MODINA: Still Moving
Liis Vares & Taavet Jansen
Liis Vares ja Taavet Jansen will develop their project “Still Moving” in the international residency program MODINA (Movement, Digital Intelligence and Interactive Audience) from 31st of March to 25th of May 2025 at Sõltumatu Tantsu Laval (STL).
The residency will end with a showing of “Still Moving” on the 24th of May at 13:00 and 18:00 at Sõltumatu Tantsu Lava (STL).
Still Moving invites you into a space where instinctive physicality meets linguistic thinking, using mixed reality (MR). The project, part of the larger Held in Human series, explores the meaning of presence and “being in a body” in a contemporary world where technology significantly extends and mediates human experience. Virtual reality headsets enable the audience to navigate simultaneously in both physical and virtual spaces, and this parallel presence allows the performer or audience member to enter a dynamic “thought space.”
Each participant brings their own unique physicality, imagination, and interpretation, contributing to an evolving choreographic language and inclusive dramaturgy.
Liis Vares is a choreographer based in Tallinn and in digital space, playing in the midfield of performing and fine arts. She is a certified DanceAbility teacher and a guest lecturer at the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy, specializing in improvisation and inclusive studies in dance and performing arts. She navigates the boundaries between the physical and mental, the personal and social. Liis has been recognized for her bold and inclusive approach and won the Estonian Cultural Endowment Annual Performing Arts Prize (2022) for innovative choreographic practice and for addressing politically and socially acute and sensitive topics in her work.
Taavet Jansen is an interdisciplinary artist whose work integrates movement, digital technologies, and interactive performance. His practice focuses on blurring the boundaries of art at the intersection of the viewer’s physical and digital presence. Jansen has situated his work in various environments, including theatre, galleries, and virtual spaces—his current focus lies in audience engagement in hybrid spaces and mixed reality. Taavet has also held several academic positions at both the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy and the Estonian Academy of Arts. He is currently completing a PhD at the Estonian Academy of Arts.
“Still Moving” is developed at STL during the 8-week MODINA residency with technical mentoring by Tallinn University, School of Digital Technologies. MODINA is co-funded by the European Union.
Articles by the artists on the subject:
“Tehnoloogia ja teatrikunst: Innovatsiooni ja konservatiivsuse kokkupõrge” – Taavet Jansen, Teater.Muusika.Kino, märts 2025
“ACuTe Case Studies” – Kelomees Raivo, Jansen Taavet, Hoppu Petri (Eds.), Publications of Oulu University of Applied Sciences, 11.6.2024
“From Past to Present: The Journey of Technological Theatre” – Kelomees Raivo, Jansen Taavet, Hoppu Petri, Omak Journal – Publications of Oulu University of Applied Sciences, 22.9.2023
