Jana Jacuka

A friend of a friend put a hand around me, ha, I’m feeling insecure but I just went hahahaha.

In everyday situations, our boundaries are often crossed, leaving us unsure of how to respond. HA explores the performativity of laughter as an escaping mechanism. The project aims to encourage people to trust what they feel as a legitimate form of understanding.

By stripping away all theatrical distractions, Jana Jacuka’s solo-work emphasizes the raw and essential elements of performance, inviting the audience to engage with the visceral experience of extreme vocal practices. HA is an investigation of the voice as a choreographic tool. In HA she searches for the voice to become another extension of the body. She grunts, fry-screams, speaks while inhaling. Like a ventriloquist Jacuka disassociates the body from the voice and allows the body to become the main medium of communication. She will come empty handed. It’s just the space, her and you, and suddenly HA.

Jana Jacuka is a choreographer and performer from Latvia, currently researching at the DAS Theater Master’s program. Curious to reconsider what it means to experience performance, she uses her body, voice, and text as departure points. Drawing inspiration from everyday life, on seemingly simple things, she explores the intricate layers hidden within.

Her works have been presented at Amsterdam Carre, Le Grand Rex (Paris), AUAwirleben (Bern), SAAL Biennaal (Tallinn), Homonovus (Riga), and more. As a performer, she worked on Marina Abramović's retrospective at the Stedelijk Museum, Arno Schuitemaker's 30 Appearances Out of Darkness, Ginta Tinte's exhibition at the EYE Museum, and other projects.

Choreographer, performer: Jana Jacuka
Mentor: Miguel Angel Melgares
Outside eye, dramaturgy advice: Toni Steffens, Sam Scheuermann 
External advisor: Bruno Listopad 
Advisor on text: Joachim Robbrecht
Text editor consultant: Nicolas Lange
Vocal advisors: Maria Magdalena Kozłowska, Monica Janssen
Supported by: Ira Brand, Amparo Gonzales Sola, Veronika Abdul-Visocka, Moa Holgersson, Monica Janssen, Peteris Viksna, DAS theater tutor and peer support.

@jana.jacuka 
www.janajacuka.com