Bitef

again. The eleven months long span without cultural sanctions has brought about a relevant change. Most world countries were again prepared to send their eminent theatre ensembles to Bitef and financially support their participation. Therefore, these year's choices could again be made under the sign of the balance between the great established ensembles and independent groups, which was distinctive for the Bitef since its establishment in 1 9 67. In order to catch up with what had passed us over, this year's selection highlights the renowned outstanding directors and choreographers. Bitef had already welcomed these creative personalities in the past (Kresnik, Wilson, Purcarete, Ristić, Unkovski), or they have in the meantime become acclaimed in the world or here (Dodin, Nadj, Charnock, Milenkovski, Markovid, Lečić). Our century is the century of the director. Their concepts govern the theatre. Every performance is some sort of dialogue with one's own time. On the one side the director has the text or the theme (the author who is quite often from another time), and on the other side he has the actors and the dancers who are all, like the audience, his contemporaries. The director of today, together with his performers and the audience, has found himself in the transformed world. These transformations were dramatic, deep, painful. And they are still happening. Here they are getting even more painful and bloodied day by day. The systems, the states, the borders crumble down, hundreds of thousands of peoples are displaced into distressing uncertainty - while in the mayhem the most misfortunate ones lose their lives and vanish without trace. On the one hand the borderless world of leisurely comfort depicts itself as paradise on earth, and on the other - alongside this gallant world - the apocalypse. In this transformed reality the director could not avoid changing the theatre, its language, form and awareness, regardless of his or her domicile. How it came about with the greatest and the youngest, will be witnessed by this year's Bitef testimony. ■ Jovan Cirilov