Nuepikas contemporary dance performance “Nowhere But Here”: a story about a lost man

I think, I imagine, I feel, therefore I am. But no thought or feeling is final. Living in a world of constant movement, each of us sometimes has to stop and reassess what we think, imagine and feel, and at the same time re-experience our limits and embark on a search for the true self.

The newest dance performance of Nuepiko, Nowhere But Here, focuses on the human being and its everyday transformations. The performance explores the limitations of human nature and the immeasurable desire to know oneself and the world. It is a play about the search for authenticity, creativity and the inner self.

Inspired by paintings

In this performance, the members of the company draw inspiration from the canvases of Irish painter Francis Bacon. The artist, known for his unique expression and a chronicler of the Second World War, depicted mutilated and deformed human bodies, faces distorted by pain and fear. The uncomfortable encounter with the dark side of humanity and the motif of the “glazed” man, which is often repeated in the artist’s canvases, becomes the guiding line of the performance “Nowhere But Here”. “We understand the performance first and foremost as a visual work, we aim to speak in images and metaphors.” – Marius Pinigis, one of the founders of the company and the winner of the Golden Stage Cross, shares his thoughts.

For the audience – an invitation to meet yourself

According to the dancers, Nowhere But Here is inspired by the existential anxiety that surrounds today’s society. “In the face of pandemics, war and other social challenges, there is a feeling that we are living “on the edge”. In these difficult situations, many of us have to rethink our everyday social roles, to meet our normally invisible side. It is a play about us and our society, and a kind of search for our own self.” – says Marius Pinigis.

The creators of the performance use the language of movement to explore human boundaries and the inner barriers that, once crossed, allow human creativity to unfold. At the same time, it is a story about the multifaceted human nature. “Even when we are in the same room, living in similar conditions, and talking about the same things, we often don’t communicate, because we each understand, feel and appreciate them differently, through the prism of our own experiences.” – Marius Pinigis shares his thoughts below.

Marius Pinigis, Adrian Carlo Bibiano, Andrius Stakelė, Mantas Ūsas (Arūnas Mozūraitis), Mantas Stabačinskas, Vilma Pitrinaitė, Monika Šerstabojevaitė, Aistis Lansbergas.
Duration: 50 min.
Premiere: 2022 in Kaunas