CPP 2025 internal page

Dear CPP participants:

First of all – congratulations on being part of 2025 cohort of CPP/Contemporary Performance Practices International Summer Intensive – I can’t wait to meet all of you in just a few days!

CPP had its inaugural edition in Rijeka, Croatia in 2019. That year, my New York based performance group, WaxFactory, celebrated its 20th anniversary. This was an interesting juncture at which to begin weaving together strands that ultimately became Contemporary Performance Practices. Momentous occasions such as this always prompt us to take stock of what we have been doing so far, re-examine our own practices, and imagine what the next 20 years might look like. As I continue to make work and teach, I have been thinking a great deal about this: as we gain solid footing within the landscape of the 21st-century time-based art, it is evident that traditional definitions of genres and disciplines are being transcended in favor of multiple, fluid, hybrid art forms. Along with the resurgence of site-specific, devised, immersive, virtual-reality and other cross-media projects, the role of the performer is rapidly evolving, away from being simply an interpreter of scripts and scores to becoming a co-creator of work – one whose contributions are integral to the vision and identity of the newly forged creations. Consequently, the CPP program aims to acknowledge and expand the performing arts canon, tracking current trends and discovering new ones, for the benefit of contemporary performers and performance-makers, such as yourselves; our aim is to collectively imagine what shape the 21st century performing arts training might take.

For the program’s 2025 edition, I decided to invite two practitioners — both consummate performers and educators — reflecting on their experiences as part of some of the world’s most forward-thinking contemporary performance companies: SITI Company, co-founded by Anne Bogart (New York, USA) and SCOT - Suzuki Company of Toga (Toga-mura, Japan,) founded by Tadashi Suzuki, represented here by Ellen Lauren; and Sasha Waltz and Guests (Berlin, Germany) represented by Claudia de Serpa Soares. While these instructors’ philosophies approach performance-based work from different angles, both are deeply committed to developing truthful, compelling, rigorous visions for the stage, honoring the performer’s intuition and intelligence to advance their development as co-creators rather than merely interpreters of work. I chose these two educators for this year’s program as I find their visions to complement each other in a way that will afford participating artists a well-rounded preparation, inspiring them to generate their own unique creations in the future. 

As the CPP’s start date fast approaches, allow me to share a few practicalities.

Our first session will begin on Monday, June 23 at 10 AM. Kindly arrive a few minutes early and meet at Istrian National Theatre / City theatre of Pula (INK) in Pula (address/map) where a representative of our team will greet you and direct you to our workspace.

The workshops will take place daily — except Sunday — until mid-afternoon: please refer to the exact schedule below as it may vary from day to day. Additionally, on our second to last day (Friday, July 4) we will have a final workshop presentation for an invited audience in the evening. It is possible that there will be some minor fluctuations to this schedule, at the instructors’ discretion, but this is the basic framework we will be working with that you should be aware of. As a reminder, attending all scheduled work-sessions is a prerequisite for participation in the program. Please wear comfortable clothes and shoes as there will be a great deal of physical work involved.

We will begin our first day by introducing ourselves and doing an overview of the daily schedule of activities, and will share all the relevant details before we begin to train with Ellen Lauren.

The day before we begin, you will also receive a reminder message on the mobile phone you provided for our contact sheet regarding our first session via our private WhatsApp group. If you should have any difficulty finding the venue or experience unexpected delays, please let us know via WhatsApp: that will be the best way to reach us, as we will be able to respond to you immediately.

Below, you will find the contact sheet, the daily schedule of workshop activities as well as additional information provided by the instructors.

Again, on behalf of the entire team: we very much look forward to getting to know you in the coming weeks.

I look forward to welcoming you in Pula very soon.

- Ivan Talijancic, CPP Artistic Director

June 2025