Les SlovaKs is a relatively young dance collective whose members are Milan Herich, Peter Jasko, Anton Lachky, Milan Tomasik and Martin Kilvady. Under the name ‘new traditional dance’, Les SlovaKs have developed a way of dancing and performing that is based on their shared background, history and frame of reference. At an early age the five were already dancing at the Slovakian dance academy in Banska Bystrica. Later they moved to Brussels to study and build up a professional career in contemporary dance companies.

The company was officially established in 2006, and its basic principle is to dance in a way that is both lively and free and in a context in which expression, emotion, physical virtuosity, personal history and cultural singularity go together. Les SlovaKs cannot easily be put into a single category: the company embraces various styles and connotations flexibly and playfully.

As far as the collective is concerned, each dancer is irreplaceable. The polyphonic dance alternately places each individual dancer in the spotlight as a solo dancer and as an instrumental part of a dynamic and friendly whole. By incorporating the basic principles of the individual and the collective in their composition, their work acquires great transparency and the audience is a witness to the amusing differences of opinion, moments of consensus and personal investment of each dancer, who is part of the trial and error method of their performances. The decisions made throughout the creative process are developed further on stage through improvisation.

Music is a vital part of Les SlovaKs’ performances. The references contained in the dance are also expressed in a powerful soundtrack in which dance is approached from a different perspective. Following their fruitful collaboration for Opening Night (2007), the dancers have once again joined forces with the musician composer Simon Thierrée for Journey Home (2009).