My motto is “Man becomes what he thinks”. In life I accept the thesis that destiny is largely shaped by character. Emotional investments, the things that we choose to live with, the situations we choose to find ourselves in, depict our character. In life, a person sees only what he wants to see, whether beautiful or ugly
I graduated from the Belgrade Faculty of Philology and the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Department of Acting. I earned my doctorate in artistic avant-garde at the Belgrade University of Arts in 2006. I dedicated the book Paradigms of Russian avant-garde and postmodern art to this topic. My favourite areas of focus are writing and acting. In my book The Idea of Acting: Performative Artecosmism, I wrote about acting not as a discipline of an imitative and reproductive character, but about it as peak imagination. I recognised one form of artistic freedom in my authorial film, in which I realised several acting roles. I’m happy to relate my experiences in the field of art with my students at the Faculty of Media and Communications. Everyday work with students fulfils me, because I really love my students and their energy. I’m currently working on the preparation of a monograph about our great ballerina and activist Jelena Šantić.
My hometown of Belgrade is a city that I love because of the wonderful people there, first and foremost my friends. I dedicated the book Cosmopolitan Shine of the Belgrade White Ballet to the city. I chose to remain in Belgrade to live and work, and I have a lot of respect for the people who made the same decision and chose to go through the challenging times in which we’ve lived. I respect people, but I try not to be fascinated by anyone. I don’t believe my enemies, I see them as a temptation. I surround myself with those people who can help elevate me. I also have no fear of falling, as I’ve fallen many times in my life and concluded that the world can sometimes be seen more clearly from a lower perspective.
I respect people, but I try not to be fascinated by anyone. I don’t believe my enemies, I see them as a temptation. I surround myself with those people who can help elevate me. I also have no fear of falling, as I’ve fallen many times in my life and concluded that the world can sometimes be seen more clearly from a lower perspective
In every perspective one needs to find something that’s useful for oneself. Ultimately, happiness is solely a matter of my decision, and that’s what I manage. Achieving happiness is an everyday process, and not a moment or a situation. It shouldn’t be connected exclusively to external influences. I often discuss this with my students. When you desire and start managing your own happiness, it can be said that you’ve already found happiness. I decided long ago that I don’t have time for negative emotions, undermining everything around me, cynicism, self-pity, weariness… Travel, seminars, performances and writing comprise the everyday dynamics of my life.
I do not belong to any ideologies, as they demand compensation, assimilation and loyalty, and that’s not who I am. I pay for my freedom, sometimes a high price. I think that’s courage and a challenge in today’s times, and the only way to create honest and authentic art. This time in which we live constantly places us in some kinds of categories of success, unfortunately. But success isn’t a moment or a current status; success is a way of thinking. I always enjoy the process of working, and not achieving an objective. Achieving an objective takes a second or two, and then what? Then comes either a fall or some other peak. In that sense I don’t acknowledge the term “peak of one’s career”. Every day is a new beginning and an opportunity to do something new and do something differently.