The reason why the Slovak public cannot so far identify contemporary dance is undoubtedly to do with the fact that despite the considerable efforts of those concerned, the discipline has not yet acquired adequate conditions for professional development and presentation. These conditions would include a performance venue which the public could easily associate with the art form.

Between 2001 and 2002, some positive developments began to take shape when Lucia Holinová, as a member of the Association for Contemporary Dance, launched a project called Dance in the Arena, which was directed towards the wider promotion of contemporary dance. At the time, the director of the Arena Theatre was renowned Slovak mime artist Milan Sládek, who had the ambition to establish an international institute for physical theatre at the Arena. He was therefore open to the idea of creating and maintaining a platform for the presentation of original projects by young Slovak contemporary performers, most of whom were members of the Association for Contemporary Dance (the association was founded in 1996). Considering its financial and other constraints, the project made notable headway in promoting contemporary dance as an art form. Along with the Bratislava in Motion festival, which, among other things, launched the unique Physical Dialogues project, during which renowned artists such as the likes of Steve Paxton, Lisa Nelson, Daniel Lepkoff, Ray Chung, Eva Karcag, David Zambrano and Julyen Hamilton taught and performed in the Slovak capital, Dance in the Arena signalled a new beginning in the development of contemporary dance in Slovakia. However, shortly after the inauguration of the new director, film director Juraj Kukura, the project Dance in the Arena was cancelled. In 2003, the Arena Theatre hosted the very last edition of Bratislava in Motion. In the following season, Kukura allowed several re-stagings of the performance Not Just a Body by the Dajv Company. That was the last time contemporary dance was featured in the theatre.

What followed was an effort to find or establish a substitute platform for the presentation of contemporary dance in Bratislava. Regrettably, all the available venues paled in comparison to the Arena, which had been reconstructed for the purposes of physical theatre and provided ideal conditions for the presentation of contemporary dance, especially in terms of the proportionality of the stage and the auditorium. As part of the Dancing under the Pyramid project, the Bratislava in Motion association staged several shows in the studio of Slovak Radio, which, however, was not technically suited for dance productions. The Association for Contemporary Dance attempted to create a venue for the regular presentation of contemporary dance works in the newly reopened V-Club under the name Nultý Priestor – A4, which was jointly managed by four associations focussed on independent culture. However, being a former music club, the venue could only provide suitable conditions for the presentation of chamber productions. The new venue in the YMCA Theatre, where A4 has been based since 2013, offers much more generous conditions by way of staging.

In 2007, thanks to private financial support, Bratislava witnessed the emergence of another venue – the D and T House, which became the base of operations of the elledanse association. This alternative venue (based in a former slaughterhouse) was situated in a very attractive location (near the Mileticova Street Market), but nonetheless faced many limitations, both in terms of dramaturgy and technical organisation, owing to the fact that it was conceived as a combination of private and public enterprise. In the few short years of its existence, the D and T House struggled to build up a sufficiently large audience which could support its activities, and eventually closed down in 2015.

For a while, it appeared that contemporary dance, given its unorthodox approach to artistic expression, was well placed in alternative venues. But during the first years of the 21^st century, there occurred a natural transition from experimental chamber productions by emerging choreographers to feature productions with a clear message and a well-defined production process. Despite the fact that contemporary dance in Slovakia had matured, it was still viewed as a mostly experimental art form, for which it was somehow natural to struggle for many years with convoluted grant schemes and limited technical possibilities.

In 2012, the situation began to change for the better, when contemporary dance finally got the opportunity to be featured in a professional venue. In 2011, choreographer Šárka Ondrišová, who served as the director of the elledanse association, launched a project called Contemporary Dance Mondays. The project was born at a time when the Slovak National Theatre, under the management of new Executive Director Ondrej Šoth, started developing a new image. The project was carried out in the studio of the Slovak National Theatre over a period of five consecutive Mondays. Even after the sudden departure of Šoth from the post of Executive Director, the new management of the Slovak National Theatre Ballet Company showed interest in continuing to promote contemporary dance. The Ballet Dramaturgy therefore prepared their own project called Contemporary Dance in the Slovak National Theatre, while the Full House association launched its grant project Roots of Slovak Contemporary Dance. These initiatives helped rehabilitate contemporary dance, and there was great hope that things were finally going in the right direction.

The 2013/14 ballet season in the Slovak National Theatre opened with the project Roots of Slovak Contemporary Dance. The featured act, iTMOi by the world-renowned Akram Khan Company, starred celebrated Slovak dancer Andrej Petrovič. The programme also featured other Slovak dancers who work abroad, such as Peter Šavel, who performed the duet Shifts with pianist Kamil Mihalov, and Juraj Korc, who performed two choreographies by the cieLaroque Company (headed by Austrian choreographer Helene Weinzierl), namely 30 1 30 1 IS IT ME and Democrazy – How to Peel an Onion Without Crying. The Slovak National Theatre Ballet Company, as part of the Contemporary Dance in the Slovak National Theatre project, staged the dance solo Off-Beat by Milan Tomášik, who works in Slovenia, the Water on Water production by Šárka Ondrášiková, which was performed by the elledanse company, and Joys of the Past, which was designed by Milan Tomášik for the Štúdio Tanca Dance Theatre.

