A. Lisickinaite & I. Shugaleev, Be Company

CLAP & SLAP

Lithuania/Poland The Twenty26

CLAP & SLAP explores the tense and paralysing relationship between Lithuania and Belarus which emerged after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Drawing from their personal experiences — Igor’s participation in the 2020 Belarusian protests and Agnietė’s demonstrations in Vilnius — the artists confront political, social, and emotional divisions between fear and action, guilt and responsibility. Igor was forced to flee Belarus; Agnietė chose to stop collaborating with Russian-speaking artists. Meeting on stage, they search for dialogue amid conflict, questioning how to defend oneself without reproducing aggression, and how to protect freedom while respecting the other.

Biography

Dance artists Agnietė Lisičkinaitė (Lithuania) and Igor Shugaleev (Belarus/Poland) are internationally recognised for their politically engaged work exploring protest culture, political oppression, and personal freedom. Central to their practice is the physically exhausted body as a symbol of resistance.

Igor Shugaleev, a Belarusian-born choreographer and performer based in Warsaw, merges physical theatre, endurance art and activism. His acclaimed performance 375 0908 2334 / The Body You Are Calling Is Currently Not Available (2021) stands as a visceral protest against Belarusian state violence and has toured widely across Europe.

Agnietė Lisičkinaitė, a Lithuanian choreographer, performer, and educator, bridges contemporary dance, politics, and civic action. Her participatory solo Hands Up—presented at festivals across Europe—explores gesture, solidarity, and protest. A co-founder of Be Company with Greta Grinevičiūtė, she advocates for dance as social practice and currently teaches at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. For Lisičkinaitė, choreography is activism—a medium for dialogue, resistance, and transformation.