Agnietė Lisičkinaitė (1990) is an independent contemporary dance artist, choreographer and teacher. Since 2016, she has been a member of the Contemporary Dance Association, and the chairwoman of this organization from 2020. In 2019, together with her colleague Greta Grineviciute, founded the organization BE COMPANY.​

​“A provocative, questioning, thought-provoking, socially and politically engaged dance medium is a means for me to create a dialogue with the audience. Dance can be a tool for social activity. I believe that a work of art can lead to social change and still remain an art that does not define itself within the boundaries of artistic institutions.”

HANDS UP

“Hands Up is an activist work informed by local specificities that asks the audience to take action in changing our world, beginning from the ambiguous gesture of lifting the hands up. […] The political is not only personal but above all physical.”

Ariadne Mikou springdancemagazine.com

Agnietė Lisičkinaitė presents an experience halfway between a performance and a political intervention, inviting the audience to participate in reconstructing a public space. The Lithuanian artist considers dance a tool for social activism, capable of provoking, stimulating dialogue and triggering thoughts and questions. For a long time, Lisičkinaitė has been investigating the role of the body in protests and how protests are embodied in different cultural, social and religious contexts, starting from the assumption that all protests start and end with human bodies. “HANDS UP” examines the fragile distance between surrender and devotion, reconciliation and resistance. What are the consequences of a non-constructive protest close to recent global movements? What kind of protest do we want to create in the future? Will it be a symbol of freedom or aggression? This ever-evolving research has no single truth or answer.

Hello, I’m Agniete and I invite you all to raise your hands up.

Idea, choreography and performance: Agnietė Lisičkinaitė

Dramaturgy: Bush Hartsorn

Video: Odeta Riškutė

Costume: Morta Nakaitė

Music: Jokūbas Tulaba

Light design: Povilas Laurinaitis

Produced by:  BE COMPANY

Project funded by Lithuania culture council and Lithuania dance information center

Duration 40 min.

Trailer: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nidBs-xb1t2X2Ku0zrx5s3NqO9vGHBSz/view?usp=sharing

Full performance* https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OzwJO47CGs8xShY7MRUXMQ_ZPc2crs-J/view?usp=sharing

*Public walk that you will see in the full performance video is longer than usual.