Simone Lorenzo Benini & Miriam Budzáková – The Sandpit

Sand is a material able to create and at the same time erase many shapes. Manipulation turns sand into a substance out of which an endless number of stories and images can be made. In a way, sand preserves memories. It hides and reveals, leaves only details visible and invites us to imagine what may lie beneath them. In The Sandpit, Simone Lorenzo Benini and Miriam Budzáková examine this material as a metaphor for the body – a wreath for endless possibilities of exploring the ambiguity of our memories, which are often unclear and blend with fantasies, fears, desires and other forces.

Simone Lorenzo Benini is a dancer/choreographer currently based in Vienna. He completed his dance studies at SEAD and regularly collaborates as a performer with Finnish dance artist Elina Pirinen. In his choreographic research, he explores movement and expression that bring forth ecstasy, vulnerability, despair, libido, fantasies, emotions, memories and everything that lies beneath the surface. He is currently supported by Italian institutions for emerging artists such as Anticorpi XL and Anghiari Dance Hub and is also an associated artist with AiEP, Milan.

Miriam Budzáková is a dance/performance artist currently based in Vienna, working in Austria, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Italy. She is a graduate of SEAD in Salzburg and holds a bachelor’s degree in dance theatre and performance from the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. Her creative work moves between seriousness, humour and sentimentality. She explores the body’s experience in uncomfortable, intimate, social and public contexts and creates performative situations as collective audience experiences. Miriam Budzáková has worked with the inter-disciplinary collective INSTITUT INSTITUT (CZ/SK) and the Vienna-based group ArTemporis. Since 2017, she has been a co-organizer of the cross-genre dance festival Tanečno in Northern Slovakia.

Laureen Drexler & Giorgia Scisciola – PIERRE

In PIERRE (which is French for ‘stone’), Laureen Drexler and Giorgia Scisciola explore the balance between structure and freedom as they delve into the complex dynamics of oppression and self-liberation. In this world that imposes rigid social expectations, we tend to forget how to live in harmony with our inner voice. PIERRE is about relearning life and reconnecting with intuition and emotion, about how the act of listening to oneself can become the key to liberation and about vulnerability being a source of power rather than weakness.

Laureen Olivia Drexler is a dancer, choreographer and creative director in Vienna. She finished her studies in contemporary and classical stage dance at the Music and Arts University of Vienna and performed in choreographies by Liz King, Georg Reischl, Luca Signoretti, Iratxe Ansa and Igor Bacovich, Esther Balfe, Saju Hari and Mani Obeya. From 2019 to 2022, she was a solo dancer at Theater Regensburg. In addition to such engagements, she directs and organises her own projects and performances on a continuous basis. Since 2023, she has been working as a freelance artist and founded LOD COLLECTIVE.

Giorgia Scisciola is a freelance dancer and teacher based in Vienna. She received her training at the Dance Arts Faculty in Rome and the Nuova Officina della Danza in Turin. During her career, which she started in 2018, she worked for companies and choreographers such as Spellbound Contemporary Ballet, Norrdans and Ella Rothschild. From 2019 to 2023, she danced in pieces by famous international choreographers and worked for theatres in Germany such as those of Regensburg and Münster. Since her return to working as a freelancer in late 2023, Giorgia Scisciola has collaborated with artists from all over Europe, most recently as a cast member of the touring production The Last Dance in Germany.

Huggy Bears stands for innovative performance art by young, emerging artists based in Vienna. A comprehensive support programme, it helps three to four individuals or collectives each year to find their artistic paths. Services range from support in production and administration to technical and dramaturgical advice all the way to finding opportunities to show the work in public and monthly feedback sessions within the group. It is in this setting that the young talents develop their projects into extraordinary stage pieces. Their premieres represent the conclusion of the support programme. This year, the Huggy Bear Days are organised in co-operation with brut Wien and WUK performing arts.

Behind the programme stands Bears in the Park, one of the City of Vienna’s cultural anchor centres. It is based in the 11^th district and run by Philippe Riéra and Charlotte Bastam. By supporting the independent performance scene with its extraordinary level of commitment, Bears in the Park has become an essential space in Vienna to work, mingle and exchange creative ideas. In addition to the Huggy Bears programme, the initiative provides free-of-charge rehearsal spaces within their dance studios and awards residencies for their sound studio as well as a studio for visual artists. bearsinthepark.org