About us

POCKETART collective is an internationally acclaimed team of creators working in the field of contemporary dance and physical theater under the direction of the choreographers Johana Pocková and Sabina Bocková.

As part of its projects, the team brings together artists from the fields of dance, music, scenography, fine arts, and light design. Their work has toured internationally and their pieces have been part of Aerowaves Twenty20 and Twenty21 and also part of European projects such as Shape it! and Big Pulse Dance Alliance.

The work of the team is characterized by tackling topics that go beyond the personal experience of the individual and touch upon societal issues such as manipulation through media, global environmental threats, stress in a competitive environment, or the position of an individual in the corporate work system. The creators try to approach these topics comprehensively through detailed work with all theatrical components. For each of their works, they always look for a new stylization of physical expression unique to the topic at hand, creating dance images from specific body references. Through their distinctive poetics, visual purity and strong original music, the performances aim to give birth to a spiritual experience, compelling the audience to reflect on our society.

In 2018, the team introduced their first performance, Warehouses Full of Emotions, inspired by intergenerational views of femininity and the authentic memories of an old lady. Under the choreographic direction of Johana Pocková, four dancers collaborated on this work, as well as Pockova’s 89-year-old grandmother and an 8-year-old girl. This performance was later transformed into the dance film Folds of Touch. In 2019, POCKETART introduced Onto the Scale! - Johana Pocková’s duet with the central theme of stress in a competitive environment. In 2019, having previously collaborated on several projects, Sabina Bočková and Johana Pocková created The Lion's Den, a duet pondering the themes of media manipulation and political populism. This work was selected for the Czech Dance Platform 2020, included in Top 20 of the choreographic platform AerowavesTwenty21, and the duet was performed at the festivals TANEC PRAHA 2020 and 2021, Kenya International Theater Festival, New Baltic Dance Festival, Malá Inventura, and the Flora a festival in Olomouc. In the following years, the performance Lion's Den was transformed into two other projects. One of them is the outdoor performance The Lion`s Den UNLIMITED, which involves 14 professional and 14 non-professional dancers, who together create and subsequently perform choreography based on the original duet. This project was part of the festival TANEC PRAHA 2021 and was shortlisted for the European platform Big Pulse Dance Alliance. The Lion's Den was also included in the project Shape It!, which gives artists an opportunity to collaborate with children and adapt their work for young audiences. The partners of Shape It! are The Place London, Comune di Bassano del Grappa, Tanec Praha, and Annantalo. In 2020, the team premiered Treatment of Remembering, a performance created by Sabina Bočková, Johana Pocková, and Inga Zotova-Mikshina. It touches upon the topics of the global threat to the environment and the disappearance of nature from our world. This piece won the International Jury Prize and the Audience Award at Czech Dance Platform 2021, as well as being included in AerowavesTwenty22. In 2021 POCKETART produced To the Madonna with Rust, a solo performance by Johana Pocková, which was nominated for Czech Dance Platform 2022 and TANEC PRAHA festival 2022. The latest POCKETART production is a performance Bodies Together, a collective creation of 7 performers under direction of Jaro Viňarský and Lucia Kašiarová, which deals with the impact of corporation structures on our lives. Sabina Bočková and Johana Pocková are currently working on their newest production for 8 dancers Fairy Tales, which is an upscaling coproduction of Big Pulse Dance Alliance. The long-term co-production partners of POCKETART are Tanec Praha z.ú. and PONEC – the dance venue. The creative team is financially supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the Capital City of Prague, the State Cultural Fund and Prague 3 City District. POCKETART’s performances are regularly performed on Prague stages such as the dance venue Ponec, Venuše ve Švehlovce, Studio ALTA, as well as in venues around the Czech Republic and abroad.

Founders

Johana Pocková

Sabina Bočková

Team members

Lukáš Palán

LUKÁŠ PALÁN IS A MUSICIAN, COMPOSER AND SOUND PERFORMER. HE STUDIED AT THE PRIVATE SCHOOL OF OTAKAR PINKNER WITH A FOCUS ON ELECTRIC GUITAR AND COMPLETED 5 SEMESTERS OF MUSICOLOGY AND THEORY OF INTERACTIVE MEDIA AT MASARYK UNIVERSITY. HE IS ACTIVE IN THE BANDS ROLE, 1FLFSOAP AND SINCE 2024 IN THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED GROUP PLEASE THE TREES.

He is a long-time collaborator of the collective POCKETART, with whom he has composed music for 4 full-length productions, and the collective tYhle, with whom he has performed 3 performances.With both groups he actively performs all over the world (Brazil, Kenya, England, Norway, Slovenia, Italy, Greece, Spain, Netherlands, Hungary, Bulgaria, Germany, Poland...) He lives in Brno with his girlfriend and two cats. Lukáš collaborates with the POCKETART collective on the performances Pit of Lions, Pit of Lions for young audience, Pit of Lions UNLIMITED, Treatment of Remembering and Fairy Tales.

