En–Knap operates as a production house for its own stage works, while also acting as a co-producer on works by other artists and supporting their development through financial resources, spaces, technical infrastructure and residency programmes. Its long-standing involvement in European networks creates opportunities for mobility, co-productions, professional development and the international circulation of artistic works. The Španski Borci Cultural Centre serves as a meeting point for diverse choreographic voices from Slovenia, the wider region and Europe, where En–Knap presents a year-round programme of local and international contemporary dance productions.

Evolution

1991         
How I Caught a Falcon 

Following the international success of his solo project How I Caught a Falcon, which received the London Dance and Performance Award from Time Out magazine, in 1993 Iztok Kovač shaped En–Knap in Leuven, Belgium. Established in the years following Slovenia’s independence and Balkan wars, En–Knap became most visible contemporary dance production from the »Ex-Yugoslavia region«. Drawing on the industrial realities of his home town Trbovlje and the idea of the creative dancer, Kovač forged a distinctive artistic identity that contributed to the emergence of Slovenian contemporary dance as a recognised European practice.

1993–2007         
Project-based practice 

During its first period, En–Knap established itself as one of the few contemporary dance practices from Eastern Europe with a sustained international presence. Through extensive touring, co-productions and works such as Spread Your Wings (You Clumsy Elephant), Sting and String – First Touch, Codes of Cobra, Far from Sleeping Dogs and MoTenTion, the company developed its own choreographic methods. 

Central to this period was supporting dancers' creative development and invention of choreographic devices based on organised chance and collective responsibility — principles that would later form the foundation of En–Knap Group. During this period, Kovač developed two complementary choreographic systems: 3Q and Open Parts. The dancer's intuitive body that carries traces of personal histories, habits, culture, education, class and collective experience occupies a central position within this thinking. 

Through movement, dance becomes a form of communication and a way of understanding both oneself and others. Shaped by the industrial landscape of Trbovlje, where En–Knap’s artistic language first emerged, the dancing body is grounded, physical and marked by labour, endurance and transformation. The En–Knap body became a site of knowledge through which personal histories intersect with broader social realities.

2007–2019         
The permanent ensemble

In 2007, the establishment of En–Knap Group transformed En–Knap from a project-based company into a contemporary dance repertoire ensemble and, from 2009 onwards, with its home at the Španski borci Centre for Culture, the organisation entered a period of artistic consolidation. 

As artistic director and choreographer, Iztok Kovač maintained the company's working principles and recognisable collective identity. Due to his and the ensemble’s openness to different choreographic and theatrical languages, more than 40 stage works were created in collaboration with invited Slovenian and international choreographers and theatre directors. Among the works created during this period were Set and Reset/Reset (restaged in collaboration with the Trisha Brown Dance Company), Phobia by Guy Weizman and Roni Haver, Pearl by Adrienn Hód, Loop de Loop by Guy Nader and Maria Campos, Dark Union by Josef Nadj, and Pursuit of Happiness by Nature Theater of Oklahoma. 

Through regular touring and international collaborations, En–Knap Group established itself as a distinctive presence within European contemporary dance.

2019 - present         
Expansion of activities 

Through intensive networking, the regular presentation of international guest performances and numerous collaborations and co-productions, En–Knap increasingly evolved from a production organisation into a broader platform for contemporary dance.

While continuing to focus primarily on its stage activities, En–Knap expanded into new fields of production, presentation and audience development during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Stage360 initiated research into virtual reality and alternative touring models. A series of VR360 dance works was developed for collective viewing, touring and flexible presentation formats. Adaptable to different infrastructures, the format allows dance to circulate through new environments and reach audiences with limited access to live performance. Beyond theatres, cinemas and galleries. 

Stage360 can bring adapted educational content into schools, smaller community centres, cultural venues, libraries, hospitals and other social contexts. In this way, new educational, participatory and international initiatives broadened the organisation’s activities.

2025         
A new artistic chapter

With the appointment of dancer and choreographer Mattia Cason as artistic director of En–Knap Group, the company entered a new phase while maintaining the values that have shaped it since its beginnings: collective work, solidarity and the belief that dance emerges from shared experience (continuing under the slogan “We Share the Same Earth”).

The new artistic direction focuses on developing a renewed ensemble practice in which dancers engage the body not only as a performing instrument but also as a means of questioning identity, perception and social realities. 

At the same time, the ensemble strengthens its dialogue with the artistic contexts of the Balkans and northern Italy, continuing En–Knap’s long-standing commitment to international collaboration while remaining rooted in its local and regional environment.