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CPP / Contemporary Performance Practices program, created by Croatian-American theater artist Ivan Talijancic, co-founder of WaxFactory (New York, USA) aims to acknowledge and expand the performing arts canon, tracking current trends and discovering new ones – bringing together the world’s leading international practitioners and educators for the benefit of contemporary performers and performance-makers.

For its fifth edition, I am happy to announce that the 2025 intensive will feature returning faculty mentors from Sasha Waltz & Guests (Germany) and SITI Company/Suzuki Company of Toga (USA/Japan). Ellen Lauren, SITI founding member and co-artistic director (emeritus), and associate artist in the Suzuki Company of Toga (SCOT), who will lead the first week of research and practice, followed in the second week by Claudia de Serpa Soares, a long-time SW&G associate. We are thrilled to be able to bring together two of the world’s leading international artists, who will bring their expertise in the theatrical methodology and the choreographic / devising techniques, respectively. The combined study over the two-week program will bring a deeper, multi-dimensional approach to training, preparing the artist for a wide range of diverse performing arts approaches. The vocabularies are applicable to both classical and contemporary, text- and movement-based work alike. The artist will experience an unprecedented level of rigor and versatility. Both group and individual work are featured and collaboration will be fostered as a core value of this program. The two weeks of intensive training will be hosted by Istrian National Theater / Pula City Theatre (INK), a revered municipal institution in Pula, the historic city on the sunny Northern Croatian coast. Visit the following pages to find out about 2025 workshops and instructors, and then apply to be considered for inclusion in this year's cohort of international participants.

While the teaching artists’ philosophies approach performance-based work from different angles, both are deeply committed to developing truthful, compelling, rigorous expression for the stage. The work strives to honor each performer’s intuition and intelligence to advance their development as co-creators rather than merely interpreters of work. These training vocabularies complement each other: they inspire growth and new thinking for participating artists, helping them to strengthen their own unique visions for the future. 

Initially piloted as a two-week summer intensive in July 2019 in Rijeka, Croatia, the inaugural CPP summer intensive was founded on the premise of bringing together two mentors from some of the world’s leading performing arts ensembles. After a pandemic-related hiatus, CPP is now an annual event, having featured guest artists from companies such as: SITI Company (USA), co-founded by Anne Bogart and Tadashi Suzuki, Jan Fabre’s TROUBLEYN (Belgium) , Sasha Waltz & Guests (Germany) and Punchdrunk (UK).

We encourage you to apply and hope to be able to welcome you to the program in Croatia this summer! 

_Ivan Talijancic, Founder + Artistic Director, CPP/Contemporary Performance Practices