Rok Guślarzy (The Year of Sorcerers) at the Polish Dance Theatre, 2017

Sunday, 1 January 2017, will see the beginning of ?Rok Guślarzy? (The Year of Sorcerers) at the Polish Dance Theatre. Focused thematically on traditions and rituals, beliefs and myths, magic and superstition, the year will offer reflection on the co-existence of worlds: material and spiritual, past and present; on the inextricable knot of Slavic and Christian notions, as well as the still vivid phantasms of Polish Romanticism. Combining the themes of folk culture with masterpieces of literature, Rok Guślarzy will reveal various shades of the Polish imaginary. Rok Guślarzy marks the opening of the four-year artistic programme launched by Iwona Pasińska, artistic director of the Polish Dance Theatre, in which each subsequent year will revolve around other discourses of Polish identity.

The main events presented as part of Rok Guślarzy will include the premiere of Żniwa (Harvest) choreographed by Iwona Pasińska; Wieczory dziadowskie, Tryptyk (Forefathers? Eve: Triptych) by Jarosław Tumidajski, Kaja Kołodziejczak; a presentation of the winner of the Polish Dance Theatre Competition, W głąb tradycji, w rytm tańca: Wesele (At the heart of tradition, to the beat of dance), a choreographic social project; as well as Laboratoria Twórcze (Creative Laboratories), an interdisciplinary workshop cycle supervised by the curator Anna Królica.

Żniwa (Harvest)

The piece is a premiere by the Polish Dance Theatre directed by Igor Gorzkowski and choreographed by Iwona Pasińska. The performance refers to the rituals accompanying harvest and the cycle of husbandry, nature and human life, conceptualised enthnographically (inspired, among others, by Oskar Kolberg?s studies and Zofia Kossak?s Polish Year), as well as anthropologically and philosophically. The narrative axis of the show will be delineated by the trope of the return of Odysseus, based on Homer?s classic epic and Stanisław Wyspiański?s The Return of Odysseus.

premiere: 21 January 2017, 8 pm
venue: Grand Hall, ZAMEK Culture Centre, Poznań
producers: Igor Gorzkowski (director and dramaturgue), Iwona Pasińska (choreographer), Piotr Tabakiernik (incidental music), Marcin Zdunik (celloa) Adam Strug (vocals)

Wieczory dziadowskie: Tryptyk (Forefathers? Eve: Triptych)

Premiere: May 2017

Wieczory dziadowskie is a cycle of three premieres presented as an agon. Approached in three instalments, the theme of Adam Mickiewicz?s Dziady (Forefather?s Eve) creates a unique platform for artistic competition, enabling the audience to triple their artistic, aesthetic and intellectual experience, and inviting them to join in the discourse on the contemporary reinterpretations of the work and the traditions it addresses. The meetings will be accompanied by meetings with artists, an academic panel and a publication (in collaboration with several research centres), as well as an observatory enabling young theatre and dance critics to hone their skills. The first premiere, Ciało, duch i klaun (The body, the spirit, and the clown), will be directed by Jarosław Tumidajski (in collaboration with the composer Stefan Wesołowski, and Mirek Kaczmarek who will contribute the visuals). The second show, Gorycz (Bitterness) will be created by choreographer Kaya Kołodziejczyk in collaboration with Jacek Sienkiewicz (music), Maciek Chorąży and Aga Klepacka (stage design), Grzegorz ?Maldoror? Matląg (costumes), Paweł Grupkajtys (dulcimer) and Julita Charytonik (white voice). The third premiere will be contributed by the winners of the open competition which will be announced in early January 2017.

W głąb tradycji, w rytm tańca: Wesele (At the heart of tradition, to the beat of dance)

Premiere: October 2017
Venue: Grand Hall, ZAMEK Culture Centre 

This choreographic social project attempts to provoke the exchange of experience between various milieus and generations. The premiere of Wesele will cap the project involving 100 participants (50 dancing pairs) and the dancers of the Polish Dance Theatre. Inspired by Wyspiański?s classic, the performance will feature a number dance and theatre artists, including Iwona Pasińska (choreography), Marcin Liber (director), Filip Kaniecki (music), Mirek Kaczmarek (stage design, lighting design, videos), Grupa Mixer (costumes) and Wojciech Blecharz.

Laboratoria Twórcze (Creative Laboratories)

Premiere: August 2017
Curator: Anna Królica 
Anna Królica is pleased to invite everyone to an interdisciplinary cycle of artistic workshops organised within a module of creative, process-based work. The project involves the participation of students and graduates in the ?artists? workshop?, with artists-pedagogues sharing their share experience and introducing participants to the arcane of their work in the course of master classes.

The subsequent years will introduce the following lead themes:
2018: Rok Bogów (The Year of Gods), focusing on Polish revisions (religious, political, social), usurpers and role models, categorisations and abnegations.
2019: Rok Wyklętych (The Year of the Cursed), evoking Polish artists and heroes who were cursed, as well as some abandoned or repressed themes.
2020: Rok Szyderców (The Year of Scoffers), devoted to Polish visionaries, abstract, absurd and avant-garde thought, as well as mocking and self-ironic themes in the portrayals of Poland and Poles.

More information: ptt-poznan.pl