Rok Vevar: Xenia

A book presentation

A book discussion about Ksenija Hribar’s London dance years

Running time 1 hour. No intermission.

Speakers Rok Vevar, Sinja Ožbolt & Marko Mlačnik
Discussion moderator Mojca Kumerdej

Rok Vevar’s book Ksenija, Xenia – Ksenija Hribar’s London Dance Years 1960–1978 is a cultural history of contemporary dance that reconstructs the story of British contemporary dance to find dancer and choreographer Ksenija Hribar in it, give her a voice and tell the story from her perspective. It follows her dance beginnings, her first visits to London and her involvement in the programmes of the Contemporary Dance Trust of the philanthropist, and dance patron and aficionado Robin Howard (1924–1989), who was, among other things, responsible for the establishment of the London Contemporary Dance School (1965) and the student and professional ensembles London Contemporary Dance Group and London Contemporary Dance Theatre (1967–1994) and for setting up The Place, which turned fifty in 2019. As a student (1965–1967) and an ensemble member (1967–1974), Ksenija met exceptional individuals from the worlds of contemporary dance, arts and journalism, worked with a series of referential choreographers and performed on the grand stages of contemporary dance. The book wraps up her British contemporary dance story when she was both studying and teaching at the Victoria University of Manchester and her two-year homecoming. It ends with her starting to entertain the idea that a similar story could be repeated in Ljubljana. Ksenija Hribar’s importance for contemporary dance in Slovenia will be discussed by the book’s author Rok Vevar, other experts familiar with the dancer’s work and moderator Mojca Kumerdej.