Viktorija Ilioska is a choreographer, performer, and artist who explores choreography through various mediums, including movement, text, voice, and sound. She studied at the Faculty of Music Arts in Skopje (BA in Dance Pedagogy and Repertory) and at the Institute for Applied Theater Studies in Gießen (MA in Choreography and Performance).

She views choreography as an evolving, expanded practice that transforms into the organization of space—a toolkit for analysis that functions beyond mere expression. For her, it becomes a critical field of knowledge. In this framework, performance and dance are employed as strategic tools to navigate the tension between structures, order, and procedural systems. She relates to artistic practice as a relationship between doing and becoming, a process shaped by both research and the pursuit of knowledge. The term “procedure,” in her understanding, extends beyond mere methodology; it signifies an open space, a pre-existing region that holds the essence of the research itself. She believes that it is within this space that the true meaning of choreography as an inquiry emerges.

Viktorija’s artistic practice is rooted in research and shaped by thoughtful action and exploration. Her process involves reflection, theoretical analysis, somatic research, and creating work that evolves during the process itself, rather than adhering to predetermined scripts or rules. Rejecting the concept of the mute dancing body, Viktorija incorporates elements of provocation and engages with themes such as labor, gender issues, the portrayal of women in public spaces, the body’s relationship with nature, and the influence of gendered perspectives on identity.

As an artist rooted in the field of choreography and performance, Viktorija has always been, and continues to be, deeply concerned with movement and the body—what moves this body and what movements can influence entire masses of bodies. In recent years, she has approached the body as a resource, intentionally ‘exploiting’ it to raise deeper questions within the discourses of materialist ecofeminism and extractivism. Through choreography, she seeks to create works that question, provoke, and invite reflection, positioning dance as a critical discourse that challenges conventional boundaries.

Works

In 2010, as a member of the Nomad Dance Academy, she produced her first work, I Am Always Watching You, which actively engages the audience and addresses mechanisms of surveillance. This piece was later performed at festivals in Ljubljana, Slovenia (2010); New York, USA (2011); and Skopje and Bitola, Macedonia.
Her next piece, The Cause of Disease (2015), was produced with the support of Lokomotiva and the International Art Network APAP, exploring themes of freedom and its limitations, being shown in Belgium, Germany, and Macedonia.
In 2018, she created It Could Be Something Very Minimal, a collaborative project with Patrick Faurot and Max Smirzitz, with whom she studied in Gießen. This performance was presented in Skopje at Kino Kultura, in collaboration with Skopje Pride Weekend, as a research project investigating continuous sound, visual, and perceptual transformations of the body.
In her work Figure It Out! (2018), she posed 100 questions in a self-interview format. These questions, often rhetorical and provocative, explored the position of women and female artists, delving into broader gender-related issues.
Her production A Womb for an Adult (2020) constructed an expansive panoramic space filled with bodies and objects, exploring a visual dramaturgy reminiscent of a playground and construction site while experimenting with different objects, materials, and bodily support systems.
Ilioska’s most recent co-production with Lokomotiva, I Need a New Body (2022), has been showcased at various festivals in the region and in Germany. This work deals with the notions of pumping, sucking, extraction, and exhaustion of the human body as well as natural resources. It was supported by a scholarship as an alumna of the Hessian Theater Academy, marking a significant achievement in her career.
With her commissioned work The Building as a Resource (2023), featured in the platform City as a stage – Lost (Modernistic) Utopias, Ilioska was part of the national pavilion representing North Macedonia at the Prague Quadrennial.
Her latest research project, Hope for the Best – Prepare for the Worst (2024), is planned to be developed into a stage work in 2025. So far, the work has been presented as a performative training designed to explore the possibilities of co-existence and adaptability in the face of imagined and imminent futures. Through collective choreography, Viktorija Ilioska invites participants to engage in haptic thinking, using hand gestures, meditative exercises, and shared movement to create a space for reflection and exploration.

Collectives/Collaborations

Ilioska has been actively contributing to programs that support and develop contemporary dance and performance for over a decade, collaborating with institutions and strengthening the independent scene. Since 2010, she has been a member of the Nomad Dance Academy, a network founded in 2005 by dance artists, producers, and theorists from the former Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. Through this network, she fosters connections and collaborations within local and national contexts across the Balkan region. Ilioska’s work with the Nomad Dance Academy involves collaborations with various partner organizations, including Station/Stanica, Lokomotiva, Nomad Dance Academy Croatia, Tanzfabrik Berlin, the Imaginative Choreographic Centre, ANTISEZONA, Object of Dance, and Nomad Dance Academy Slovenia.