Sára Vondrášková

NEVER SOL IS A PSEUDONYM OF SARA VONDRÁŠKOVÁ - MUSICIAN, COMPOSER AND PRODUCER LIVING IN PRAGUE. SHE IS CURRENTLY FOCUSING ON COMBINING VOCALS WITH SYNTHESIZERS IN HER MUSICAL PRACTICE. SEEKING DECONSTRUCTION IN FORMS, AND DRIVEN AND INSPIRED BY HARSH NOISY EDGY SOUNDS WITH DARK HARSH DRONE ELEMENTS, SHE EXPLORES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FRAGILITY AND MASSIVENESS OF SOUND.

He considers time and working with it as a key element in creating an emotional context and environment for the listener. As Never Sol, Sara creates melancholic compositions based on layered synth soundscapes, dark melodies wrapped in tons of reverb with thick but delicate vocals. They dissolve in drone surfaces but cut deep with distortion and noise elements. A strong connection to songwriting, intricate chord progressions, synths and voice are the cornerstones of her music. Sara is collaborating with the POCKETART collective on the performance Fairy Tales.

Tereza Krejčová

is performer and choreographer. She received her education at the Duncan Centre Conservatory in Prague, Fontys School of Fine and Performing Arts in the Netherlands, and SEAD Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance. As a dancer, she has collaborated with artists such as Min Tanaka, Manuel Ronda, Michal Záhora, Jan Lauwers, Anna Balslev, Jan Kodet, and collectives like POCKETART and Pulsar, Kateřina Stupecká, and most recently with the Forman Brothers Theatre.

In collaboration with composer Václav Chalupský, she created two solo pieces, Uncovered and Naturamela. With the international group of performers she created the sextet How to Represent a Broken Heart? In 2023, she co-founded the 23 Poems Collective and contributed to the debut creation S.I.O. Sides of In and Out, as well as a newly emerging performance. With POCKETART collective she collaborates on projects Fairy Tales and Treatment of Remembering.

Monika Szpunar

Monika Szpunar is an independent performance artist, dancer, and choreographer working internationally, primarily between Poland, the Czech Republic, France, and the UK. She received her training at ACTS/École de Danse Contemporaine in Paris and the London Contemporary Dance School. In 2016, she spent seven months in Brazil collaborating with local artists and studying at the University of Campinas (Unicamp). Monika's choreographic experience spans black box performances, movement direction for theater and film, and site-specific outdoor work. She is passionate about bringing movement to unconventional spaces, using dance for social activism, and exploring choreography's intersection with other disciplines.

Monika thrives in collective, interdisciplinary settings, emphasizing non-hierarchical collaboration. Monika is a co-creator of a movement band BADBODYCHAOSCODE (fka The Yonis) , a member of the choreographic initiative sisterhood practices (Twenty24 artist at Aerowaves) and also associated with the Cracow Choreographic Centre. As a dancer, she has recently worked with Tatiana Julien (En fanfaaare!), Fairy Tales (POCKETART - J. Pocková & S. Bočková), Viktor Černický (PRIMA), Weronika Pelczyńska (Still Standing, Sculptress), Kasia Witek (Memory Score), among others. She also performs with the alternative performative jazz band Robert Diabeł. With POCKETART collective she is part of the Fairy Tales adventure.

Jitka Sara Páníková

Jitka Sara Páníková is a dancer, choreographer, and artistic researcher. She graduated from the Duncan Center Dance Conservatory in Prague, completed the certificate program at Peridance Capezio Center in New York, and earned her MA in Performing Public Space from Fontys University of Applied Sciences in Tilburg, Netherlands. Her Master’s thesis, Reimagining Brownfield Rohan Island through Corporeal Experience, explored artistic research connecting her work at the Institute of Planning and Development of the City of Prague (IPR Prague) with her choreographic approaches.

Jitka has collaborated both locally and internationally with choreographers such as Sofia Krantz (IL), Michal Záhora, Pulsar Association (CZ), Anabella Lenzu (NY), Shibo (CHN), Byström Källblad (SE), and Flavia Tápias (BRA). In 2022, she won the main jury prize at the Czech Dance Platform for work dis pla y. Currently, she primarily performs with the PocketArt collective and with Tereza Lenerová and coll., while also developing her own choreographic projects. Jitka combines practical and theoretical approaches to contemporary dance, which she is further expanding within the three-year international project iCoDaCo, hosted by Alta Theatre. With POCKETART collective she is part of the Fairy Tales project.

Michaela Dzurovčínová

Michaela Dzurovčínová is a choreographer, dance performer and lecturer. She is a student of choreography and directing at the Master's degree at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. She completed Erasmus+ at CODARTS in Rotterdam, Dart Summer Intensive in Berlin, and was part of the PAT festival in Toyama, Japan as a choreographer and performer. She is a member of Dočasná Company z.s. and actively creates her own original choreographies, which she presents abroad. She is dedicated to dance for camera and has been involved in the creation of drama performances, musicals, film productions and music videos.

