dancer, choreographer, pedagogue

Urša Rupnik (1984, Ljubljana) graduated in cultural studies from the Faculty of Social Sciences Ljubljana and in dance and choreography from the The Academy of Dance in Ljubljana. In the field of dance, she works with several educational institutions: as a university assistant at the UL Faculty of Education, as a lecturer at the KGBL Ljubljana Music and Ballet Conservatory and as a lecturer at the AMEU – The Academy of Dance, Ljubljana. She also teaches as a visiting professor at the Belgrade Dance Institute in Serbia and at the ballet department of ballet department of the Faculty of Music at the Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje, Macedonia. She is president of the non-profit cultural association ‘Studio za svobodni ples’ (Studio for Free Dance), artistic director of the Ursus Dancers collective and guest teacher of the only permanent contemporary dance ensemble in Slovenia, the EN-KNAP group.
In the cultural field, she collaborates with various production institutes (Ljubljana Dance Theatre, Flota, En-Knap, Balkan Dance Project, Magic Theatre Serpentes, Cankarjev dom, Studio 25, Pionirski dom etc.) and festivals (ImPulsTanz Vienna International Dance Festival, Festival Lent, Festival Fuzija etc.), organises hers own dance workshops, courses and summer schools and is a mentor for younger dance professionals.
As an independent dance maker, she collaborates with important Slovenian choreographers, directors and other artists (Jasna Knez, Maša Kagao Knez, Rosana Hribar, Gregor Luštek, Matjaž Farič, Mateja Bučar, Igor Sviderski, Mojca Majcen, Niko Goršič, etc.). Since 2008, she has been an assistant in the choreographies and workshops of the world-renowned American dancer, choreographer and teacher Joe Alegado and was also a member of his international dance group Jalegado Dance Company. Based on his method Shifting Roots – Alegado Movement Language, she developed her own dance language and pedagogical methodology.
She is the recipient of the Meta Vidmar Plaque (2012) for achievements in the field of contemporary dance art and the Silver Award for outstanding contributions in the field of contemporary dance (2019), awarded by the Public Fund for Cultural Activities of the Republic of Slovenia (JSKD) and recipient of the LOK Award (2021) for outstanding dance creations in the film and audiovisual field, awarded by the Society of Slovenian Audiovisual Actors.
In recent years, she has co-created the award-winning dance performance Measure of Pleasure (Mojca Majcen, Urša Rupnik, Igor Sviderski, 2020) and Measure of Pleasure 2, contributed an original dance to the music-dance spectacle Afrofonija (Maša Kagao Knez, 2021) and dances in the current performance by Rosana Hribar: Admitting the Unbearable: I Love You. (2022) and actively explores the heritage of Slovenian expressive dance through various performance formats: Iščoča, 2022 and Iz/najdena (Re/Invented), 2023.

Links: FB / Dance studio XXV  / Youtube

 

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

PERFORMANCES

COLLABORATIONS AS CHOREOGRAPHER AND MENTOR

OTHER COLLABORATIONS

COLLABORATIONS AS DANCER AND ADVISER

COLLABORATIONS IN FILM

PEDAGOGICAL WORK

PUBLISHED WORK

AWARDS

SELECTED PERFORMANCES IN MORE DETAIL