choreographer, dancer, pedagogue

Mateja Bučar (1957, Novo mesto) first studied ballet in Ljubljana and went on to study classical and contemporary ballet techniques at the Centre de Dense Internationa Rosella Hightower in Cannes, France. She was a member of the Slovene National Theatre Opera and Ballet Ljubljana from 1980 to 2004 and during that period danced in practically every ballet production. In 1986 she joined Dance Theatre Ljubljana, which was established two years earlier by Ksenija Hribar. She performed in Hribar’s performances Alpine Daydreaming (1986), Nostalgia (1987), Tropic of Odysseus (1988) and Commemoration – Dried Tears (1996) and danced in numerous dance performances produced by the Dance Theatre Ljubljana and in performances choreographed by Matjaž Farič. Between 1986 and 1992 she participated in the projects and workshops led by Arthur Rosenfeld (Rotterdam), Donna Uchizono (New York), John Jaspers (New York), Fatou Traore (Bruselj), William Forsythe Company (Frankfurt) etc. In the 1980s and 90s she collaborated with the Egon March Institute as choreographer and protagonist of a series of performances presented in Slovenia and abroad.

In 1999 Mateja established DUM – Association of Artists in the frame of which she collaborates closely with visual artist Vadim Fiškin and curator Tevž Logar (before also with Gregor Podnar), where she created over 20 performances. In 2015 she received an arts doctorate from the City University London and the Trinity Laban Conservatory of Music and Dance with a thesis titled Aesthetic Negativity and Choreographic Practice. She is currently teaching dance and choreography at the Dance Academy Alma Mater Europaea.

For her choreographic work she received the Župančič Award of the City of Ljubljana in 2005, the Ann Sayers Award Fund in 2014 at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London, and the Ksenija Hribar Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2015, awarded by the Contemporary Dance Association Slovenia.

 

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