People of dance

Maciej Kuźmiński (b. 1985) is a choreographer, pedagogue, and producer. He graduated summa cum laude from the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London, receiving degrees in choreography (MA) and dance theatre (BA).

Choreographer

Maciej Kuźmiński’s dual choreographic oeuvre encompasses critical, politically engaged, and feminists performances. Using the idiom of the so-called physical theater, he creates original performances such as Plateau, created in collaboration with Paul Bargetto, or short pieces (Dominique, I Fought Piranhas, Event Horizon).

Another area of Kuźmiński’s interest is that of metaphysics and philosophy, especially existentialism, expressed in more formal performances, such as Fabula Rasa, i, or Room 40.

By 2014, Kuzmiński’s pieces were presented over 170 times in 21 countries. His performances, developed as part of the auteur Maciej Kuźmiński Company, have been awarded more than twenty international prizes and distinctions.

As a guest choreographer, Kuźmiński has collaborated with a number of international dance companies, including Scapino Ballet Rotterdam (the Netherlands), Regensburg Tanz Theater (Germany), Šeiko Dance Company (Lithuania), Eva Duda Company (Hungary), as well as Polish companies, among others the Polish Dance Theatre and the ROZBARK Theatre in Bytom.

Kuźmiński has choreographed graduation performances for dance conservatory students at the Trinity Laban (England), ArtEZ (Netherlands), PERA GAU (Northern Cyprus) and Belgrade Dance Institute (Serbia).

Pedagogue

In the course of his choreographing career, Maciej Kuźmiński has developed an original work and movement methodology known as Dynamic Phrasing. The method is founded on four pillars, of which the first two are movement techniques – floor work and standing work, which includes among others an energy work method based on repetitive movements (or the loo, inspired by the Chinese Qigong technique). The other two pillars include a recomposing and reconstructing movement method known as task basket, and an improvisation-based movement laboratory method.

The primary objective of Dynamic Phrasing is to become united with one’s own energy: both the energy flowing through the body as a consequence of biomechanical conditions (e.g. using the fascia), and the life energy that enables us to communicate in a non-verbal way and makes us part of the outside world.

In the recent years, Kuźmiński has guest-lectured on Dynamic Phrasing at the world’s top conservatories and dance faculties such as Codarts – Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Rotterdam, ArtEZ in Arnhem, Trinity Laban in London, University of Calgary in Canada, PERA GAU in North Cyprus. He has also given master classes at a number of dance companies, including Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, Regensburg Tanz Theater and Polish Dance Theatre. For the past seven years, he has been working with the IUI – Belgrade Dance Institute in Serbia. In the years 2014-2016 he served as a full-time lecturer at the Faculty of Dance Theatre in Bytom.

Producer

In 2017, in collaboration with the [National] Institute of Music and Dance, he established the first Polish Dance Network, which strives to present the most intriguing productions by independent artists and institutional dance companies and to promote the diversity of Polish dance. As of 2020 the Network consisted of 15 partners presenting 14 dance performances, amounting to a total of nearly 80 shows across the country with the participation of nearly 100 artists. Kuźmiński is also the author of a residency exchange program, developed in cooperation with Luxembourg, titled Project 2/3. Both the Polish Dance Network and Project 2/3 are currently run by the National Institute of Music and Dance.

Between 2016 and 2018, Kuźmiński served as the manager of the Caro Dance Theatre in Siedlce. He is the co-founder (in collaboration with Karolina Wycisk) of Rozbieg, the first contemporary dance festival in Siedlce. Since 2018, he has been a member of the board of the nationwide Stowarzyszenie Forum Tańca/Dance Forum Association, for which he created an open-access online platform.

Since 2017, Kuźmiński has been the leader and developer of an independent project group known as the Maciej Kuźmiński Company.

Kuźmiński has collaborated with the Polish Institutes in Germany, Austria and England, and the Polish Embassies in Luxembourg, Belgrade and Amsterdam, as well as numerous cultural centers and cultural houses throughout the country. He is a several-time recipient of grants awarded by the National Institute of Music and Dance.

Dancer

Maciej Kuźminski’s relatively short performing career was interrupted by his decision to turn to chorography and leaving the country to study abroad in 2012.

He made his dancing debut in 2007, cast as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet choreographed by the Austrian artist Liz King. Between 2007 and 2010, he performed as a free-lance dancer in a number of choreographies by Polish and foreign artists, among others Nigel Charnock (England), Rose Breuss (Austria), and Joanna Leśnierowska, Witold Jurewicz and Paulina Wycichowska (Poland). From 2010 to 2011, he was a soloist with the Polish Dance Theatre, where he performed in Minus 2, choreographed by Ohad Naharin (Israel). In 2013, having completed his studies in choreography, he resumed his dancing career and was cast in a project developed by the English physical theater company Clod Ensemble. From 2013 to 2016 he was a dancer in his own productions. In 2017, he guest-danced in productions by Miikki Ryytta (Finland) and the Polish Dance Theatre (Harvest, chor. Iwona Pasińska).

Kuźmiński has performed at a number of household venues, including the Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera in Warsaw, Koncerthaus Wien in Vienna, and Sadler’s Wells in London

More information:

www.maciejkuzminski.com – official website/portfolio of the artist
www.vimeo.com/kuzminski – Vimeo channel
www.facebook.com/kuzminski.maciej – official Facebook page
www.instagram.com/maciej.kuzminski – official Instagram page

www.pst.info.pl – official website of the Polish Dance Network

Choreographic prizes:

2021, Rotterdam International Duet Choreography Competition
Codarts Production Prize for the event horizon duo

2018, Hannover, 32^nd International Choreographic Competition
Regensburg Production Prize for the I fought Piranhas solo piece

2017, Belgrade, 21^st Festival of Choreographic Miniatures
1^st prize, Critics’ Prize and Alexander Izmailovsky Prize for the Dominique solo

2016, Düsseldorf, Internationale Tanzmesse NRW
Official Selection of the Repetition duo as a representative of Poland in the Dance Fair program

2016, Stuttgart, 20^th Solo-Tanz-Theatre Festival
Audience First Choice and Audience Final Choice awards for the Dominique solo piece

2016, Vitebsk, 29^th International Festival of Modern Choreography
1^st prize in the choreography category for After Before

2015, Warsaw, Warsaw Dance Platform
1^st prize in the choreography category for the Dominique solo piece

2015, Gdańsk, Solo Dance Contest
2^nd prize and audience prize for the Dominique solo piece

2015, Jerusalem, MASH choreographic competition
Presentation of Dominique in the final stage of the competition

2014, Lublin, Polish Dance Platform
Audience prize for Room 40

2014, Cracow, 3…2…1…DANCE! Competition
Double prize of the jury for the Repeat After Me choreography (performed by himself)

2014, Warsaw, Warsaw Dance Platform
Third prize for the Repeat After Me (performed by himself)