About Mojca Majcen
Mojca Majcen is a dancer and ballerina who devoted herself to the art of dance as a child. Already at young age she appeared in several children’s dance shows and danced for the kid’s entertainment program on national television RTV Slovenia. Even as a child she already received several awards at the OPUS – Slovenian choreographic competition for children and youth.
She acquired basic dance education and gained knowledge of different dance techniques taught by Slovenian and international educators in the Dance Studio IGEN under the direction of choreographer Igor Jelen. She continued her ballet education with Ana Pezdir Vovk and Henrik Neubaer. In 1998 she graduated with honours at the High school of Music and Ballet in Maribor under the mentorship of Iko Otrin.After graduation she danced several variations from classical ballets (Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Giselle, Seasons, Shop dolls, etc.) for Slovenian National Theatre Maribor. She continued her education home and abroad (Budapest, St. Petersburg, Vienna, Berlin and renowned group Nederland Dance Theatre) and started working with internationally renowned teachers, ballet masters and choreographers. In 2000 the Dance Theatre IGEN focused on modern dance techniques and their integration with theatre. They produced several full-length dance performances with Mojca in main role that guested many dance festivals abroad and received many international awards. With the solo role in the Lady of the Camellias, Mojca was the only representative of the Slovenian dance art scene that performed at the Venice Dance Biennale and entered the finals on the prestigious dance competition Sergei Diaghilev Award with recognized Vladimir Malakhov as the president of the jury.
In 2011 Mojca received a bronze coat of arms of Municipality of Celje for her cultural achievements in the field of dance. In 2012 she was voted as the best dancer in Slovenia on the dance portal Parade dance. Since 2011 she has a status of independent cultural artist of Republic of Slovenia.
As a guest dancer and ballerina she works with domestic and international choreographers, dance companies from Slovenia (Dance Gallery, Dance Theatre Velenje …) and abroad (ArtBark USA ..). She has assisted in several modern and ballet performances in choreography by Igor Kirov for Macedonian ballet (The Red Room), Croatian National Ballet Split (5 till midnight, On the Road, On the Edge, The Death and the dervish). As an assitent she works with choreographer Aleksandar Ilić (opera Faust for Serbian National Theatre Novi Sad, immersive theatre Inhismind)
She is one of the founders of the Balkan Dance Project platform and she dances in all the productions of Balkan Dance Project
PERFORMANCES:
1997–2000
4 Seasons (choreography: Henrik Neubauer) Shop of Dolls (choreography: Henrik Neubauer)
Swan Lake (pas de quatre) Giselle (corp de ballet)
Don Quixote Nutcracker
2000–2011
Three.Sisters (Dance Theatre Igen, choreography: Igor Jelen)
Memoriandum for Evita Peron (Dance Theatre Igen, choreography: Igor Jelen)
XYZ (Dance Theatre Igen, choreography: Igor Jelen
Aquasphera (Dance Theatre Igen, choreography: Igor Jelen)
House 22 (Dance Theatre Igen, choreography: Igor Jelen)
Lady of the camellias (Dance Theatre Igen, choreography: Igor Jelen)
Callas (Dance Theatre Igen, choreography: Igor Jelen)
What is missing? (DBUS, choreography: Tamara Divjak)
2012
Reflections (Dance Gallery Maribor, choreography: Mojca Ussar)
A Bao Qu (Sonnenblauma Danscz Theatre USA, choreography: Misa Mandigo Kelly)
Moki’s Wedding (Sonnenblauma Danscz Theatre USA, choreography: Misa Mandigo Kelly)
Falling and Flying (Sonnenblauma Danscz Theatre USA, choreography: Stephen Kelly)
2013
He He Helium (Houseof Culture Celje, Festival Velenje, Kirov Dance Company, Happy Family Theatre, choreography: Igor Kirov)
Alma (Art Bark International USA, choreography: Misa Mandigo Kelly)
Titanic.si (Art Bark International, Dance Entropy USA, choreography: Valerie Green)
La Appelle du Forest or Mother’s kiss (Cankarjev Hall Ljubljana, Zavod Federacija, choreography: Etcha Dvornik)
2014:
