The event and project Dani Smiljane Mandukić, produced and organized by the Association Umetnička Utopija, was launched in 2017 and continued in 2018 with the aim of presenting the life and work of this artist to the public in Serbia.
Smiljana Mandukić was a prominent ballerina, pedagogue, choreographer, and one of the initiators of contemporary dance in Serbia. She was born in 1908 in Vienna and passed away in Belgrade in 1992, after a rich career as a dancer and choreographer. She is the founder of the school and troupe Beogradski savremeni balet Smiljane Mandukić.
The event and project Dani Smiljane Mandukić is important for all those involved in performing arts, primarily necessary for educating new generations about the personality and work of this significant choreographer, but also for archiving, digitizing, and preserving from oblivion an important segment of the history and tradition of Serbian artistic dance, as well as for the visibility and support of current and future domestic artists, dancers, and choreographers of contemporary dance.
The goal of the project is to remind of the life and work of Smiljana Mandukić, her role and significance in establishing contemporary dance in our country, but also to reexamine and critically reflect on the position and situation of contemporary dance in Serbia in the 21st century, as well as the situation of contemporary and independent artists in the field of dance, both then and now.
