www.gerlikaite.lt - NEWSLETTER April 2009

This Newsletter is about artist Skaidra Jančaitė - a professional singer (soprano), composer, dancer and photographer - a tribute to her ingenious creativity.

I have known Skaidra for many years as an artist and dear friend, colourful and lively, positive, inquisitive and creative. Our conversations often turn into discussions of mutual projects and I believe there are many yet to come.
I am very proud and happy that ideas and art pieces I was working on also inspired Skaidra to create several very original and interesting musical pantomimes such as “The Lion – The Sun” (2004), ”A Knot” (2005), “Water meditations” (2007) and “Like Smoke” (2009) always adding another dimension to the subject. Skaidra’s ability to interact with her audience and provoke an emotional response through deep knowledge of self and the human psyche, and control of means of expression allows her to reach for and elevate one to new levels of spiritual awareness.

Bellow there are several pictures from Skaidra’s performances and primary ideas for the particular piece in the artist’s own words, starting with most recent one in March 2009:

"Like smoke" a composition by Skaidra Jančaitė performed at the exhibition's "Metaphysical Reconstruction" opening reception at Gallery D’Arijaus papuošalai March 16th, 2009.

Composition "Like Smoke", Raga improvisation with tampura. 

Instrument tampura is used for accompaniment to any solo instrument and voice. Indian Raga, from the Hindi/Urdu word "rag" is derived from the Sanskrit "raga" which means "colour or passion". It is linked to the Sanskrit word "ranj" which means "to colour". Therefore Raga may be thought of as an acoustic method of colouring the mind of the listener with an emotion. Skaidra Jančaitė used Raga principles which she has recently learned in India freely improvising with sound and motion, evoking various states of being and transformations of body and mind.  

”Notice smoke between sounds, feelings, sights, between lives...”

"Water Meditations" tape, voice and dance (sound producer Norbertas Gaulė). A musical project performed at the exhibition's "Parallel Spaces" opening reception at Gallery D’Arijaus papuošalai October 1st, 2007.
Artist Skaidra is experimenting with water sounds, singing Lithuanian folks songs about water and dancing.

Fragment from the primary ideas of the artist:
“Water in this world: all around us and 70% of our body.
Water is alive, pure, becomes ice, is hot...
Water can hear, react, be modified.
This also is happening with water in our body.
Sounds speak to our water, they change us... Hear, feel, realize…” 

“A Knot” is a part of a common project with Danish graphic artists for the intaglio exhibition “The Deadly Sins”, a musical pantomime at the exhibition's "Deadly Sins" opening reception at Gallery D’Arijaus papuošalai November 2nd, 2005  

“The time comes for everybody to get acquainted with lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy and pride. You decide to give one of them up and then realize how dependent you are on pleasures. You indulge until you are overcome by suffering and then try to turn your back on them again… but you long to enjoy it – together with the body."

“The Lion – The Sun”, a musical pantomime at the intaglio exhibition's "Wave-length" opening reception at Gallery D’Arijaus papuošalai September 14th, 2004.

“The symbols of the Sun and the Lion have been emphasized in many nations for centuries. They both have meanings of good and evil. The Sun gives life, but it also takes it. The Lion and the Sun are signs of justice and fire, they are energies that, when communicated by different expressions of the body, demonstrate the wheel of change. The Sun is always in the zenith, sunset and dawn.”

 
Skaidra Jančaitė was born in Kaunas, Lithuania 1967. Graduated from the Kaunas J. Gruodis Conservatoire in 1987 with a speciality in choir conducting, and from the Lithuanian Academy of Music in 2002, where she studied solo singing with Assoc. Prof. J. Grickienė and with Prof. V. Noreika.
In 1991–1992 attended master classes by different professors in Denmark, France, Austria and USA. In 1987–2001 the singer worked at the Lithuanian Academy of Music; since 1998, she has been working at the Kaunas J. Naujalis School of Arts.
Skaidra Jančaitė frequently sings in Lithuania; she participates in concerts of avant-garde and experimental music as well as in different projects; she also sings during festivals of classical and contemporary music. As a vocalist and soloist she was an active member of a few chamber music groups (AB Antiqua, Collegium) and avant-garde music ensembles (RAAS, N.N.N.). Her repertoire includes opuses of Renaissance, baroque and classical music, works of romantic and contemporary composers, sacral songs, Russian romances and Lithuanian folk music.
For 20 years S. Jančaitė has been well known as a performer of sacral music; she has been performing in Lithuanian churches, schools and concert halls. Concerts for Lithuanian schoolchildren, Advent Moods and Let’s Play with Sounds, organised by the singer since 1992 as well as Sunday Concerts of Sacral Music in Vilnius St. Casimir and other churches have become very popular. In 2007 the singer has realised her most significant projects: Ave Maria, Sakralianiai duetai (Sacral Duos) and a feast of the synthesis of creation and art, Kūrimo diena (Creativity Day) at Vilnius City Hall, March 15th 2007, which has been the largest event organised by Skaidra Jančaitė so far, bringing together over 300 creators (children’s theatre, dance troupes, ensembles, musicians, singers, composers, poets, video and graphic artists, the kite movement, etc.). The singer has been continuously searching for new forms and possibilities of communication with the audience, discovering a unique style of expression: during her musical-educational programmes for children and youth she communicates with the audience and predisposes the listeners for openness and self-expression…
More about Skaidra Jančaitė: http://www.musicperformers.lt/vid.php3lang=en&menu_id=9&at_id=15