Dance Performance for Children “The Passage”
Recommended age: 6–10 years
On that lost Thursday night, when the sun had bewitched itself into the moon, we became sailors and the maple turned into a mast. There in the distance shone an island with a cave of secrets, where we had wanted to go once or twice… Four of us and a game and a story, which will win, we don’t even know, whether adventure or the pure joy of play.
“The Passage” is a dance performance where friendships and trust are put to the test. Playing together becomes essential. Playing with each other and playing with movement and sound. The joy of play is shared in the performance between the performers as well as between the audience and performers, so that at one moment the audience discovers themselves as part of the performance.
Eva-Liisa Linder writes: “This kind of collaborative theatre reminds us that theatre was born from ritual. This is an inventive and dance-based participatory theatre, where children’s reactions form a large part of the performance’s charm and where there is no fear of playing ‘through the audience’ – on the contrary, this is calculated into the performance’s structure…
Zuga is one of the few troupes creating contemporary dance theatre for young children. But hopefully it is encouraging that already in their first decade they have managed to make a very good name in this theatrical genre.” (Zuga children’s theatre: watching is silver, participating is gold / January Dance Info newsletter)
Creative Team
Directors and performers: Helen Reitsnik, Tiina Mölder, Kalle Tikas, Päär Pärenson, Ajjar Ausma
Zuga United Dancers is a collective founded in 1999 by dance artists Tiina Mölder, Kaja Kann, and Jarmo Karing. “The Passage” is Zuga’s fourth performance aimed directly at children. “Zuga Daycare” (2004) received a special award from “Draamake”, “Zuga zuug zuh-zuh-zuh” (2009) was honored in 2010 with both the Estonian Independent Dance Award and the Salme Reek Award for children’s performances, and “Magic Work” premiered in 2011.
Awards
“THE PASSAGE” was a nominee for the 2014 theatre annual awards in the Salme Reek Award category, which recognizes artistically outstanding and child-appropriate works.
“THE PASSAGE” received the Performing Arts Award in 2015.
Reviews and Coverage
- How did you know that children play exactly like this? – Meeli Parijõgi, Teachers’ Newspaper (November 28, 2014)
- Schoolchildren comment on the new children’s dance performance “The Passage” – Terevisioonis (December 3, 2014)
- From the performance in the OP! show (starting from minute 4)