Paulina Święcańska, “Drzewo Życia” (The Tree of Life). Photo: Marta Ankiersztejn.
As part of the 5th instalment of the EXPRESSIONS programme implemented by the Centre for Dance Art in Warsaw, on Thursday, 17 November 2016, the Mazovia Institute of Culture (ul. Elektoralna 12) will host a project presentation and a performative workshop. At 7 pm, the PERFORM Art Foundation will present Paulina Święcańska?s Drzewo życia (The Tree of Life), inspired by the cycle of natural metamorphoses in Chinese medicine. As an integral part of nature, the human being also undergoes such metamorphoses, both biologically and psychically. The project illustrates them based on the life of a woman, using three forms of expression: dance installation, video dance and performance.
At 8.30 pm, Warsaw Laboratory of Kinetography and the ?Myśl w Ciele? Foundation will hold a performative lecture titled Ruch uchwycony (Captured Movement) directed by Hanna Raszewska. Can movement be captured? May dance be subjected to notation? And is it impoverished by such notation? Well, it can, it may, and it isn?t. The presentation of Ruch uchwycony combines lecture with presentation and invites the audience to partake in the movement-capturing experiment.
More on the presentations:
Drzewo życia (The Tree of Life)
The piece was inspired by the context of the Tree of Life, which many cultures mythologised as the link between the physical and metaphysical worlds. The Tree of Life is connected to the mythical tales which emphasise the spherical structure of the universe and its three basic spheres: the heavens, the earth, and the underworld. They each correspond with the boughs, the trunk, and the roots of the cosmic Tree, respectively. At the same time, the Tree ? which penetrates each of those spheres ? binds the three worlds together and mediates between them. Thus, deities choose trees as ?mediatory? entities for their revelations. This point of the ordered world, based on the cosmic Tree, at the same time acts as the centre of the universe. The project will use this theme literally and metaphorically, focusing on the themes of power and potential drawn from nature, and the tremendous dangers entailed in its ongoing degradation.
Drzewo życia is presented using three art forms: dance installation, video dance and performance. The interplay between the theme and the form in contemporary art, which defies pure form and opts for hybrids and variations, introduces a significant dose of artistic freedom, while also increasing the author?s accountability for her selection of the content, the subject, and the means of expression.
Concept and direction: Paulina Święcańska
Character development: Maria Bijak, Hanna Jurczak, Joanna Sieradzan, Piotr Stanek, Paulina Święcańska
Children?s roles: Antonina Piwkowska, Kaja Stelmach, Joachim Stelmach, Seweryn Wencki
Video-dance and visuals: Klara Kopcińska
Stage design and lighting: Roman Woźniak
Music: Jakub Dykiert, Gniewomir Tomczyk
Photography: Marta Ankiersztejn-Węgier
Ruch uchwycony (Captured Movement)
Just as the notation system allows one to capture sounds, so does kinetography, i.e. a system of movement notation and analysis developed by Laban-Knust, captures spatial and temporal transience, manifested through dance, on paper. This simple and logical system, based on transparent principles, enables the notation of any movement, regardless of the technique through which it is performed. The presentation of ?Ruch uchwycony? combines lecture with performance, eventually inviting the audience to partake in the movement-capturing experiment. The presentation has been organised as part of the pilot programme of the Centre of Dance Art, and is dedicated to the late dr Grażyna Dąbrowska, an eminent researcher, and Roman Arnd, an outstanding choreologist, who both passed away earlier this year.
Concept, direction: Hanna Raszewska
Starring: Aleksandra Kleinrok, Anna Opłocka, Zuzanna Pałka, Hanna Raszewska, Eliza Rudzińska, Małgorzata Skoczelas
On the days of the presentations, the organisers will also hold dance workshops.
Tickets (PLN 20, valid for both presentations) can be purchased at the Mazovia Institute of Culture cash desk and online at http://bilety.mik.waw.pl/
More on individual performances and workshops: http://centrumsztukitanca.org, http://facebook.com/cstwarszawa
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From September to December 2016, the Mazovia Institute of Culture will host the Centre for Dance Art?s program EKSPRESJE [EXPRESSIONS]. The project will feature dance performances, workshops, exhibitions and debates. EXPRESSIONS is a regular presentation and promotion of Warsaw-based artists active in dance ? both its household names and dancers and choreographers who have recently launched their careers.
The Centre for Dance Art in Warsaw is a pilot program intended to build a fixed venue for contemporary dance and related arts. The general vision of the project has been developed in the course of consultations and a consolidation of the dance community by the Social Dialogue Committee for Dance, and its implementation has been delegated to three organisations representing the Warsaw dance milieu: the ART_committed Foundation, the PERFORM Art Foundation, and the NEW WAVE Theatre Development Foundation.
Project Partner: Mazovia Institute of Culture
Organised by the Centre for Dance Art in Warsaw which associates dance NGOs.
Financed by the Capital City of Warsaw
