PLI

A solo production at the intersection of dance, physical theatre, and the visual arts which delivers a visually compelling study of balance, endurance, and creativity.

Twenty-two conference chairs, an obsessive rhythm, and one body in constant interaction with the space. In his solo production PLI, Viktor Černický becomes both an architect and a living building material, transforming ordinary objects into fascinating visual compositions in an endless cycle of construction, deconstruction, and reconstruction. As the space is constantly shaped in his hands, dynamic installation meets performative precision, turning movement into sculpture and chaos into a perfectly organised whole

Since its premiere in 2018, PLI has been performed on more than 120 stages around the world – from the first ever presentation of Czech choreography at the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris to venues in Barcelona, Rome, Stockholm, Bangkok, Hong Kong, and more. Out of nearly 700 different projects, PLI was selected as one of the top twenty European performances for the prestigious Aerowaves Twenty20 catalogue. Young audiences in London helped adapt the performance for younger ages in the project Shape It. In 2019 PLI won both the Audience Award and the Main Award of the Czech Dance Platform. For the concept and choreography, Černický received a nomination in the dance and movement theatre category of the 2019 Divadelní Noviny Awards. In spite of all of this, the project remains relatively unknown in Prague.

“Leibniz connects the seemingly impossible. He invites us to think about the complexity and sophistication of the world using very simple and understandable principles. He multiplies and folds them, bending them in different ways and many times, until we are ultimately confronted with the World as a sophisticated architectural work. It is a world extremely rich in detail, very elaborate in style, robustly shaped and hard to believe – and yet very simple, modest, and absolutely genuine. Leibniz was a true child of the baroque era. So, the idea that led me to create a performance that bends our imagination and takes our breath away without being shallow in form or straightforward in expression ultimately stems from Calvin’s playful bending of fiction and non-fiction and from Leibniz’s need to reflect a reality that is often transcendent for a free human being.” (Viktor Černický)

DOX is presenting Viktor Černický’s work as part of its programme to support established Czech performers who have an original stage language.