Janus Festival - Shards of Light – University of Arts of Târgu-Mureș

By Choreographer: Cristina Olar (Iușan)

From the very beginning, our work was rooted in personal truth. Through a series of workshops, we created a safe space for vulnerability—where performers could step beyond the surface, listen to their inner voices, and let those voices shape movement. The process was not just about crafting a performance but about revealing what lies beneath: fragments of life, often unspoken, that needed form and release.

Improvisation became our language. With each session, we dove deeper—into the tension

between the physical and the emotional, between presence and absence, silence and expression. We explored how the body carries memory, how gestures can become testimony, how breath can hold meaning when words are no longer enough.

Choreographic moments emerged gradually, born from individual experiences that we translated into movement. These pieces—intimate, raw, and sometimes fragile—were shaped and reshaped, like shards of glass reflecting different shades of the self. Slowly, they began to connect, like a mosaic of stories waiting to be told. This is a piece about embracing vulnerability, about finding strength in fragility, and about the slow, determined act of rebuilding balance—even in life’s darkest seasons. Multimedia elements are used throughout, deepening the emotional landscape and drawing the audience closer.

Shards of Light is a performance that speaks through the body—through silence, breath, and

movement. Built from deeply introspective moments, it unfolds as a living journal of an inner

odyssey. Where words fall short, the body finds its voice.

This is a piece about embracing vulnerability, about finding strength in fragility, and about the slow, determined act of rebuilding balance—even in life’s darkest seasons. Multimedia elements are used throughout, deepening the emotional landscape and drawing the audience closer.

The themes explored—loneliness, despair, confronting the self and the past—intertwine with

memories of childhood, dissimulation, fear, and a restless search for meaning. We meet inner demons, painful silences, invisible fears, and emptiness that aches. We look for answers in the tremble of the body, in pauses, in the faltering rhythm of a heart learning to beat again.

Through therapy, memory, and the courage to face oneself, a fragile but meaningful return to the self becomes possible—a quiet, luminous journey back to light.

The 13 actor-performers take the stage to share a visceral struggle with absence, trauma, and anxiety—a collective confession about the power of vulnerability and the possibility of change. Above all, though, this is a performance about hope. About the courage it takes to look into a fractured mirror and say, “I’m still here.”

Shards of Light doesn’t offer clear-cut answers, but instead opens a space for reflection, empathy, and recognition. It invites the viewer to face their own shadows—and to know they are not alone.