Mielaniia Kobaliia
«Contact and Pantomime»
Location:
Berlin
Self-description, education & work experience:
In 2018, Mielaniia Kobaliia has graduated from the Theatre and Dance Studio «Junona» (Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine). Subsequently, she entered the Kyiv Municipal Academy of Variety and Circus Arts and after three years of study she received a junior specialist diploma (specialization: Pantomime).
In the New Year’s season of 2018 and 2019-2020, Mielaniia worked as an arena artist in the show of the National Circus of Ukraine. Also, in 2021, she performed as an arena artist in the «KOLO» Art Project with Ukrainian singer Alina Pash at the Lviv State Circus. Later, during the summer of 2022 in Berlin, Mielaniia was involved in the filming of «Between Before and After» – a short film about the war in Ukraine (directed by Marichka Lukyanchuk). Moreover, she performed at the residence of the Ukrainian Cultural Community as part of the exhibition of Ukrainian artist Yulia Levytska.
Mielaniia’s latest occupation is playing the role of the king from German fairytale «Frog Prince» (Galli Theatre, Berlin) for Ukrainian children, who came to Berlin because of the war. As of November 2022, Mielaniia is participating (among a big team of Ukrainian artists) in the creation of a performance «The RUN: Refugee Rave», directed by Anna Demidova, which will tell the story of refugees, who had to flee their homes.
Introduction to the project:
Mielaniia Kobaliia is a mime, actress, dancer. In her residency she wants to explore pantomime as one of the options for communication with the audience. She is also looking for new schemes of building improvisational performance.
Description of the project:
In the residency Mielaniia is going to work with contact improvisation exercises and pantomime. Based on that, she wants to search for ways to popularize pantomime among the masses, as one of the options for communicating with the viewer on topical issues of society.
The desire to work on this project was facilitated by the fact that what she and her fellow artists are broadcasting in their creative works, is, unfortunately, relevant today. The staged performance that Mielaniia is working on has a provocative component, raising the topic of the war in Ukraine due to Russia’s attack. She also enjoys engaging with the tools that are used to highlight the absurdity that is happening in the country of the aggressor. In addition, the performance has scenes which help to spread awareness of Ukrainian culture, which is also an important point for her. On such stage of creation, as an idea, Mielaniia and Ukrainian team are just beginning to bring the project into life.
Contact information:
melaniya.kobaliya@gmail.com
Links:
1) account of the Ukrainian Cultural Community, at which exhibition Mielaniia performed https://instagram.com/ucc_berlin?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
2) more videos with Mielaniia‘s participation
https://youtu.be/TR12o2sOBzU
https://youtu.be/HvW1qznwjf0