TOUCH: Opening musical–dance–visual performance of the 44th Idrija Lace Festival, dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the lace school in Idrija.

FESTIVAL OPENING CEREMONY
Town Square at 9:30 PM
(in case of bad weather, the event will take place in the Modra dvorana Hall)

She is the world.
And the world is within her.
In her touch, inner feelings, memories, and the language of the contemporary moment intertwine.

She is lace.
She is Idrija.
She is the Idrija Lace School.

Touch is the beginning.
It is the first contact with the world, the first pulse, the first movement, the first awareness of closeness. It is something almost invisible, yet decisive. Something that leaves its mark not only on the skin, but also in memory, in the body, in time. Touch is both gentle and powerful. From it arise relationships, knowledge, a sense of belonging, and creativity. Through touch we feel the lace. Through touch we understand it.

She is a dancer.
She is a thread.
She is Idrija lace itself.
She is the image of that which is elusive, from which beauty emerges. Fragile and strong. Shy and courageous. Gentle, yet persistent. Within her she carries first sensations, first impulses, the first contact with life.

She is the path of Idrija lace – from birth to its unfolding into the world, from the inner to the communal, from the individual to the universal.

She is the first touch: a touch with the source, with history, with the place where one hundred and fifty years ago an organized, steadfast, and devoted journey of transmitting lace-making knowledge began.

She is a town that carries her rhythms, her patterns, her resilience, and her sensitivity. She is a space that breathes with her. It exists not only in harmony, but also in tension, dispersion, and searching. And it is precisely here that it opens a space of community – a space of connections between generations, between hands, between memories and the future.

She is the world.
And the world is within her.
She is touch.

Script and Direction: Tjaša Jurman
Dance: Jelena Radoičić, Katja Kučina, Vita Trantura
Music: Marko Hatlak BAND
Visualizations: Karlo Kirri
Narration: Benjamin Jeram, Tjaša Jurman
Costume Design: Mojca Celin
Lace Patterns: Maja Svetlik, CŠOD OE Idrija Lace School
Lace Made by: Ljudmila Černalogar, Cirila Kacin, Irena Laharnar
Project Coordinator: Fortuna, CŠOD OE Idrija Lace School

Text: Tjaša Jurman