She is also a member of ID_Frankfurt e. V. (Independent Dance and Performance), a non-profit association comprising freelance artists, theorists, and mediators in choreography and performance working in Frankfurt am Main and the surrounding area. Founded in 2009, the association aims to improve working conditions and foster self-organization. ID_Frankfurt’s activities are collaboratively developed and supported by its members in a spirit of solidarity, with a rotating voluntary board overseeing these processes and ensuring consistent cultural-political engagement.

NAM ChoreoLab

NAM ChoreoLab is conceived and developed by the curatorial team of the (Non) Aligned Movements project (2021), by way of Nomad Dance Academy. The team includes choreographers and performers Viktorija Ilioska, Sonja Pregrad (Croatia), and Ana Dubljević (Serbia), along with independent researcher and performer Dražen Dragojević (Slovenia). They align at the intersection of (queer) feminist dramaturgies, contextualized somatic practices, choreographic subjects, speculative and performative theory, archive and memory, decolonial historicism, and futurism. Together, they reassess—and re-align—non-alignment (along with the ‘singularity’ of Socialist Yugoslavia) for contemporary audiences, polities, and communities by way of choreography installation meets intermedia archive meets essay performance.

It Could Be Something Very Minimal

It Could Be Something Very Minimal is a long-term collaborative project between Viktorija Ilioska, Patrick Faurot, and Max Smirzitz. Rooted in their “Fungal Methodology,” this ongoing collaboration seeks to redefine the conventional boundaries of performance by embracing an approach that prioritizes emergence and interconnection over mere production. Throughout their work, the trio has created a series of distinct performances that showcase the depth and adaptability of their shared practice. Each piece, while individually compelling, is inherently tied to the others, forming a network that reflects the organic growth and symbiotic relationships characteristic of fungal systems. The collaboration resists the pressure for continuous output driven by external demands, focusing instead on the interplay between transience and resilience—exploring how the ephemeral nature of performance can leave enduring imprints. This project challenges the traditional understanding of performance’s temporal and spatial limits, inviting audiences and participants alike to question how the work evolves, lingers, and reverberates beyond its immediate presentation.

Performance Platform Festival (PPF)

Viktorija Ilioska, in collaboration with Biljana Tanurovska-Kjulavkovski, is co-curating the program of the Performance Platform Festival (PPF). In recent years, Lokomotiva has produced and showcased numerous works by both local and international artists, often in partnership with regional collaborators. In 2024, PPF is reimagined as a pioneering initiative, unfolding throughout the year in collaboration with festivals across the country and region. The goal is not to add another festival to the already dense cultural sphere but to foster a feminist approach in curation, sharing resources, and promoting convivial methods of program distribution to diverse audiences. PPF redefines the presentation of artworks by nurturing multi-relational and ongoing partnerships, positioning itself as a connector within the Balkans and beyond, while serving as temporary caretakers of the performing arts legacy. Dedicated to showcasing performances that intersect dance, theatre, and visual art, PPF emphasizes socio-political research and reflection, valuing the artistic and collaborative processes as much as the final productions.

Teaching

Viktorija Ilioska has consistently worked to share her practice through teaching and mentorship across various platforms. Since 2016, she has been a key contributor and initiator of Lokomotiva’s Kultrening program, where she teaches regular contemporary dance classes that engage a wide range of participants, including the general public, LGBTIQ community members, and professional performers. Her commitment extends to her role as a professional collaborator and mentor in the Rehearsing Feminist Futures platform, an educational and production program in the performing arts. On various occasions and by invitation, Ilioska has taught professional classes at the Faculty of Drama Arts in Skopje.

In Frankfurt, Viktorija has shared her practice multiple times at Werkstatt, a multipurpose space dedicated to nurturing the contemporary dance and performance community. Additionally, her teaching at the Institute of Applied Theatre Studies at Justus Liebig University in Gießen, alongside her colleague Patrick Faurot, included the course “Beyond Contact,” which explored diverse methods of physical interaction and partnering. This course built on foundational contact improvisation principles like non-verbal communication and momentum transfer while incorporating new concepts of agency, cooperation, and shared responsibility.