A festive year starting with awards
As the year begins, Teatronas is delighted with significant recognition for its work and contribution to the contemporary theater and circus scene.
On March 27, International Theatre Day the Association of Stage Art Critics (SMKA) announced the winners of the “Text Key” and “Art Key” awards. The association, which unites theater experts and professional stage art critics, annually awards the “Text Key” to the best author of criticism/research works, and the “Art Key” to a performing arts producer or other representative of this field who has made a contribution to the performing arts or its dissemination.
The “Text Key” award is given to art historian Dr. Helmutas Šabasevičius for his significant research and dissemination of Lithuanian ballet heritage in 2025\. The “Art Key” award is given to director, founder and organizer of the “Cirkuliacija” festival, Gildas Aleksa. The artist was recognized for his promotion of contemporary circus and organization of the “Cirkuliacija” festival.
"The contemporary circus festival "Circulation" is turning 10 this year, but this is not the main reason to award its organizer, director Gildas Aleksas, with the "Key of Art". Gildas does not hide that he is fascinated by circus art, and the "Circulation" festival shows him as an interdisciplinary circus artist: juggler, acrobat, illusionist. Because it takes extraordinary skill to simultaneously rehearse your performances and juggle artists from different countries, festival programs, finances, travel, halls, cities and - most importantly - the expectations of the audience. And somehow not a single ball drops. In addition, in order to grow contemporary circus in Lithuania, it is necessary to perform complex cultural somersaults, because circus in our country is sometimes understood only as a cascade of tricks, and "Circulation" proves that it is both a drama, a sad comedy, and even a visual art. "Circulation" created by Gildas travels around Lithuania because the circus loves freedom: today it is on stage, tomorrow in the square, the day after tomorrow in the yard in front of your balcony. And so it happens little by little that people who perhaps did not even plan to go to the circus suddenly see it in their city and realize that art can be right here, not only in Kaunas or Vilnius, but also in Alytus, Prienai, Tauragė, Anykščiai. And the most beautiful and successful trick of Gildas is cultivating an audience for the modern circus. It is a slow, patient act, but now people are already coming to "Circulation" performances because they are waiting for them." (theatre and film critic Rūta Oginskaitė)
Photos by Dainius Putinas