Dominika Knapik is a dancer, actress and choreographer. She graduated from the State School of Drama (PWST) in Cracow.
As a choreographer, she has worked with Polish directors for over a decade while also collaborating extensively with artists in Germany for the past few years. She has won many individual accolades for her choreographies. In 2015, she was nominated for the Polityka Passports in the “Theater” category. In 2008-2015, she co-founded the artistic collective Harakiri Farmers, with which she has developed many original interdisciplinary pieces The collective’s performances have been featured at such reviews and festivals as the Polish Dance Platform, Polish Express III at HAU in Berlin, Malta Festival in Poznań and Bonn International Dance Solo Festival. In 2012 she initiated the review New Dance in Old Cracow. As a curator, she has also collaborated with Krakow Theatrical Reminiscences.
Since 2016, she has also worked as a director. In 2016, she directed Bang Bang (Jaracz Theater in Łódź), in 2019 Baba-Dziwo (Dramatyczny Theater in Wałbrzych), in 2020 the choreographic monogram Agon (Łaźnia Nowa Theater in Cracow), and in 2021 Tiki and Other Games (Pantomime Theater in Wrocław). Her most recent performance is Valeska Valeska Valeska Valeska, which premiered in November 2022 at the Grotowski Institute in Wrocław as part of the Choreographic Commissions program of the National Institute of Music and Dance.
She has been awarded many scholarships, such as danceWEB in Vienna in 2007, ArtsLink in the United States in 2009, a scholarship from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in 2011. She has also participated in numerous artistic residencies (including Tanzhaus Düsseldorf).
Her many collaborations with Polish and international institutions include the National Stary Theater in Cracow, Nowy Teatr in Warsaw, National Theater in Warsaw, Łaźnia Nowa Theater in Cracow, Deutsches Theater in Berlin, Thalia Theater in Hamburg, Schauspielhaus Bochum and NTM Nationaltheater Mannheim. She has won several individual awards (including the “Golden Mask” for Leni Riefenstahl: Episodes of Oblivion; Award of the Mayor of the City of Rzeszów for her choreography for The Portrait of a Lady; award for choreography for the performance Baba- Dziwo at the “Classics Alive 2019” Competition) and collective awards (Tukan OFF/PPA Wrocław for the performance Not I; First Prize in the Competition “New Situations” at the Malta Festival in 2008 for Keret). The pieces she has directed and/or choreographed have been showcased at many festivals, including Divine Comedy (2020 and 2021) and Berliner Theatertreffen (2021).
Her pieces combine dramatic theater, dance and performance with a feminist perspective.
Dominika Knapik. Photo by Klaudyna Schubert
Dominika Knapik. Photo by Dominik Więcek
Dominika Knapik. Photo by Dominik Więcek
Dominika Knapik “Agon”. Photo by Klaudyna Schubert
Dominika Knapik “Agon”. Photo by Klaudyna Schubert
Dominika Knapik “Agon”. Photo by Klaudyna Schubert
Dominika Knapik “Agon”. Photo by Klaudyna Schubert
Dominika Knapik “Agon”. Photo by Klaudyna Schubert
Dominika Knapik. Photo by Wolfgang Macher
Dominika Knapik in “The Optimist’s” at the Łaźnia Nowa Theater in Cracow, which she also directed and choreographed. Photo by K. Dąbrowski
Dominika Knapik “I Wanna Be Someone Great” by Harakiri Farmers, which she also directed. Photo by P. Wachholder
