Jana Kovač Valdés, director and choreographer
Igor Leonardi, music
Mojca Janželj Tomažič, costume designer
Katarina Prislan, set design
Maja Kunšič, coordinator

URI Soča, Zavarovalnica Sava in KGBL

At the end of the summer the Committed to Steps project will once again use dance, movement and music to create unforgettable moments for children undergoing rehabilitation at URI Soča. The Ljubljana Festival has been involved in this project for a number of years alongside Zavarovalnica Sava and URI Soča, while in 2023 we invited the Contemporary Dance Department at the Ljubljana Conservatoire of Music and Ballet to join us, with the result that the children without mobility impairments now take part in the project alongside their peers from URI Soča. Once again this year, the dance workshops will be led by the experienced dance teacher and choreographer Jana Kovač Valdés. Her work in the workshops will focus on finding connections between movement and expression and adapting dance techniques to different levels of physical ability. Through her commitment and her sensitivity to the individual needs of each dancer, she will create a safe environment in which the children will discover new ways of moving, develop their creativity and build confidence for the final performance on the main stage of the Križanke Summer Theatre. This year’s story Sometimes you wish the wind would carry you away… is about a boy who is teased and excluded, with the result that he starts to withdraw into himself. More than anything else he would like to become invisible. But one day he finds the mysterious Suitcase of Wishes, and out of it an inner voice is born – a voice of courage, hope and self-respect. What happens when a child finds themselves marginalised from the group? When a look hurts more than a word? When they want to become… invisible? This is not just a story about what it means to be left out – it is also a story of inner strength, friendship and the courage we need to take the first step… towards someone else.