Mikołaj Mikołajczyk – dancer, choreographer. He graduated from the State Ballet School in Poznań, he studied art history and sociology at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. He worked in the Wrocław Pantomime Theatre, the Polish Dance Theatre in Poznań, the Grand Theatre in Poznań and Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe. He went through all the stages of artistic career: from apprentice to first ballet soloist. He was the ballet director at the Castle Opera in Szczecin; subsequently, he transformed the group into his own original dance DNA Theatre – dance coded genetically.
He has collaborated with choreographers who represent various dance styles, ways of thinking and creating artistic space, among others: Henryk Tomaszewski, Mats Ek, Birgitt Cullberg, Ewa Wycichowska, Teresa Kujawa, Olaf Schmidt, Gray Veredon, Conrad Drzewiecki, Barbara Gołaska, Andrzej Glegolski, Emil Wesołowski, Przemysław Śliwa, Henryk Konwiński, Marek Różycki, David Earle, Waldemar Wołk Karaczewski, Jerzy Makarowski, Ivan Bataillei, Antal Fodo.
He has performed at many festival in Poland and abroad: Edinburgh, Sofia, Lille, Carcassonne, Berlin, Hamamatsu, Xanten, Luxembourg, Brussels, Bruges, Kaunas, Warsaw, Poznań, Łódź, Cracow, Lublin, etc. He collaborated on dance workshops and festivals: Summer Art Festival in Kutno, Lądek Ballet Summer in Lądek Zdrój, dance workshops in Sieradz and Szczecin.
In recent years, after quitting work at ballet companies, he created two solo performances in Stary Browar in Poznań – Waiting (2006) and I want to watch the world with you (2008), and a music and dance project PoLY-RHYtm with Zbiginiew Kozuba, composed for the Festival of Spring in Poznań (2009). Waiting was called one of the most important Polish dance performances in many years and was presented at the Polish Dance Platform in Poznań (2008). The performance may be interpreted as a personal statement on dance and dancer’ status. In autumn 2011 he created the premiere Plaisir d’amour which made up, with previous Waiting and I want to watch the world with you, an autobiographical Triptych, presented jointly at Maat Festival/“Theatre Confrontations” Festival in Lublin. His three solo performances will be presented jointly for the second time at 32th Warsaw Theatre Festival WST (section: DANCE).
He also created such performances as: Faust – zdarzenie by Marlow/Grotowski, music by Zbigniewa Kozub (Polish Classics Festvial in Opole, Drama Theatre in Opole 2009), Wszystko jutro, czyli lalki wybawione – based on Teorema by Pier Paolo Pasolini − with actors of Drama Theatre in Opole (2010), and two projects for ODRAMA 2010 – 6th International Days of New Dramaturgy in Opole.
At the 2011 edition of Maat Festival festival (Body Peripheries) in Lublin, linked with Theatre Festival (Konfrontacje Teatralne), he presented, together with Tomasz Bazan, a project The Rite of Spring.
September 2012 saw the premiere of Teraz jest czas[Now Is The Time], a dance performance sporting elements of documentary theatre, directed and choreographed by Mikołajczyk and featuring the Wrzos pensioner choir affiliated with the “Dom Polski” Culture Centre of Zakrzewo. The production was the first in a series of projects to be carried out as part of the programme Wielkopolska: Rewolucje [Wielkopolska: Revolutions], implemented by the local authorities of the Wielkopolska region and curated by Agata Siwiak. Talking about the project, Mikołajczyk said: “I’ll be dancing until I’m eighty. Dance is not about technical skill or physical ability. I may dance moving my fingers only, having created a concept that arrests the audience’s whole attention. You don’t need to jump up in mid-air to dance”.
A year later, Wielkopolska: Revolutions saw the premiere of Noce i dnie [Nights and Days], Mikołajczyk’s another collaboration with the Wrzos choir. Also working on the piece were Małgorzata Dziewulska (dramaturge), Mirek Kaczmarek (stage designer and video artist), Zbigniew Kozub (composer), Iwona Pasińska (dancer), and Adam Ferency (actor). This time round the pensioners were drawing inspiration from Maria Dabrowska’s Noce i dnie [Nights and Days], a 1930’s novel presenting Wielkopolska’s history and exploring questions about fulfilled or unfulfilled life.
In the autumn of 2012 Mikołajczyk made RE//MIX Henryk Tomaszewski together with Małgorzata Dziewulska (dramaturge) and Zbigniew Kozub (composer), as part of komuna//warszawa’s RE//MIX series. In October 2013, he performed together with Iwona Pasińska in her duo Ostatnia niedziela. RE//MIX Conrad Drzewiecki[Last Sunday. RE//MIX Conrad Drzewiecki] at komuna //warszawa during a festival concluding a few years of the RE//MIX project.
In November 2013 Mikołajczyk was a resident of “maat festival – border line 2013” in Lublin, a platform for solo dancers. Throughout 2013 the Maat Studio of the Centre for Culture in Lublin hosted a string of eight artistic residencies. The work of the performers/dancers was recorded by Patrycja Płatnik, and the outcomes will be showcased in the form of performances and documentary films on 14-17 December during a festival concluding this year’s residency programme. Apart from Mikołajczyk, the first edition of “maat festival – border line” featured: Anita Wach, Magdalena Jędra, Kaya Kołodziejczyk, Anna Steller, Rafał Urbacki, Przemek Kamiński, Korina Kordova, Barbara Bujakowska.
Mikołajczyk’s solo Projekt Lutosławski… Jesteś kimś, kogo kiedyś znałem [Project Lutosławski … You Are Somebody I Used to Know], will be premiered on 14 December 2013.
For many years he is also a very active choreographer and author of stage movement for theatre artists in drama theatres and operas. Many times he collaborated with the most important artists of contemporary theatres, including such directors as: Barbara Wachowicz, Maja Kleczewska, Małgorzata Dziewulska, Jolanta Ptaszyńska, Natalia Korczakowska, Bogna Podbielska, Katarzyna Raduszyńska, Krzysztof Warlikowski, Piotr Kruszczyński, Grzegorze Jarzyna, Adam Hanuszkiewicz, Tomasz Hynek, Wojciech Szelachowski, Krzysztof Garbaczewski, Andrzej Bartnikowski, Krzysztofem Rekowski, Jacek Papis, Michałe Borczuch, Mikołaj Grabowski, Łukasz Chotkowski and Piotr Sieklucki. He created stage movement for many performances, including such important works as Leonce i Lena (Drama Theatre in Warsaw), Lulu (National Stary (Old) Theatre in Cracow) and Wieczór sierot by Michał Borczuch (Lodz of Four Cultures) as well as Marat-Sade (National Theatre in Warsaw), Sudden rain/Between by Maja Kleczewska (Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera), Opętani (Szaniawski Drama Theatre in Wałbrzych) and Odyseja (Kochanowski Theatre in Opole) by Krzysztof Garbaczewski.
Detailed information: http://www.mikolaj-mikolajczyk.pl
