Grėtė Šmitaitė (b. 1994) is a dancer and choreographer based in Switzerland, Lithuania and Germany. Grėtė is an alumna of HZT Berlin (BA Dance. Context. Choreography) and danceWEB scholarship recipient 2017.
From 2016-2019, Šmitaitė’s works were closely intertwined with Body Weather practices, through which she sought to enable the audience to view the body as something that constantly changes, just as weather does. As a dancer, Šmitaitė worked with Min Tanaka for his creation The Body in Divadlo Archa theater Prague, 2017, and she was mentored by Frank van de Ven in 2016 and Christine Quoiraud in 2019.
Šmitaitė seeks to make choreographies that open up histories within the dancing bodies and the places in which they dance. Her pieces include: 5th of June, 2020 (2020); Shy Palms - A piece for 7 viewers for Kaunas Fort IV, co-created with Sunayana Shetty (2019); Winter Garden (2018).
To reveal the interrelations between people, Šmitaitė created Limitation Piece 2, a co-choreography with Hanna Kritten Tangsoo for 13 dancers of the Suddenly collective Berlin, and Change and Relations in the House, a movie with the artist’s grandmother and siblings made during the Covid pandemic, supported by City of Care festival, Manheim.
In 2019, Šmitaitė’s dance practice was inspired through a dialogue with the choreographer Stephen Batts and Echoe Echoe Dance Theater during her residency in Derry, Ireland, as well as 6 months of long-distance mentoring with S. Batts. Šmitaitė’s work during this time focused on an exploration of the dance principles that remain, whether teaching dance to children, old people or professional dancers.
In creating her first solo piece What do I cry for? (2019), which investigates and questions the bodily need to cry, Šmitaitė first recognized her connection to humor. From 2021-2024, she engaged in in-depth research on humor and dance, under the mentorship of Ira Seidenstein (Cirque du Soleil, Slava's Snowshow; creator of Quantum Theatre: Slapstick to Shakespeare method). In 2023, the research was supported by Fonds Daku Berlin. Šmitaitė seeks to make choreographies that use humor to enable diverse views on difficult topics. Her solo works Cracks (2022) and Cracks 2. Meadow (2023) speak of the fear to love.
Šmitaitė offers dance, embodied theater and clowning workshops for professional dancers, students and amateurs (in Lithuania, Switzerland, Germany). She has initiated platforms of exchange for young choreographers, such as Unending Research with Liza Baliasnaja, and was invited to mentor dance artists during the research platform Bitės in 2021.
As a dancer, from 2017-2023 Šmitaitė collaborated intensively with choreographers Doris Uhlich (Melancholic Ground, 2023; Gootopia - the Treatment, 2022; Gootopia, 2021; Seismic Session, 2017; Habitat, 2017; More than Naked, 2017) and Ania Aristarkhova (Lust, 2018; Obnimashki, 2017; Zweites Stück, 2016; Rinnzekette, 2016).