Mantas Stabačinskas
Dancer and choreographer Mantas Stabačinskas (b. 1979, Kaunas) is currently one of the most prominent creators of contemporary dance in Lithuania. Having developed an interest in dance during his teenage years, he began attending classes at the Kaunas Dance Theatre Aura (directed by Birutė Letukaitė), and later spent a long period as a dancer with the Aura company. He studied in the actor-dancer program at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (under Aira Naginevičiūtė), and in 2013 completed a Bachelor’s degree in Dance Education at the Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences. During a residency in the United States as part of the Dance Omi International Dance Collective program, he worked with choreographers from the USA, Germany, the United Kingdom, Israel, Canada, Finland, and Austria. As a visiting lecturer and choreographer, he has shared his experience at Middlesex University (United Kingdom).
Since beginning his independent career in 1997 as a freelance dancer and choreographer, M. Stabačinskas has created more than 65 roles in various performances and projects. He has collaborated with Lithuanian and international choreographers (B. Letukaitė, A. Naginevičiūtė, Birutė Banevičiūtė, Raimonda Gudavičiūtė, Marius Pinigis, Kris Cangelosi, Johannes Wieland, Annie Vigier and Franck Apertet, Yossi Berg, Jérôme Meyer, among others), as well as directors (Jonas Vaitkus, Jonas Jurašas, Artūras Areima, Jo Strømgren), and has appeared at 85 international festivals across Europe, North America, and Asia. M. Stabačinskas is also actively involved in interdisciplinary and social projects: he has worked with communities in Kaunas, led dance workshops for infants and their parents, and engaged in creative work with people with disabilities.
As a dancer, M. Stabačinskas received two Golden Stage Cross awards in 2013 for his performances in The Box of Melancholy (Kaunas Dance Theatre Aura) and Contemporary? (awarded together with the creative team in the category “Stage Phenomenon of the Year”). In 2015, he received the Fortūna award for the dance performance ID:D&G (together with Marius Pinigis). In 2022, he became one of the ambassadors of the project Kaunas – European Capital of Culture 2022.
