The performance CLAP & SLAP explores a complex and paralysing tension which emerged between Lithuania and Belarus, following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24th 2022. This tension is examined through historical, political, geographical, and social lenses, alongside the personal experiences of Agnietė and Igor. Being politically engaged in the events of the Belarusian revolution in 2020, Igor participated in protests in Belarus, while Agnietė participated in demonstrations in front of the Belarusian embassy in Vilnius. Igor was forced to leave his homeland; Agnietė made the decision not to collaborate with Russian-speaking artists. Today, meeting on the same stage, these two artists make an attempt at a dialogue that seems impossible outside of art: dialogue between fear and the necessity of action, between collective and personal responsibilities, between personal tragedy and geopolitical catastrophe. Without naive ambition to find solutions to political or military conflicts, the performance hopes to invoke political and philosophical reflection upon our own ability to distinguish responsibility and guilt, nationalism and patriotism, self-defence and aggression, seeking to trust and trying to protect.
How can we maintain a balance between the need for self-defense and the risk of mirroring the very aggression we are fighting against? Can we respect each other’s differences, uphold personal beliefs, and protect individual freedoms without infringing on others’ rights? This is the line of questioning, to which Agnietė and Igor expose themselves and their audience.
The performance has been selected for Aerowaves Twenty26. The performance received the Special Jury Prize at the Sirenos International Theatre Festival (Lithuania, 2025).
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Authors of idea, choreography: Agniete Lisičkinaite, Igor Shugaleev
Performers: Agniete Lisičkinaite, Igor Shugaleev
Composer: Agne Matulevičiūtė
Scenographer: Oles Makukhin
Dramaturg: Bush Hartsorn
Consultant director: Olga Lapina
Light designer: Povilas Laurinaitis
Production: Be Company / Agniete Lisickinaite
Funded by: Lithuania culture council
Creative residencies: Radialsystem Berlin, Studio ALTA, Bora Bora dance centre, Santarcangelo festival.
Premiere: 2025, New Baltic dance festival
Performance is followed by a talk.
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Igor Shugaleev, a Belarusian-born choreographer and performer based in Warsaw, merges physical theatre, endurance art and activism. His acclaimed performance 375 0908 2334 / The Body You Are Calling Is Currently Not Available (2021) stands as a visceral protest against Belarusian state violence and has toured widely across Europe.
Agnietė Lisičkinaitė, a Lithuanian choreographer, performer, and educator, bridges contemporary dance, politics, and civic action. Her participatory solo Hands Up—presented at festivals across Europe—explores gesture, solidarity, and protest. A co-founder of Be Company with Greta Grinevičiūtė, she advocates for dance as social practice and currently teaches at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre. For Lisičkinaitė, choreography is activism—a medium for dialogue, resistance, and transformation.
Baltic Take Over is a performing arts festival that takes place in a different city each time. On 8-10 May 2026, Baltic Take Over will map its way through Stockholm. Initiated and co-curated by New Theatre Institute of Latvia, Kanuti Gildi SAAL (Estonia), and Lithuanian Dance Information Centre since 2023, the festival presents performances by artists primarily working in Baltic countries. In Stockholm, Baltic Take Over comes to life in collaboration with STHLM DANS and Konträr.
Konträr is a venue for contemporary performing arts in Stockholm.
