Anonymous Dances

Director Darius Gumauskas has been nominated for the Golden Stage Cross (2026) for the documentary fiction work “Anonymous Dances” (State Šiauliai Drama Theatre, Operomanija) in the “interdisciplinary performing arts work” category.

A room submerged in twilight. Ordinary chairs, the spare details of a reception desk, perhaps an office interior; musical instruments are set out in the corners. At the back of the room is a mysterious door, through which strange, otherworldly sounds and a dim, cold light sometimes seep. What kind of place is this? A medical clinic waiting room, a space where a religious community gathers, or perhaps an underground shelter?

A couple of employees are already there, quietly carrying out their daily tasks: registering arrivals, sorting them into groups and escorting them to wait. People gather here in search of something, though they themselves do not know exactly what. Perhaps help, perhaps salvation, or perhaps simply a brief escape from awareness. They patiently wait their turn to enter the place where, it seems, all their troubles will be resolved. But can they really be helped?

“Anonymous Dances” is an interdisciplinary work that uses theatrical means to explore different forms of addiction, desperate searches for dopamine and the unrelenting desire to escape reality. The creative team approached these themes broadly, sharing personal experiences, asking what lies behind addiction and looking for its many forms of expression.

The performance is built around action-based dramaturgy discovered through improvisation. Music also plays an important role, combining contemporary electronics with Baroque aesthetics. Together, these elements help the actors break free from the confines of traditional psychological theatre. The characters’ monologues subtly intertwine the creators’ real experiences with invented ones, deliberately blurring the line between what was lived and what was performed. These stories could be real testimonies, but they could also be carefully conceived fiction. No one can be certain what the truth is.

Producers: State Šiauliai Drama Theatre, Operomanija

The Anonymous — actors of the State Šiauliai Drama Theatre: Nomeda Bėčiūtė, Jūratė Budriūnaitė, Tautvydas Galkauskas, Monika Geštautaitė, Dalius Jančiauskas, Rusnė Navickaitė, Severinas Norgaila, Inga Norkutė, Vilija Paleckaitė and Juozas Žibūda; countertenor Vaidas Bartušas.

Director Darius Gumauskas: “The idea for the performance arose in a paradoxical setting—a party where a piece played on a Baroque spinet was heard, and contemporary listeners responded to the old music in real time. The unexpected collision of two eras—the atmosphere of a 21st-century party and Baroque music—created a compelling image that offered a brief escape from the troubles of everyday life: poverty, depression, unhappy love, financial or moral crises, and the increasingly palpable threat of war.

“‘Anonymous Dances’ is a performance about waiting for the worst while believing it can be avoided, or pretending that nothing bad is happening. About the desire to survive, to change, perhaps even to experience inner illumination. About withdrawal from a former life…”