“Borrowed Landscape” Performance to Show Another Side of Liepāja Peter’s Market

Liepāja Peter’s Market, typically a bustling hub for fresh food, will be transformed into a stage for contemporary dance on 28 and 29 September as part of the “Liepāja Art Forum.” The performance, titled “Borrowed Landscape,” and performed by Belgian and Latvian dancers will offer a new perspective on this everyday space, blending the ordinary with the extraordinary.

Belgian-resided and working choreographers Heine Avdal (Norway) and Yukiko Shinozaki (Japan) will collaborate with the Latvian artists’ alliance “IevaKrish,” Kristīne Brīniņa and other local dancers, to create this unique performance. The market, historically a venue for theatre performances, will once again become a space where art and daily life intersect.

Co-founder of “IevaKrish,” Ieva Gaurličikaite-Sants, explains the concept: “The title 'Borrowed Landscape' is spot-on. We are taking people’s everyday environment – their landscape – and crafting new memories within it. We’re creating something special and different, something that might not entirely fit the video frame, but still resonates deeply.”

Each “Borrowed Landscape” performance is tailored to its specific location. The series began in 2011 in Yokohama, Japan, where the dancers depicted a mix of real and surreal everyday scenes in a demo house. The performances have since been staged in various settings, such as shopping malls and theatre foyers. The choreographers aim to forge a connection between the dance artists and their surroundings, subtly altering the habits and customs of the space to prompt the audience to reflect on their own routines and choices.

The performance at Liepāja Peter’s Market will seamlessly integrate into the daily activities of the market, allowing people to continue shopping while enjoying the show. Through smart and funny interventions, exaggerated movements, and a touch of the absurd, the dancers will explore the contrasts between body and objects, body and mind, and the organic and artificial.

For a more immersive experience, audience members can rent headphones that will play thought-provoking questions and insights about the surroundings during the performance. The performance will run in cycles, with six 20-minute segments taking place between 11:00 and 13:00. There will be no breaks between cycles, with the dancers moving from one to the next seamlessly.

Headphones can be rented for 20 minutes at a time, corresponding with the performance cycles: 11:00-11:20, 11:20-11:40, 11:40-12:00, 12:00-12:20, 12:20-12:40, and 12:40-13:00. After each cycle, the headphones must be returned to the starting point.

The event, “The Other Peter’s Market: Performance “Borrowed Landscape,” is organized by SIA “Lielais Dzintars” Ltd. More details on the performance and headphone rental can be found at https://www.bilesuparadize.lv/en

For additional information about the festival, visit www.lielaisdzintars.lv/en

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