Storytelling, Dance, and Music in a Unique Artistic Dialogue in Cafe Epic in Nova Gorica
On Sunday evening, 14.6.2026, Café EpiC in Nova Gorica hosted a multidisciplinary artistic event that immersed the audience in a captivating interplay of storytelling, dance, and music. The event was presented as part of the international project CAFÉ: Redefining Café Houses as Unique European Cultural Heritage, which explores cafés as spaces for encounter, dialogue, and artistic creativity.
The evening’s narrative was brought to life by storyteller Renata Lapanja, whose expressive performance created an intimate and engaging atmosphere. Her storytelling was transformed into a compelling stage dialogue by dancers Petra
Seruga and Nathan Dhugues of MN Dance Company, under the choreography and direction of Michal Rynia and Nastja Bremec Rynia. Their movement subtly expanded the meaning of the spoken word, revealing new layers of the narrative
where memory, emotion, and human relationships intertwined.
An equally important contribution came from the original music by Andrea Pandolfo, which functioned not merely as accompaniment but as an integral narrative element.
His evocative soundscape connected speech and movement, creating a space in which the different artistic disciplines merged seamlessly into a unified experience.he audience followed the performance with great attention and rewarded the artists with warm and sustained applause. The evening once again demonstrated how the collaboration of different art forms can create a powerful experience that transcends the boundaries of individual disciplines and invites audiences to share in stories through multiple artistic languages.
The event is part of the CAFÉ project, co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union.