries and the role of woman through the ages.

During the residency the artists were working on various tasks: the scene order of the show, solos and bringing out each character, the shows visual concept (for indoor version), creating and exploring live music, trying to find a balance between beauty and silliness in the show; developing the idea of the “wedding horse”, seeing what works in outdoor versus indoor performing spaces.

Here is an mini-interview with the artists.

What were you expecting from the project and collaboration with Kati?

–We didn’t know what to expect from the residency, as we have not so intensively worked with a dramaturg before. We had some troubles finding the right person in the beginning, and some options bailed out, but we are sure it was for a reason.

How did you meet, how was the collaboration? Why was she great or not?

–We just had to meet Kati Kivitar when the conditions were perfect. Kati has worked as a director, actor and a choreographer in different theatres in Estonia, including the National Ballet and Opera;
When Kati agreed to help, she already on the phone seemed like the perfect choice. She was calm, had great ideas, challenged us with difficult questions and helped us make more sense with the performance.
Before our collaboration we discussed amongst the sisters what we think needs changing and developing, so the process was a pleasant mutual creation.

What was your creative routine during the residency?

–The residency itself was quite intense, we worked long days and went through a lot of material. Repeating and perfecting the scenes, and doing run throughs on a regular basis.
This way we found out what is still unclear and what needs to be worked on.
The new material we partly created when Kati had her day off and partly together. This saved some precious time and let everyone use their full potential without wasting away just sitting in the space.

What were you working on – what were you planning to develop (techniques, scenes, …) and how it resulted?

–The main aim of the residency was to get the piece to run as a story, that’s why the dramaturgy help was needed. We tried to create a show where there are no “I just thought it looks cool” scenes, that everything would have a place and a meaning in the show.
We think we managed just fine doing that. But I guess the final judge is the audience.

How did residency help and what are your next steps?

–The residency was great and necessary to take a step further, we can play the show both indoors and outdoors now. Next steps are hopefully presenting the show to the audience and getting to tour with the show. Also we are very happy to have made a new awesome friend and a colleague as Kati.