Jacek Gębura is a dancer and choreographer; since 1990, has worked for the Capitol Music Theatre in Wrocław, where he has been the ballet director of the Capitol Dance Stage since 2008.
As part of the Capitol Dance Stage, dancers of the Capitol Music Theatre appear in the repertoire of the main stage, while also producing their own contemporary dance pieces. The company has staged performances co-produced with Leszek Bzdyl(Imponderabilia (2008) and Sylwia Hefczyńska-Lewandowska, co-authore of Chmurno/PoDoBno (2009), Opera Smocza (2010, directed and choreographed by Gębura), 12 (2011, directed and choreographed by Gębura), Zaczarowane podwórko (2012, directed and choreographed by Gębura), Tempus Fantasy (2014, directed and choreographed by Gębura), Bal czyli wieczór zapoznawczy, gra zespół Variete (2015, directed and choreographed by Gębura; the piece was prepared for the Stage Song Review in Wrocław).
Gębura has regularly collaborated with puppet theaters in Poland and Croatia, including his choreographies for I odsłoniłam noc for the Alojzy Smolka Puppet and Actor Theatre in Opole (world premiere at the La MaMa Theater in New York, 2004), Waiting for the rai ( as part of the European project Meeting the Odyssey, 2014).
He has created choreographies for performances presented at the Stage Song Review in Wrocław, including Jak Oni słuchają (2009), Revolutionary (2010), and Budorigum (2016).
As part of his co-operation with the Kraków-based Stary Theatre, he has contributed to Piotr Cieplaks rendition of Eugne Ionescos Exit the King (2008), featuring dancers from the Capitol Music Theatre in Wrocław.
Gębura is the founder of the Contemporary Dance School Arkadia (1989-2006), whose dancers have repeatedly won titles and runner-up awards in nationwide disco, freestyle jazz dance and hip-hop categories. In 2000-2006, the Arkadia dancers won the European and World championships and vice-championships in these categories (Gębura was the author of the choreographies and training methods).
In 1994, together with Anna Krych and Norbert Ples, Gębura founded the Wrocław-based Contemporary Dance Studio MTT. The studio currently operates as Pracownia Tańca, engaging in educational initiatives in contemporary dance, movement theater and classical dance. Meetings in Pracownia Tańca are organized as open workshops.
In 1999, Gębura established the Wrocław-based Arka Dance Theatre, with whom he has produced such pieces as Między nami człowiekami (1999), The Republic of Man (2001), Short Ballet about Love (2002), Segment a straight line with the beginning and end (2003), Głowomuru (2004), The Carcass dancer-assisted ballet for voice and trumpet based on Charlesa Baudelaire (2007). These pieces were presented in major dance centers in Poland (Bytom, Gdańsk), and awarded at festivals in Kalisz and Konin.
Since 2002, Gębura has created and appeared in Arkas performances himself. His performances, often titled as mere consecutive numbers, are characterized by abstract sense of humor and strong presence of music (music is often played live during performances, with voices and bodies of dancers used as musical instruments). Dance routines are based on repetition and constructivist geometrisation. The list of artists cooperating with the theatre includes Anna Krych, Witold Jurewicz, Maćko Prusak and a Wrocław music band Small Instruments (Paweł Romańczuk). Who wants to hear a song movement poem for joints and larynx directed by Gębura had its premiere at the 28th Edition of Stage Song Review (2007). In 2008 the piece was featured in a week-long tour in Belarus held with Lublin Dance Theatre. Gębura is also the initiator of the New Horizons of Dance, a program co-organized by the Movie Dance Foundation at the 7th Edition of the Era New Horizons International Film Festival (2007). The program block was accompanied by a performing arts program. The Arka Dance Theatre qualified for the first Edition of the Polish Dance Platform Poznań 2008, where the company presented their performance Dances nobody was willing to name NO* 20.
Awards (selection): Award of the Lower Silesia Television for leading and founding the MTT Contemporary Dance Studio in Wrocław (1995). Award of the Wrocław Voivode in the program promoting talented children and youth in choreography Talents for artistic supervision in choreography (1998). 21st National Puppet Theatre Festival jury award for the choreography of Jak Matołusz poszedł szukać olbrzyma by Tankred Dorst and Ursula Ehler staged at the Alojzy Smolka Puppet and Actor Theatre in Opole. Award for the choreography of DRUMS-4dance/s/ at the International Theatre Festival in Zagreb (Croatia, 2008).
