“Nutricula”

Actor and circus artist Džiugas Kunsmanas (1994) studied acting at Kaunas Vytautas Magnus University, where he earned a Bachelor’s degree in acting in 2017. While still a student, he joined Teatronas, the theatre troupe that introduces itself as “abnormal”, started acting in theatre performances and taking part in the organisation of the contemporary circus festival Circulation. In 2017, Kunsmanas went to Flic (Flic Scuola di Circo), the first contemporary circus school in Turin, Italy, from which he graduated in 2019. Kunsmanas has created over two dozen roles in theatre, dance and contemporary circus performances and shows. For his acting, he twice received the Kaunas City Theatre Fortūna award (in 2015 and 2016).

In the autumn of 2020, the first contemporary circus centre for children and youth in Lithuania, Cirko Sapiens, opened its doors in Kaunas, where Kunsmanas is one of the four teachers (he teaches acrobatics, standing on arms and circus acting). Also, Kunsmanas works as a freelance actor, dancer and acrobat.

Kunsmanas created the mono performance Nutricula (2016) together with playwright and performance artist Yasen Vasilev from Bulgaria. Nutricula is a physical, movement performance by one person, seeking to test the possibilities of the human body and find the limits of those possibilities. This slow-motion study explores the human body as alien, thereby raising questions about human identity – where does the human body end and the human begins?

dziugas.kunsmanas@gmail.com