Two of us (Galerija Plesa Maribor, koreografija: Mojca Ussar)
Steamship X (ArtBark International, koreografija: Misa Mandigo Kelly)
Nadar (ArtBark International, koreografija: Misa Mandigo Kelly)
2015:
No Exit (Galerija Plesa Maribor, choreography: Mojca Ussar)
Alma. Alone (ArtBark International, Cankarjev Dom, House of Culture Celje, authors: Misa Mandigo Kelly, Stephen Kelly, Marijan Pusavec)
5 till Midnight (assistant of the choreographer Igor Kirov, HNK Split)
Balkan Dance Project Vol. 1(Festival Velenje choreography, Festival Velenje, House of Culture Celje, Directorate for arts and culture Skopje, Professional Association of ballet dancers, choreographers Serbia, choreographer: Aleksandar Sasa Ilic, Igor Kirov)
2016:
Between Us (Dance Gallery Maribor, choreography: Mojca Ussar)
Red Room- assistant of the choreographer (Macedonian Opera and Ballet, choreographer: Igor Kirov)
On the Road-assistant of the choreographer (HNK Ballet Split, choreographer: Igor Kirov)
Balkan Dance Project Vol. 2 (Festival Velenje, Madlenianum Opera&Theatre Beograd, Institute for contemporary dance Beograd), The Cube Untold (choreography: Igor Kirov), After Sonnets (choreography: Aleksandar Saša Ilić& Natalie Iwaniec)
2017:
On the Edge- assistant of the choreographer (HNK Split, choreographer: Igor Kirov)
Dervish and the Death- assistant of the choreographer (HNK Split, choreographer: Igor Kirov)
Balkan Dance Project Vol. 3 (Festival Velenje, Tanzelarija BIH, Institut za umetničku igru Beograd, PUBS); Blasphemy in St. Florian’s valley (choreography: Aleksandar Ilić, directed by: Aleksandar Nikolić),
Signs by the roadside (choreography: Ivana Hadžihasanović), Što te nema (choreographer: Igor Kirov)
The Godmothers (Festival Velenje, choreography: Polona Boruta, Lucija Boruta, Mateja Rožič, directed by: Boštjan Oder)
2018
Atlantida; an opera- choreography assistance (Croatian national theatre Split, directed by: Goran Golovko, compositor: Mirko Krstičević, choreography: Igor Kirov)
1924- choreography: Aleksandar Ilić
Bernstein dances- choreography assistance (Croatian national theatre Rijeka and Croatian national theatre Split, choreography: Igor Kirov)
Twinkle Sleepyhead (Balkan Dance Project, choreography: Aleksandar Ilić, directed by: Aleksandar Nikolić)
2019
Magic Mountain (UK Vuk Karadžić, Festival Velenje, Institute for contemporary dance Belgrade and PUBS; choreography: Aleksandar Ilić, directed by- : Aleksandar Nikolić)
Soldier’s tale ( House of Culture Celje, directed by: Lea Kukovičič)
Balet o mladosti- choreography assistance (HNK Split, directed by: Goran Golovko, choreography: Igor Kirov)
Crave (Atom Dance Theatre, Balkan Dance Project, European Capital 2019- Plovdiv, choreography: Stefaniya Georgieva)
The Rite of Spring- choreography assistance (HNK Split, choreography: Igor Kirov)
Faust (choreography assistance to Aleksandar Ilić, Serbian National Theatre Novi Sad)
Night&Day (choreography: Trina Mannino and Stephen Kelly, Green Space Studios NYC)
2020
InHisMind- immersive theatre Belgrade (assistant to choreographer: Aleksandar Ilić, directed by: Jordan Parkers, Green Production)
MedProstor- short dance miniature ( choreography: Luka Ostrež, Mojca Majcen, production: Festival Velenje)
Vsi Marš na Ples- modern dance performance on a music of famous Ex YU rock group Bijelo Dugme (Skenderija Sarajevo, production: Balkan Dance Project, Živimo Balet BIH, Festival Velenje, choreography: Igor Kirov, libretto: Goran Golovko)
A New Year’s trip around the world (UK Vuk Karadžić Belgrade,Iinstitute for dance Belgrade, Youth Ballet Serbia, choreography: Ivan Kozlov)
INSTALATIONS AND SMALL PERFORMANCES:
2008: Beautiful Vida (Gallery of contemporary arts Celje, Dance Theatre Igen)
2008: Rodin (Likovni Salon, Dance Theatre Igen) 2008: Exhibition of Zoran Lešić (Lapidarium Bale Vale, Happy Family Theatre)
2010: Fast Cheap Good (Gallery Racka, authors: Ivona Novak, Nik Jarh in Mojca Majcen)
2012: Red Room (Happy Family Theatre)
2014: Dialogues (authors: Anka Rener Kremzar and Mojca Majcen)
2015: Dialogues (Horizontalno/Vertikalno)
2017: Theatre in Gallery (Gallery of contemporary arts Celje)
2018: Moving paintings ( Erotic gallery Račka)
