ABOUT

Leja Jurišić is a dancer and choreographer working in the field of performative and political art.
She has performed her original pieces in various institutions across Europe, United States and Mexico. She won numerous awards, among others Borštnik Award and Ksenija Hribar Award together with Marko Mandić for their performance Together.

The author, who does not shy away from the criticism of the social, economic and political distortions of freedom, perceives the human body as a powerful emancipatory tool in creating the experience of resistance. Her productions draw on her body, which the author understands as a political machine, while at the same time remaining committed both to exploring the personal and the intimate, as well as the (bio)political.

Leja Jurišić, a top gymnast in her youth and later a graduate from the Faculty of Law in Ljubljana, began to actively engage in contemporary dance at the turn of the millennium, and created her first independent project in 2005. Her works have since been presented at various venues across Europe, USA and Mexico. As a dancer, she collaborated with choreographers and directors such as Tim Etchells/Forced Entertainment, Meg Stuart and Janez Janša. She has created numerous high‑profile dance or stage productions. Her latest notable project is the performance Together, co‑created with Marko Mandić in 2018, which received excellent critical reviews and has won numerous awards, such as Borštnik Jury Award (2018) and Ksenija Hribar Award (2019). The same project also won Jurišić and Mandić the Best Performance Award at Gibanica, Biennial of Slovenian Contemporary Dance Art in 2019, as well as the Award for Best Theatre Show of the 2017/2018 season, awarded by the Association of Slovenian Theatre Critics and Theatrologists (2018). Older awards won by Jurišić include the Ksenija Hribar Award for the promising choreographer (2013) and a special mention by the jury at the Gibanica Festival for the performance R'z'R(2005).

In the past, Leja Jurišić also created a series of choreographies for theatre performances at the Prešeren Theatre Kranj, for the Slovene National Theatre Nova Gorica, the Slovene Permanent Theatre in Trieste, and the Slovene National Theatre Drama, Ljubljana. She has also acted and choreographed in the films by Jan Cvitkovič, Martin Turk and Tomaž Gorkić. She lives and works in Ljubljana.