Biography
POCKETART is a creative team working in the field of contemporary dance and physical theatre under the direction of the choreographers Johana Pocková and Sabina Bočková. They are interested in topics that go beyond the personal experience tackling social issues such as media manipulation, global environmental threats, stress in a competitive environment, or the position of an individual in the corporate work system. In each of their works, they look for new styles of physical expression unique to the topic at hand, creating dance images from specific body references. Through distinctive poetics, visual purity and strong original music, their performances aim to reflect on our society.
Sabina Bočková (1995) is a choreographer and dancer based in Prague. She studied classical and modern dance and after working in ballet companies for three years she decided to become a freelance artist. In 2019, together with Johana Pocková she created a duet The Lion’s Den, which was presented at the 26th edition of the Czech Dance Platform and selected as part of the Aerowaves Twenty21. This work was inspired by mass media and political populism. The same year she created another duet in collaboration with the Slovak performer Tomas Janypka songlines: expedition 97/18, a piece which delves into the loss of a close one. In 2020 together with Johana Pocková and Inga Zotova-Mikshina she created another full evening piece Treatment of Remembering, which tackles the topic of environmental pollution. Treatment of Remembering won the International Jury Award and the Audience Award at the 27th edition of the Czech Dance Platform. She is a co-founder of the POCKETART collective with which she produces her own pieces. Alongside her own work she has also collaborated for a long time as a performer with the Tantehorse company, the company tYhle led by choreographer Marie Gourdain, Cirk La Putyka and Spitfire Company.
Fascinated by simple and obvious body languages, she transforms movement through choreographic structures while at the same time addressing topics and themes that echo social and cultural issues.
Johana Pocková (1992) is a choreographer and dancer in the field of contemporary dance, physical theatre and performing arts, based in Prague. In 2019, she founded the collective POCKETART. As a performer, Pocková collaborates with Tantehorse company, Cirk La Putyka, Jana Stárková, tYhle and other Czech independent artists. She studied at the Duncan Centre Conservatory in Prague and at SEAD (Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance), and benefited from a scholarship to the Peridance Capezio Centre and Limon Institut in New York. After her studies, she was awarded a New Europe – Jarmila Jerabkova Award 2017 and in 2020, she received 1st prize from the Czech organisation Dance News.
In her creations, Pocková is interested in searching for a lyrical and poetic dance language combined with absurdity and irony. She is also interested in combining art forms with dance such as classical singing, acting and visual arts. In 2019, together with Sabina Bockova she made a duet The Lion’s Den and in 2020 together with Inga Zotova-Mikshina and Sabina Bočková she co-created Treatment of Remembering. In her newest piece To the Madonna with Rust, she comes back to a personal experience from her childhood which she transforms into a joint spiritual ceremony.
Inga Zotova Mikshina (1998) is a choreographer, dancer and teacher based in Prague. Originally from Siberia, Russia, she studied dance at the Dance School of St. Petersburg and at the Duncan Center Prague. She is interested in performance, dance improvisation, physical theatre, visual arts and western and eastern philosophy. As a performer she collaborates with Spitfire Company, Tantehorse, Archa Theatre and others. In 2015 she received the Jarmila Jerabkova Award (1st prize) at the festival New Europe. She is a co-founder of an artistic group Ferst Dadler, the POCKETART collective and the Guides collective, which takes place annually as a special guest of the KIOSK festival in Zilina, Slovakia. She is currently part of several projects: Treatment of Remembering (POCKETART), Byt pre Limbovu (Guides collective) and PRIMA performance (collaboration with Viktor Černický). She studies Aesthetics at the Department of Philosophy of the Charles University in Prague, and practises and teaches yoga. At the Duncan Center Prague she teaches Yoga and Creation.
