ANASTASIJA OLESCUKA she / her
Dancer, choreographer, performer & project leader.
Anastasija was born and raised in Latvia (1989) in a family with mixed cultural background - Latvian, Russian, Ukrainian & Polish. At the age of 8 she started dancing in National Folk Dance Ensemle “Ivushka”, that performed all across the country and toured with performances in France, Belgium, Belorussia, Slovenia, Poland and Baltics. At the age of 16 she became a practicitioner of streetdances and at the age of 18 she won Latvian talent award & scholarship “Zelta Zivtina”. She graduated from Latvias Univercity with bachelor degree in Sociology by the age of 21, while one semester was spent in Copenhagen Univercity with additional courses in antropology.
In 2012 Anastasija graduated from Hotstepper Dance Education in Copenhagen. She became a member of CLASHcph streetdance organisation that has been providing annual dance festivals and events focusing on local community, legacy of Hip Hop, African - & Latin- American vernacular dances, and intergenerational connections in Nordic and global contexts.
Anastasija started producing her own performances at Dansekapellets choreographers platforms and in 2021 choreographed ANTS 1+1=3 that has been touring since. Her choreographic practice fuses street dance, natural science and conceptual research that involves artists and specialists from different fields like biology, photography, music, visual arts and local communities. She is using choreography as a living laboratory where states of body, ecology and identity intertwine. She invites audiences to rethink human patterns of dominance and expand imagination by experiencing dance in a dialogue with other forms of intelligence, as well as always evolving archive of collective memory. Her upcoming project Mould With Me is engaging work with fungi.
In her choreographic experience she worked with:
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composers Turkman Souljah, Damon Frost, Henrik Goldschmith, Matias Friis-Hansen, Yo Akim Hejle, Casper Preisler
- scientists Hans Joachim Offenberg (DK), Renée Jung (NO), Sondre Eng (NO), Dabao Sun Lü (NO)
- photographers Simone Ballan, Ewa Mos & Badi Bahadir Berber
- videographer & choreographer Sara Jordan
- visual artist Roelof Knol (NL)
- choreographers and dancers Steen Koerner, Cher Geurtze & Mark Philip
Residencies:
Festival Karavel, Lyon (FR) 2017, Dansekapellet (DK) 2023, Site Sweden Stockholm 2025 (SE).
As a dancer Anastasija worked with choreographers Toniah Pedersen, Sara Jordan, Steen Koerner, Cher Geurtze, Robot Boys, Viktor Fröjd, Hooman Sharifi and Cullberg Company in Sweden. She danced for Lucy Love, Big Daddy Kane, Tessa, DJ Awards, Zulu Awards, Kari Traa, Juneteenth Festival with Pop Tart (SF). She is a practitioner of Hip Hop Dance, Popping, lately diging deeper into Roboting & Animation, family member of Kiki House of Mercury in Ballroom Scene.
Received support from Danish Art Council, Augustinus Fonden, Knud Højgaards Fond, Toyota Fonden, Aage og Johanne Louis-Hansens Fond, William Demant Fonden, Nordic Culture Point Mobility Funding, Gramex & Dansk Artist Forbund.
CALENDAR WITH UPCOMING PERFORMANCES & RESEARCH & WORKSHOPS
DETAILED CV
