Michał Ratajskiis a dancer, performer, choreographer, and enthusiast of traditional martial arts and contact improvisation. He is a certified contemporary dance instructor and was awarded an Alternative Dance Academy scholarship.
He founded the KIJO Group and Foundation, as well as co-founding the Movin’ Łódź Association. He also launched a website dedicated to the promotion of contact improvisation, www.contactimprovisation.eu. He is involved in the organisation of FRU Festival – Polish Contact Improvisation Festival in Łódź. He is a participant of the international exchange programme for CI teachers, ECITE,
His fascination with movement began when he was 14. By way of longstanding exploration of physical techniques, martial arts, contact improvisation, contemporary dance and improvisation, he turned dance into his profession. His starting point for creating and exploring dance is curiosity.
Ratajski considers JAM (open space for meeting others and group improvisation) as his best “teacher”, an infinite source of inspiration, knowledge, experience and an attempt to grasp the here and now. His preferable form of sharing experience is A MEETING in dance, DANCE in a meeting. He is fascinated by the way music affects dance in contact improvisation.
He is an active participant of trainings and festivals; he learns by teaching (Poland, Romania, Lithuania, Israel, Ukraine, Croatia, Denmark, Moldova).