Burja Podlesnik

Who are you as a performer/artist? 
I feel an urge to speak my mind, and I am extremely sensitive. I am still in the process of finding ways to perceive and use this delicacy of mine as a strength rather than a weakness. My artistry is heavily influenced by my feelings of responsibility to change, challenge and nudge the current reality, with the aim of reconfiguring the space given to things that have no space and voice the things that otherwise remain silent.

What are your ambitions?
I would like to establish a space where I can move, sweat, create and share. Currently I would find the most joy doing that with my friends. I am especially attracted to local work, performing and creating for intimate settings, where the proximity of the audience is something, I value greatly. I get a similar desired proximity through teaching, which is something I would like to develop further in the future. For my succeeding choreographic work, I wish to enrich the relation between the personal and universal aspects of the depicted concepts, by expanding my creation process beyond the studio. I want to hear people’s stories and find other ways of sharing art that differ from performing.

Where do you find inspiration?
I get inspired by movies, books and other art forms, by things that move me. I feel intrigued by human interaction. Opposing narratives, moments of awkwardness, the presence of greed in all of us.

What did you do in your internship? What did you learn?
I took my first steps into freelance, where I focused on the development of my choreographic work, developed my teaching practice, and dived further into the realm of dance and music improvisation. My number one goal has been recovering from an ankle surgery and reconnecting to my body, reestablishing trust and again perceiving my body as a playground rather than a closed construction area. I have learned a lot about patience, persistence and the richness of limitation. The importance of community, the absence of the one “right” path and the significance of defining one’s own success.

This page was last updated on July 6, 2025