Her choreographies can be seen on the stage of DJKT in Pilsen, Venus in Švehlovka or DISK Theatre. Her short dance film Impulsum has been successful at Czech and international film festivals. As a performer, she has worked on Prague stages such as the National Theatre, the State Opera, the ABC Theatre, and can be seen in dance performances by POCKETART, Jan Razima, Eva Reza, Ksenia Serykh, and in drama performances by Gabriela Gabasova and Jolanta Lipkova. She is also active as a dance instructor for beginners and advanced dancers and organizes her own music and dance workshops. With POCKETART collective she collaborates on projects The Lion`s Den UNLIMITED and Fairy Tales.

Denisa Švachová

Denisa Svachova is a scenographer and visual artist working between Zurich and Prague. Her work explores the intersection of choreography and natural movement, framed by immersive spatial installations. She holds an MA degree in Fine Arts from Zürcher Hochschule der Künste and the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague.

Svachova also designs costumes, especially for art performances and contemporary dance projects, blending her stage design with attention to movement and form. Current projects include Do You Mind If I Join You? and Urban Echos, both reflecting on expat life and identity, drawing from her own experience navigating new cultural contexts. With POCKETART collective Denisa collaborated on project Treatment of Remembering. www.denisasvach.com @denisasvach

Tereza Holubová

Tereza Holubová is a performer, choreographer and teacher. She graduated from the Duncan Centre Conservatory and studied at the Limón Institute and the Peridance Center in New York. She is a member of several Prague-based contemporary dance and theatre companies, and has experience with original theatre productions and project realizations.

She has worked with Czech companies such as Lenka Vagnerová & Company, Tantehorse, PocketArt, Dekkadancers, SPOLK, and has performed at the National Theatre, State Opera, Archa+ Theatre and BRAVO Theatre. He regularly travels to train with world famous companies such as Ultima Vez, Sasha Waltz & Guests, Akram Khan, La Veronal, Crystal Pite and others. He is currently working on his next original production which will be staged in June 2025 at the Acropolis Palace. With POCKETART collective she collaborates on projects The Lion`s Den UNLIMITED and Fairy Tales.

Eva Mora

Eva Mora is a dance performer, improviser and dance maker, currently based in Prague. After graduating in contemporary dance, she started freelancing with companies and choreographers from Spain and Hungary. In 2021, she became a member of Willany Leó improvisation dance theatre (HU) and of GrayBox company (FR). And recently, she moved to Prague to start working with Pocket Art, available collective and Manus.art.collective. As a creator, she has collaborated with artists from different fields such as theater, new circus, music, philosophy and visual arts.

They created dance shows, a clown performance, a community theatre performance, a movement workshop with sculptures, an installation in toilets, street performances, gallery openings, instant composition jams, a heavy metal concert, short films…Additionally, she has been invited to teach improvisation workshops, GrayBox repertoire and Contact Improvisation in Belgium, Slovenia, Hungary, Spain and Czechia. As a member of Available Collective, she facilitates movement classes at Prostor 8, she hosts weekly CI jams at Žižkostel and since June 2024, she organises a monthly performance based on instant composition at Cross Attic/ Punctum - Krásovka. With POCKETART collective Eva is part of the Fairy Tales project.

Anna Gazdíková

Anna Gazdíková is a producer. After studying Philosophy and Aesthetics at the Charles University in Prague she briefly entertained an idea of academic career, nevertheless decided to immerse herself more into live art itself and become a part of inspiring cultural landscapes. During her professional life she began working as a producer in close cooperation with performing and visual arts festivals, projects and cultural spaces in Czech republic (TANEC PRAHA, PONEC - dance venue, Dance Well project) and Slovakia (ŽIŽA – Žilina festival of light design, Kre:Pí festival).

In 2024 she began her career as a freelance production manager and started inspiring collaborations with independent artistic collectives as producer and booking manager (POCKETART, ZDRUHESTRANY). Delving deeper into the specific microcosmos of the scene, she is increasingly convinced of the deep and sensitizing social role of dance and performing arts. Since 2025, Anna is a production manager of POCKETART collective and supports all its projects <3.

Viktor Černický

Viktor is a choreographer, performer, dramaturg and a pedagogue living in Prague, Czech republic. His work combines the elements of dance, circus and visual performance. He stormed the world of performing arts with PLI – a piece for 1 performer and 22 chairs that exposed him to international recognition, earned a number of awards and became part of the Aerowaves Twenty20 selection. Viktor is interested in the dialogical and relational aspect of performing arts. He creates physically demanding works that highlight the ambivalent relations between the status of subject and object.

He examines the friction between the artificial frames of performances and the spontaneous human actions. Testing the grounds of games and the various ways humans play and communicate, he created PRIMA – a dance piece where non-professionals take the stage. Viktor is a co-founder and artistic co-director of a collectively run company ZDRUHESTRANY, an umbrella for three Prague-based artists working independently in the field of movement based performing arts. With POCKETART collective Viktor collaborated as a dramaturg on projects The Lion`s Den and Fairy Tales.