"What did you do over the weekend?"
"I had a school reunion."
"How was it?"
"Awkward. So, it was great."

Is an awkward moment always something we want to quickly escape from, or can we embrace it and even intentionally seek it out? Can we become accustomed to it? What if instead of avoiding awkward situations, we welcomed them? The TRAPNO project explores ways to embrace awkwardness and be okay with it. It plays with the idea that indulging and prolonging such moments gives us the opportunity to discover their beauty, humanity, ability to amuse or cheer up, and reduces their seriousness.

Pop Ballet is a professional dance ensemble continuing the tradition of Pop Ballet founded in the 1970s by Věra Veselá, later taken over by Majka Piskořová Veselá. Currently, the ensemble collaborates on new projects with talented dancers under the choreography of Jana Hampl Maroušková. The choreographer takes an active part in their education and works on professionalizing the direction of the ensemble, presenting original artistic expression in today's dance scene. The ensemble aims to appeal to both the artistic community and the general public. Its goal is to create comprehensive projects that showcase dance as a valued art form connecting the audience with the performers.

TRAPNO is the third full-length production of the ensemble, which in previous years premiered Soul Seekers (by Zuzana Dobešová, 2021) and Yes. (by Jana Hampl Maroušková, 2023). Another project of the ensemble was the curated evening CoLab (2023), created with the support of the Dance Without Borders festival. CoLab is a performance consisting of three choreographies by international creators: Kino McHugh, Vaska Nasonova and Kenan Dinkelmann.

www.popbalet.cz
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