A Walk Worthwhile

Veronika Švábová was born in 1974. A graduate of the Duncan Centre Conservatory in Prague (1997), in 2004 she completed her studies of dance science at the Dance Department of the Music Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts. She danced in performances of various choreographers (Strappi Stuzzicanti by Simone Sandroni, K bydlení nevhodné (Unfit for Habitation) by Jan Beneš,...) and also created her own choreographies (Obsessión, Od začátku do konce (From Beginning to End), Mama Luna,...). Since 2000 she has collaborated with the Forman Brothers Theatre: in 2000 on the Nachové plachty (Purple Sails) project performed on a theatre boat, in 2003 she created the choreography for the opera La Belle et la Bete (Beauty and the Beast) staged at the National Theatre in Prague, in 2005 choreography for the production Klapzubova jedenáctka (Klapzuba’s Eleven) presented at the Minor theatre, all of them directed by Petr Forman. Since 2004 she has also performed as a guest in the theatre troupe KREPSKO. As a visiting choreographer at the National Theatre, she has prepared productions of the operas: Guiseppe Verdi´s Requiem (2003) and Francesco Cilea´s Adriana Lecouvreur (2004), both directed by Jiří Nekvasil. At the Klicper Theatre in Hradec Králové she cooperated on the production R.U.R. directed by David Drábek. In 2005 she created choreography for the dance group NaNohach: Naměkko (premiered in February 2005). In 2005, she and Tomáš Procházka, a musician and sound designer, established the theatre troupe HANDA GOTE research and development. Handa Gote (meaning “melting iron” in Japanese) is a project for research and development of dance and movement theatre, visual theatre and sound design, integration of science and technology in arts. As a choreographer and dancer, she has worked on all the troupe’s performances - Computer Music (July 2005), Ekran (April 2006), Emily (2008), Houby (2008), the trilogy Body and Technology comprising the following performances: Noise (February 2005), Red Green Blue (November 2005), Silence (December 2006). In 2007 she collaborated as a choreographer with Forman brothers on the jazz opera A Walk Worthwhile in the National Theatre, directed by Miloš Forman. In the same year she cooperated as the co-author and choreographer on the project of Forman Brothers Theatre called Obludarium, which, in 2009, won Alfred Radok Prize for the best theatrical production of the year 2008. In 2009 she created choreography for the opera Poor Pale Rusalka, staged in Brno by Forman Brothers theatre in cooperation with the Husa na Provázku Theatre.