Choreographer, dancer and teacher. She works in the Czech Republic and abroad. After graduating from the arts high school, she went on to study choreography at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. As a dancer she has taken part in projects by Czech and foreign choreographers. She won the Most Outstanding Dancer Award at the Masdanza Festival in the Canary Islands and the First Prize for group work. Her performances have been presented at Biennale de la danse in Lyon, Aerowaves in London, Aerodance in Amsterdam, Cynetart in Dresden and other festivals. She created the choreography for Havel's Antikódy at the New Stage of the National Theatre in Prague.
VĚRA ONDRAŠÍKOVÁ
She combines contemporary dance with visual art, music, and lighting design. Her projects are created in collaboration with artists from various disciplines and are performed on stages both at home and abroad.
Her choreography for Havel’s *Anticodes* (Laterna Magika, directed by Braňo Mazúch) was also performed in 2013 during an international tour in Washington, Miami, and New York.
In addition to her work as a choreographer, she also performs. In 2017, she appeared in the production *A Body* by Japanese choreographer Mine Tanaka at the Archa Theater. Her work also includes teaching—she leads workshops, master classes, and choreography workshops.
In December 2015, her most successful performance GUIDE premiered and it has been performed almost 80 times around the world and has won a number of awards: the Audience Award, the Lighting Design Award and the Dancer of the Year Award for Jaro Ondruš at the Czech Dance Platform 2016. In 2017 the performance was selected among the 20 most interesting European works within the international Aerowaves network. GUIDE launched this prestigious festival in Aarhus, Denmark, where it was seen by over 300 foreign promoters.
In her work, Věra Ondrašíková explores current social issues that stem from her own inner tension. Her repertoire therefore includes productions that address the global environmental crisis (WITNESS), issues of aging and personal introspection (GUIDE), and the mental health of young people (CLOUDS). Her productions feature a very distinctive aesthetic that blends contemporary dance with striking lighting design and live original music. The result is always a powerful audiovisual experience that straddles the line between dance and the visual arts.
As an educator, Věra Ondrašíková teaches at HAMU (The Academy of Performing Arts in Prague Music and Dance Faculty) at the Department of Dance and the Department of Nonverbal Theater. She regularly leads contemporary dance workshops and choreography workshops for children and adults, professionals, and the general public. Abroad, she works as a guest instructor, mentor, and audition judge for various companies.
Věra Ondrašíková & collective is currently based at the ARCHA+ cultural space and cultural space La Fabrika in Prague and performs as a guest company throughout the country and abroad.