Jérôme Bel “Gala”. Photo: Herman Sorgeloss.
A primary dance and performance festival in Poland, the Body/Mind Festival opens on 11 July. The leading theme of the 16th edition is time. The event will begin with a performance by the legendary French choreographer Jérôme Bel. Following the presentation will be the project Performing Europe, contemplating the significance of dance today.
Time, considered in its many aspects, as momentum, continuity, and a point, will be the binding agent for a plethora of events in this year?s edition of the Body/Mind Festival, which will begin on 11 July in Warsaw.
We inspect time understood as a process of ordering, reproduction, documentation and archiving, as well as biological time and its passing. Address the notions of spare time and the attempts to escape the tyranny of the clock, as well as alternatives for the future and the crucially important ways to measure and express time in dance, says Edyta Kozak, the founder and director of the festival, and the president of the Body/Mind Foundation.
Everyone can dance
The Festival will begin with the presentation of Gala by the French dancer and choreographer Jérôme Bel, frequently referred to as a philosopher of dance and harbinger of non-dance. Bel will stage a unique version of his piece Gala, which has so far been presented in Paris, Berlin, Budapest, Sao Paulo, and Singapore. The latest instalment of the project will feature 20 Varsovians. Gala explores the memory of the body and the social dimension of time in pop dance. Bel also touches upon the utopian pursuit of time and unattainable perfection, while also reaching towards biological memory through the bodies and corporeality of participants of all ages. ? Bel discovers the unconscious forms of movement, dance clichés and notions encoded in the body, adds the director of the festival.
The premiere pieces will be presented on 11 and 12 July (8 pm) at Nowy Teatr in Warsaw. Tickets (PLN 30-50) are available at the seat of Nowy Teatr (ul. Madalińskiego 10/16, Warsaw) and at eBilet stands (including Empik stores) and website.
Body/Mind Festival
Organiser: Body/Mind Foundation
Co-organiser: Nowy Teatr w Warszawie, STUDIO teatrgaleria
Partners: Network APAP – Advancing Performing Arts Project, Hungarian Institute for Culture in Warsaw, Centre for Contemporary Art ? Ujazdowski Castle
Festival and ?Today Tomorrow? conference partner: Goethe-Institut
Media patrons: Aktivist, Didaskalia, E-teatr.pl, Notes na 6 Tygodni, Radio Dla Ciebie, taniecPOLSKA.pl, Teatrdlawas.pl, TVP Kultura, Uroda Życia.
Co-financed by the Capital City of Warsaw, Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, and the EU programme ?Creative Europe?.
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European artists above divisions
Apart from the Festival, the Body/Mind Foundation popularises dance through a four-year project ?Performing Europe 2020?, implemented in 10 European countries and Lebanon. ? The project strives to highlight theatre as a major platform of meetings and exchange through new models of presentation and art-focused projects ? says Edyta Kozak, curator of the project.
The project features 36 artists from Europe and Arab countries. Despite their different experience, aesthetics, and applied practices and techniques, they are brought together by the common context and stage of their careers. ? They are interested in social and political reality, and the transfer of radical social change onto stage, as well as the need to reflect everyday politics and abstract theme, and the willingness to present international contexts and reach audiences in Europe ? says Edyta Kozak. The selected group includes four Polish artists: Wojtek Blecharz, Marta Górnicka, Ramona Nagabczyśska, Karol Tymiński.
The meaning of dance
The first results of the artists? work will be presented in July. As part of PERFORMING EUROPE: season 1, Wojtek Blechacz, composer, oboist and performer of early music, has taken part in an artistic residency during which he has prepared an opera-installation. The author disestablishes the traditional model of musical reception based on sitting, listening and watching, by using such props as yoga mats and pillows. Body-Opera is dedicated to the audience; it explores the relationships between the human body and how we hear the sound, reminding us of its physical nature ? says Edyta Kozak. The piece premieres on 16-17 July at the main stage of Nowy Teatr. On 17 July, Wojtek Blecharz will also give guided tours of the installations.
In July, the Body/Mind Foundation will also host workshops with Ramona Nagabczyńska, dancer, choreographer, and founder of Centre in Motion. Nagabczyńska?s piece More (Morus/Więcej) explores the limitations and capacities of the body using the collage, B-horror movies, and beatbox, turning to repetition, reflection, and symmetry as her main artistic tools. On 17 July, as part of PERFORMING EUROPE season 1, the artist will hold a working session at Nowy Teatr, which will include a work in progress presentation and a workshop in choreographic tools utilized by Nagabczyńska in her latest piece.
In July, the foyer of Nowy Teatr will host Kiosk in Motion (11-14 July, 16-17 July), an interactive art installation contemplating the meaning of dance and its condition in contemporary culture. The installation will include meetings, choreographic games, workshops and a mini media library of films and books. Everyone is welcome to visit and act independently or aided by the map prepared by the organisers.
Admission to all events presented as part of PERFORMING EUROPE: season 1 is free upon prior registration at: abc@cialoumysl.pl. The number of participants is limited. The first season of ?Performing Europe 2020? continues in September and October.
Calendar of July events at Nowy Teatr:
11- 12, 16-17 July, 6-8 pm; 13-14 July, 11 am ? 1 pm Kiosk in Motion ? interactive educational installation
17 July, 4:30 pm
Wojtek Blecharz: Body-Opera ? guided tour of the installation
16-17 July, 7 pm
Wojtek Blecharz: Body-Opera ? opera-installation
17 July, 6 pm
Ramona Nagabczyńska: More (Morus/Więcej) ? work in progress presentation
17 July, 11 am ? 2 pm
Ramona Nagabczyńska i Magda Jędra ? workshops
PERFORMING EUROPE season 1
Curator: Edyta Kozak
Organiser: Fundacja Ciało/Umysł
Co-organised by: Nowy Teatr
Media patrons: TVP Kultura, Radio Dla Ciebie, Aktivist, taniecPOLSKA.pl, Warszawa.pl, Mowianamiescie.pl
Implemented by the Body/Mind Foundation as part of the project PERFORMING EUROPE 2020 co-financed by the EU programme ?Creative Europe? ? apap (Advancing Performing Arts Project), Capital City of Warsaw and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
More information about the events: www.cialoumysl.pl