2019: Veronika, Barbara, Alma
2020: Today is never tomorrow (Likovni Salon Celje)
DANCE MOVIES:
2012: A Moment of the heat (Arkadena Studio, RTV Slovenia, director: Svetlana Dramlić)
2014: Wild is the Wind (Happy Family Theatre, režija: Zoran Lešić
2020: Nutshell (Mannakin Dance Theatre,choreography: Aleksandar Ilić, directed by: Nathan Cottam)
FESTIVALS:
1998: Dance festival Skopje, Macedonia
1999: International show exchange- BIS Udine, Italy
1999: International Children festival, Ankara, Istanbul, Turkey
1999: International Dance festival, Rabat, Casablanca, Morocco
2000: Womad Sori World of Music, Arts & Dance, Seoul, South Korea
2000: Invitation by Yugoslavian Culture Centre, Yugoslavian culture days, Paris, France
2001: Sarajevo Winter Festival, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
2006: Dance and theatre festival, Kairo, Egypt
2006: Dance Project Trieste, Trieste, Italy
2007: International dance festival, New York, USA
2007: Aberdeen International youth festival, Aberdeen, Scotland
2007: Dance Project Italy, Trieste, Italy
2008: Promoter of Slovenian culture during EU Presidency in Malta and Cyprus
2008: Promoter of Slovenian culture during EU Presidency, Haag, Netherlands
2008: FIAT- Festival of international alternative theatre, Podgorica, Montenegro
2008: Last minute jazz festival, Bale vale exhibition, Croatia
2009: Semana de la Moda y Turismo Venezuela
2009: Balkan Blues festival, Haag
2009: Promoter of Slovenian culture and ballet in Netherlands (embassy of Bosnia and Herzegovina) 2010: Teaterfest Sarajevo, festival of alternative theatre in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
2010: Bienalle di danza Venezia 2010: International platform for contemporary choreography Almada, Portugal
2010: International women film festival, Rabat, Marocco
2010: Last minute jazz festival 2010, Bale, Croatia
2010: International dance and theatre festival Iquique, Chile
2011: Santa Barbara SB-ADaPT Festival
2012: ADAPT Festival Vienna and Paris
2013: ADAPT FESTIVAL- Brroklyn, NYC
2013: SIDANCE FESTIVAL, SEOUL and BUSAN KOREA
2013: Macedonian Essential nights Festival, Skopje, Macedonia
2014: Sarajevo Winter Festival 2014: Dance Gallery Festival, Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theatre, NYC, ZDA
2014: No ballet competition, Ludwigschafen, Nemčija
2016: Sarajevo Winter Festival
2016: Festival of choreographic miniatures Belgrade
2017: Sarajevo Winter Festival, BIH
2017: Dance Festival Šibenik, Croatia
2018: Dance Festival Šibenik
2018: Festival of alternative theatre Podgorica
2019: Purgatorije Festival Tivat
2019:Šibenik Dance Festival
PRIZES AND AWARDS:
1991: 1st prize in national competition for ballet dancers
1993: 2nd prize in national competition for young ballet dancers
1998: national competition for ballet dancers: special award by audience
2000: 1st prize and golden medal in Festival of Choreographic Miniatures, Belgrade, Serbia
2001: 2nd prize and special award in Tokyo’s Dance Platform, Tokyo, Japan
2002: 3rd prize in International contemporary dance and dance theatre festival and Jarmila Jeřábková award, Prague
2009: Finalist of the International competition of Choreographic arts, Lodz, Poland (jury: Vladimir Malakhov, Oliver Patey and Larisa Barykina)
2010: Finalist of the International ballet and modern choreography competition, Vitbesk, Belarus 2011: Bronze Coat of Arms, award for artistic achievements by City Celje
2011: Finalist of the International Ballet and Choreography competition Beijing
2011 (selected by John Neumaier- director of Hamburg Ballet)
2012: Best Female dancer of Slovenia for the year
2011, public voting
2016: 1st award on Slovenian national choreographic competition (Between us, choreography: Mojca Ussar)
PERFORMANCES IN COUNTRIES:
I danced in countries around the world: Austria, Italy, Serbia, Hungary, Montenegro Polland, Germany,
USA (New York, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara), Spain, Croatia, Venezuela, Turkey, Japan, South Korea,
Scotland, Morocco, Egypt, Canada, Malta, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Portugal, Chile, Belarus,
Netherlands, China, France, Macedonia