The performance “Rollercoaster” by Katarina Đurđević that opened the dancing season at the Zagreb Dance Center is better than it was advertised.
It can be said that the announced theme is a cliche: a busy urban woman today, how she lives, what are her desires and what the life brings to her. But the performance is not trivial, first of all because it is honest, brave and humorous. I’d even dare to say it is original.
The audience gave to a 50-minute performance the ovations and it deserves to be recommended to the wider community.
Tomislav Čadež for Jutarnji list newspaper

Best Small Performances in 2017.
2. “Rollercoaster”
Zagreb Dance Center, Zagreb
In September, this drama-dance performance opened the season at the Zagreb Dance Center. The actress Lucija Šerbedžija, as well as the two protagonists of the dance profession, Petra Valentić and Adrijana Barbarić Pevek, by speechless twitches and even with a kind of acrobatics, express their neurosis of their own and civilization, in vain trying to get rid of solid and supple nylon. Excellently directed by Katarina Đurđević. It is as much as a dance performance, so much a drama play with many physical tasks.
Tomislav Čadež for Jutarnji list newspaper

ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE

Each day brings new challenges.
And the same activities.
How to do all the daily duties, be tireless, responsible and still have fun?
Is life what we decide independently or the routine overcomes and win our decisions every time? The monotonous rhythm of life, the mechanical mode of work, by the habit, by all its weight and speed, gains a new dimension when the possibility of love appears.
Who do we choose?
What do we really want?
Is salvation in love or is love another brick in the wall of our overcomplicated life?
Is a woman in a modern society a hero or a victim?
“Rollercoaster” offers answers to some of these questions.

author: Katarina Đurđević, artistic associate: Jasna Grujičić, choreography: Adrijana Barbarić Pevek, Katarina Đurđević, Petra Valentić, Lucija Šerbedžija, performers: Adrijana Barbarić Pevek, Ivo Borić, Petra Valentić, Marko Serdarević, Lucija Šerbedžija, photography and video: Mario Boršćak, light design: Marino Frankola
Coproduction: Association of Professional Dance Artists „PULS”, Zagreb and Zagreb Dance Center
The project was realized with the support of: the Zagreb City Office for Culture, Education and Sports, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia, Ergonet d.o.o.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
KATARINA ĐURĐEVIĆ, choreographer, contemporary dancer and dance pedagogue, finished Ana Maletić’s School of Contemporary Dance in Zagreb in where she works as a teacher since 2002. She graduated at the Faculty of Physical Education in Zagreb, where since 2014 is an external associate at the specialized pre-graduate dance courses. She is co-founder and president (2010-2017) of the Association of Professional Dance Artists PULS. She is the choreographer and author of 18 full-length dance performances that are repeatedly performed in Croatia and abroad in collaboration with domestic and international artists.

ABOUT UPPU “PULS”

PULS, the Association of Professional Dance Artists, Zagreb is a Croatian professional association founded in 2001 with the aim of bringing together professional dance artists, protecting their rights and promoting their recognition. Since then it has been active in the field of dance art with a special emphasis on the use of Croatian national heritage elements in contemporary dance and on the education of dance artists.
Association of Professional Dance Artists „PULS”, Badalićeva 26c, Zagreb
e-mail: uppu.puls@gmail.com web: www.uppu-puls.hr