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The questions are answered by Oksana Tralla-Anger, associate professor of dance at Tallinn University BFM, and project manager Heili Lindepuu.

Why is the fourth-year dance performance special? Why hasn't it been done before?

This production is special for several reasons. First, it offers our choreography students the opportunity to work closely with professional choreographers, experience the production process from start to finish, and be part of a creative journey that follows the working principles of the real world of theater and dance. Such an experience helps students apply and develop their skills in a real creative process, learn teamwork, and take responsibility for the completion of the production. The project also gives them the opportunity to test their creative potential in a safe, yet demanding environment, where they can rely on the guidance of both faculty and professional choreographers.

This production culminates several years of study and brings to the stage a work that combines the students' dance technical preparation, creativity and professional attitude, providing valuable experience for both the performers and the audience. It is a kind of diploma thesis for the students as performers, or dancers, who are also co-authors in the context of contemporary dance art. On stage, they can apply their dance technical skills, creative thinking and artistic maturity, which have been developed in technical classes, creative workshops and previous production processes.

It is especially important that the students experience a highly responsible work process – from the discipline of rehearsals to performing in front of an audience – and can demonstrate their professionalism and readiness to perform in front of an audience by traveling with the production both in Tallinn and abroad, a total of six times. This makes the production the culmination of their studies and a kind of “calling card” with which to enter their next creative and professional life.

Previously, an undertaking of this scale was not possible due to a lack of resources, but now – thanks to the amendment of the procedure of the Estonian Cultural Endowment – ​​it can become a new tradition. This is a significant cultural policy change that will positively affect not only higher dance education, but the entire field. Our great hope is that this opportunity will last!

What does this dance performance look like? Who will bring it to the audience?

The dancers are 4th year students of the Tallinn University of Music and Dramatic Arts. The director is Abhilash Ningappa from India, the lighting designer is Priidu Adlas from the Estonian Drama Theatre, the rehearser is Oksana Tralla-Anger, and the producer is Heili Lindepuu. The production is a contemporary dance where technical skills meet improvisation.

Abhilash Ningappa is an internationally recognized performer, choreographer and teacher and the founder of Play Practice Artists Residency (India). He holds a Master’s degree from SEAD (Salzburg) and a Master’s degree from APASS (Advanced Performance and Scenography Studies) in Belgium. He is also a yoga practitioner and a martial arts and contemporary dance teacher.

Abhilash has been actively involved in teaching, performing and creating for novice dancers for almost twenty years. His remarkable choreographic works such as and “Persistence of Being” have been presented on various international stages. The current production is a remake of his work, the original production had eight performers, we have 16 dancers. The choreography curriculum has worked with Abhilash before and he got along well with the students. So it seemed a suitable option to invite him to create a diploma production.

What is the message of this production?

Architect of Self Destruction explores the intrinsic relationship between self and space through the lens of movement. It does not view destruction as an end in itself, but as a force for transformation – a rupture that clears the ground for rebirth. The play traces the cycle of destruction through evolution, tradition and embodied experience. The play draws on Eastern philosophy, where the old must be destroyed before the new can be created.

Destruction is a methodology here – both personal and collective – implemented through physical intensity, emotional risk and the dismantling of movement systems. By engaging in this process, the performers reveal how decay can lead to the emergence of space and how renewal emerges from deliberate demolition.

The performances of "Architect of Self Destruction" will take place on September 13 and 14 in Tallinn, on October 1 it will be performed at the Mait Agu Awards ceremony, and in October the performance can be seen in Pärnu, Tartu, and Narva.

, the ticket price in Tallinn is 14€, in Tartu, Pärnu and Narva it is 10€.

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The production and touring of the production is supported by the Cultural Endowment of Estonia.