Arts | Interactive children’s dance performance at CCM

Birute Baneviciute (right)

The Macau Cultural Center (CCM) will be holding an interactive children’s dance performance titled “Puzzle” from today to Sunday. The show is for children aged one to four years old.

“Puzzle” was nominated as the best children’s performance by Lithuania’s Ministry of Culture.

The choreographer of the performance, Birute Baneviciute, along with two dancers, Mantas Stabacinska and Marius Pinigis, spoke with the media yesterday at a press conference.

Baneviciute explained that the show incorporates four main elements – namely movement, sound, color and shape.

“Our aim is to create space for children to enjoy movement, to enjoy the world through cognition and movement. The four elements are the basis of this show where we play with them through a puzzle,” said Baneviciute.

Dancers in the performance mime the movements of children – for instance, their crawling, running or clapping. They interact with the children in this manner, incorporating  brightly colored geometric shapes for the children to see and touch.

“Dancers move together with the children. We really meet children, and have contact with every child,” said Baneviciute. “It’s a place where children can start exploring, and start creating, at first by looking, but then we also give them space and time to really go in physically to start exploring by moving.”

Having done the show for 10 years, Baneviciute commented that children’s reactions to the performance have generally remained the same.

“Usually, children start moving. During the performance, we have moments of interaction so they are not sitting and watching but also touching and bouncing with the shapes.”  

She added that the performance is a great chance for families to get together.

Baneviciute led a workshop for the dance performance yesterday, with 20 children in attendance.

Baneviciute and her team are part of Dansema Dance Theatre. Founded in 2007, Dansema Dance Theatre is the first professional dance theatre in Lithuania. The company creates performances for young audiences and has performed all over the world in countries such as the Netherlands, Palestine and Ukraine. The team has also performed in cities in China including Beijing, Shanghai and most recently, Hong Kong.

There will be six shows from today untill Sunday, each lasting approximately 45 minutes.