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The collaboration started two years ago when Karlovsky visited Banska Bystrica in Slovakia to see her grandmother’s home.

“She immigrated to the United States in 1913 or so,” Karlovsky says. “I was able to find her house. I went to the cemetery where my great grandparents are buried.”

While she was there, Karlovsky looked up dance companies and found the Divadlo studio, which happened to be offering a workshop. Karlovsky went and met Zebastián Méndez Marín, who is the artistic director for Divadlo.

The two started talking about working together and continued talking even after Karlovsky was back in the states. It took a while to get everything worked out and timing to fall just right, but the company is visiting the United States for the first time, and the Karlovsky dancers will perform in Slovakia this summer.

“We’re using the showcase as a way to highlight each other’s work,” Karlovsky says. She wrote an entirely new piece that her company will present during “Tapestry.” Called “This Home,” Karlovsky was inspired by her family research trip abroad (which also took her to the Czech Republic).

“Walking down the same street and being in front of my grandmother’s house where she was born 125 years ago … was a surreal experience in a lot of ways,” Karlovsky says. But the dance isn’t a retelling of Karlovsky’s story.

“It’s not necessarily a narrative of my own personal life or my family’s story, but more of a general theme about migration or transformation,” says Karlovsky. “It reflects that human desire to have a sense of place and belonging.”

The piece will include an original sound score and videography.

Divadlo will present two works on its own, “Medusa” and “Somewhere, We Begin Again.”

“Medusa” is about the myth of Medusa, the woman with snakes for hair who could turn people into stone with a single glance. Divadlo uses that myth and spoken word poetry to talk about body dysmorphia and society’s beauty expectations.

“Somewhere, We Begin Again” is about modern isolation and the human yearning for connection.

“Tapestry” will end with both companies performing together.

The two companies started working on their combined piece on March 12. Karlovsky wasn’t sure what it would be but based on the workshop she took in Slovakia, she knows it will be physical.

“These were movement workshops about pure movement,” Karlovsky says about the workshops.

She remembers some music was put on and everyone just started moving. “Just dancing however you wanted to, and then (we) went into various ways to crawl across the floor and various ways to pull yourself across the floor and various ways to play with speed moving across the floor.”

The emphasis on physicality isn’t unique for European contemporary dance theater.

“In Europe there’s quite a bit of what’s called physical theater, using theatrical elements,” Karlovsky explains. “Physical theater might use even more pure physicality, not necessarily refined technical dancing, but just natural or physical athletic movements. And combine that with theatrical elements (like) spoken word.”

Divadlo has a packed schedule of events for St. Louis. Karlovsky says not many international dance companies come to St. Louis, so she wanted to take advantage. The guest artists have visited area high schools like Central Visual and Performing Arts High School and MICDS to teach classes and held an open master class.

On opening night, the Honorary Consul of Slovakia will be in attendance from Kansas City and Alderwoman Laura Keys will recognize the dancers.

This isn’t Karlovsky’s first time hosting an international troupe. In 2023, she hosted a troupe from South Africa. Karlovsky wants to expose audiences to more types of dance and cross-cultural collaboration.

“I’m hoping that the audiences will … notice something new and unique about what (Divadlo) is presenting,” she says. “It’s really about getting a glimpse of this global perspective.”