It’s a gathering. It’s a celebration of being-in-the-world. It’s a where the ‘time rests in itself, where it ‘deepens vertically’. it’s a space for dwelling, directionless floating, contemplative lingering... It’s where we find the ‘pleasure in welcoming the unknown’ In dAzzleMAZE, we surrender to reflection, glow and beauty. dAzzleMAZE is installation-based, durational performance created primarily for the youngest audiences who relate to the world differently: neurodiverse children aged between 6 months to 3, as well as for neurotypical children up to 16 months old. In order to profoundly respond to the needs of its audience, the project is research based - structured as a sequenced, process-based framework and will be carried out.
It provides various extents of experience for all types of perception with no judgment on eligible and ineligible behaviours (such as falling asleep, drifting away, isolating as well as social exchange, exhilaration, vocalizing etc). The audience can choose to wear the costumes which are placed in the welcoming area, and which are aesthetically corresponding to costumes that performers wear. In this way, the sensation of togetherness is enhanced. The audience can come and go as they wish, and leave when it suits them the most.
Dalija Acin Thelander works within the performing arts field as a choreographer, theatre maker, cultural worker and researcher. Her work aspires to contribute to the notion of choreography as expanded practice and focuses on audience's agency, intersensoriality and emplacement. From 2008 she gets involved in intensive research on interrelational choreographic practices, focused on creating immersive sensory dance performances exclusively for neurotypical babies. In 2022 she, starts her three year research project at Stockholm University of Arts, which aims to develop new transdisciplinary artistic methods focused on fostering sensory immediacy, kinesthetic-embodied response, affect, and intersubjectivity, attuned to neurodivergent perception of the youngest children.
She is the recipient of ASSITEJ International Artistic Excellence Award, awarded at the 20th ASSITEJ World Congress and Theatre Festival 2021. Her performances for the youngest audiences have been presented in Japan, Korea, India, China, Singapore, Macao, Hong Kong, Brazil, South Africa and across Europe. She is teaching and lecturing internationally. Born Serbian, she lives in Stockholm, Sweden since 2012.
