HA
Jana Jacuka (Latvia)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.
By stripping away 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 the voice becomes an extension of the body. She grunts, cry-screams, speaks while inhaling and shifts into communication beyond words.
She will come empty handed.
It’s just the space,
her and you,
and suddenly
HA
About artist
Jana Jacuka(1995) is a choreographer and performer from Latvia, recently graduated DAS Theater masters programme in Amsterdam. She is curious to create performances almost out of nothing and uses her body, voice and text as the departure points. For the past two years, she has been exploring the voice and the letters H and A as catalysts of sound. By mastering extreme and experimental vocal techniques, Jana explores how the voice and the sounds it produces can become an extension of the body, how the voice can be used to create choreography, and how this can be used to move the audience.
Jana has collaborated with artists such as Marina Abramović, Damien Rice, Dries, Verhoeven, Arno Schuitemaker and many more. Her works have been presented in Frascati (NL), DansBrabant (NL), AUAwirleben fest (CH), Kanuti Guildi Saal and SAAL Biennaal (EE), Homo Novus festival (LV) and her work Distance Between Us was honored “Performance of the Year 2022/2023” award at the Latvian Dance Awards.
Credits
Choreographer / Performer: Jana Jacuka
Tutor: Miguel Melgares
External Advisor: Bruno Listopad and Ira Brand
Outside eye / Dramaturgy advice: Eva Susova, Toni Steffens
Text advisor: Joachim Robbrecht
Text editing in collaboration with: Nicolas Lange
Vocal advisors: Moa Holgersson, Monica Janssen, Maria Magdalena Kozłowska
Graphic designer: Estere Betija Gravere
Photographer: Peteris Viksna
Traces left by Stina Force and Amparo Gonzales.
This work wouldn’t be possible without Sam Scheuermann, Veronika Abdul-Visocka, DAS theater tutor and peer support.
This performance was developed within the context of the DAS Theatre master programme and with financial support from the ATD-Aart Janszen Fund (NL) and State Culture Capital Foundation (LV). Co-produced by Gertrudes Street Theater (LV).