The season concluded with a showing of The Painted Bird, a narrative trilogy by Slovak choreographer Pavel Zuštiak, who lives and works in New York City. The uniqueness of this show rests not only in the fact that the lead performer, Jaro Viňarský, received the Bessie Award for his portrayal of the main character (it is worth noting that the Bessie is a truly special award which only a few dancers across the world have had the honour to receive). It also rests on the fact that it stars a large group of volunteer performers. What makes the show special is the stark visual contrast between Viňarský’s lean figure and the great mass of people of various ages, physical constitutions, and stage expressions which betray a curious blend of courage, insecurity and bodily authenticity. The great majority of the volunteers who take part in the show are not professional dancers, and everywhere the performance is staged, a choreographer rehearses with them a few days in advance. The staging of The Painted Bird in the historic building of the Slovak National Theatre gave this radically humane work of art a chance to shine, not least thanks to the adequate technical (sound and lighting) conditions. The large stage appeared to emphasise the idea of the fragility of an excluded individual. I could not, however, shake off the impression that even a seasoned performer like Viňarský could not deny his background in contemporary dance due to the fact that contemporary shows are usually staged in smaller venues. Learning to perform on the big stage takes a lot of practice, and for that, one needs the opportunities.

The cherry on the cake of this season was the interesting idea of the dramaturgy of the Slovak National Theatre Ballet Company to offer contemporary performers a chance to work with the ballet dancers. Three choreographers of different ages (the more experienced Jaro Viňarský and the younger Stanislava Vlčeková and Andrej Petrovič) designed three choreographies based on Shakespeare's Tempest. Each choreographer treated the subject differently. Viňarský came forth with a heavily conceptual choreography without having paid much regard to the ability of the company or the skill of the individual dancers. If he had had more time to work with the performers, his rendition of The Tempest could have been an excellent example of how classical technique contrasts with modern choreographic methods. Andrej Petrovič conceptualised his choreographic premiere with a strong visual emphasis. The way he utilised the set design clearly evidenced the fact that he had spent many years working with the Akram Khan Company. While the performances in Viňarský’s choreography at times seemed somewhat deficient, Petrovič's choreography was notable for the great performances delivered by the lead dancers, Peter Dedinský and Andrej Cagáň (first premiere). The third rendition of The Tempest, directed by Jozef Vlk and designed by choreographer Stanislava Vlčeková, also built on a strong visual. The characters were projected on a transparent “pillar”, which created an unusual effect, but their movement often drew the viewers' attention away from the dancers. Prospero's story was, in the end, impacted by technical difficulties. To rely on visual technology is too big a risk if there is no guarantee that it will work perfectly, which is why I personally preferred the “purest” rendition by Viňarský’s, even though it might have benefitted from some polishing in terms of execution. From the perspective of choreography, Vlčeková's rendition was the least modern insofar as it didn't work with too many new forms and movement dynamics (see definition above), even though the choreographer did draw a lot on conventional contemporary approaches to movement design. Why didn't it work despite the fact that the ballet dancers (especially the men) showed great potential in how they dealt with the contemporary style? Perhaps because the performance was missing the crucial element of contemporary dance: the dancers are not just performers; they actively contribute to the structure of the choreographic material. That is one of the major differences between the conventional approach to choreography (to which ballet and theatre dancers are accustomed) and contemporary dance, where the performance is elevated to the level of co-creation, which allows for greater expressiveness and more profound articulation of movement. The other aspect is the technique, which requires the understanding of a movement structure different to the classical repertoire which is so typical of ballet.

Despite the fact that today even large ballet companies and opera houses commonly stage the works of renowned contemporary choreographers as a way of diversifying their programmes, it is clear that in Slovakia it is currently impossible to create the conditions necessary to take that step in such a way as would allow ballet dancers to become familiar with a different form of dance expression (which would entail a training routine and enough time to study the material). I am confident that Slovak contemporary dance should receive adequate professional conditions so that it can develop freely and without having to make too many financial and other concessions. Only once we have devised effective means of promoting the art form and educating the audience (which is a complete necessity in renowned European companies) can we hope that contemporary dance will regularly fill theatre auditoria. Sure, it will take some time. After all, the journey of contemporary dance in Slovakia has only just begun. And sure, that journey may be long and difficult, insofar as the development of contemporary dance in the country is, for better or worse, largely dependent on the work of the newly-established Slovak Arts Council.