21 DEGREES CELSIUS is a dance solo exploring the theme of work and happiness, balancing between performance and active installation. The solo was developed as part of the “Safe Chemistry” diptych, within the larger European project “Stronger Peripheries: A Southern Coalition”, and as a Croatian–Portuguese co-production. Within this piece, the performance space responds to the dancer’s body through changes in sound, light, and scenography. By engaging with the question of happiness (at work), the author examines the issue of control and how conditions such as temperature, friction, fluidity, and the body itself can influence not only the stage environment but also the chemistry that unfolds between the performer and the audience. As she moves, the space transforms, affecting the audience’s perception both visually and sonically.
She asks:
How is it that we are all made of carbon atoms, when carbon can only be created in the core of a star?
How is it that dopamine always wants more, and how is it that without it there would be no creation, no dreams, no progress?
And if dopamine isn’t the molecule of pleasure, but the molecule of anticipation, where does the thing we’re waiting for actually come from?
What is the difference between desire and satisfaction?
What are the conditions in which this chemical reaction succeeds?
Who lives, and how, in 21°C?
Do perfect conditions truly bring comfort?
Is love a form of tuning in?
And if she names all the most famous gods of love, will there be 21 of them?
Cupid, Eros, Amor, Aphrodite, Venus, Hathor, Freya, Kamadeva, Xochipilli, Inanna, Ishtar, Aine…
We must continue adjusting the thing – temperature, food, ourselves.
Author: Petra Hrašćanec
Performer: Petra Hrašćanec
Set design: Igor Ruf and Lovro Ivančić
Costume design: Lovro Ivančić
Light design: Andrija Santro
Music: Nenad Sinkauz
Photo: Karla Jurić, 925STUDIO
Video: Ivan Idžojtić
Video editing: Petra Šobak
Poster and booklet design: Petra Milički
Producers: Ivana Kuzmanić, Andrea Turić, Ivana Korpar
Production: Artistic Organization 21:21, Zagreb / POGON, Zagreb (HR), Artemrede, Santarém (PT), Sardegna Teatro, Fuorimargine (IT)
Co-producers: Artemrede, Santarém (Portugal); Sardegna Teatro, Fuorimargine (Italy)
The project Safe Chemistry was developed as part of the European project “Stronger Peripheries: A Southern Coalition,” with Pogon – Zagreb Center for Independent Culture and Youth – as the Croatian partner. The project is co-funded by the European Union through the Creative Europe programme.
Petra Hrašćanec is the founder and artistic director of the artistic organization 21:21. She is a dancer, choreographer, and Associate Professor at the Dance Department of the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. Born in Zadar on May 23, 1982, Petra Hrašćanec works in the field of performing arts as a dancer, choreographer, and educator. Her primary area of interest and training is contemporary dance, and her works are characterized by the exploration of the body as the reality of performance through various media. In addition to performing in her own choreographic works, she is also a visiting member of WEE COMPANY, led by choreographer Francesco Scavetta and based in Norway. She creates her choreographic works through the artistic organization 21:21 (where she is one of the artistic directors), or in collaboration with the partner organization de facto, often in partnership with Croatian institutions such as &TD Theatre, Zagreb Youth Theatre, Pogon Jedinstvo, and Zagreb Dance Centre. Since 2013, she has been teaching the course Contemporary Dance Technique at the Dance Department of the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. From 2009 to 2020, she was the artistic director of the Monoplay solo dance festival in Zadar. Her works have been presented at renowned European dance festivals and theatre institutions, including Rencontres Chorégraphiques Internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis in Paris, ImPulsTanz in Vienna, UOVO Festival in Milan, La Raffinerie – Charleroi Danses in Brussels, Les Subsistances in Lyon, Théâtre de la Bastille in Paris, and many others.
