Poznań: Krawczyński, Wygoda, Godowska – premiere of the_rite_of_dreams_project/ “Nijinsky. The Rite of Dreams”

Marking the centenary of the world premiere of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, the Art Stations Foundation by Grażyna Kulczyk is presenting the legendary piece’s newest rendition: the_rite_of_dreams_projectfrom director Sławomir Krawczyński, choreographer Anna Godowska, and dancer and choreographer Tomasz Wygoda, who is returning on stage after years of working as choreographer and close collaborator of opera director Mariusz Treliński.

The performace will premiere on 1 September 2013 (7 pm) at Stary Browar/Old Brewery in Poznań.

the_rite_of_dreams_project is a solo performance taking the audience on a journey through Vaslav Nijinsky’s different states of mind, based on motifs of his Diary and his ballets.

The work on the solo was based on devices characteristic for Bretoncaffe, a theatre with which the project’s authors are widely associated. In the piece, dance becomes an umbrella term for a physical practice which boils down to treating the body as a medium for mental states.

The authors began with the study of Nijinsky’s Diary, which they considered a book of daydreams scribbled down in haste. It seemed to them a vision of a world torn apart by contradictions, continuously oscillating between ecstasy and nothingness. Krawczyński and Wygoda concluded that Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring to which Nijinsky created the first choreography is an extraordinarily poignant reference to this vision of reality, reflecting a human condition almost identical to the artist’s everyday experience.

The authors of the project distance themselves from any psychiatric description of Nijinsky’s state. Following the artist’s turbulent process of thinking and vision reflected in his Diary and ballets, they look to find the essence of these experiences, believing that they carry an ever valid message concerning our existence.

The artists were fascinated by Nijinsky’s longing for the humankind’s childhood when thought originated in the heart, community was based on ritual, unifying dance, and God was contacted as directly as another human being.

Musically, the piece is based on The Rite of Spring, featuring re-mixes of Nijinsky’s choreographies, both those he danced personally and those he choreographed.

Krawczyński i Godowska have been collaborating since 2004 on a research project Taniec śniącego ciała [Dance of a Dreaming Body], which aims to implement Arnold Mindell’s process oriented psychology and C.G. Jung’s analytical psychology in theatre and dance practice. These ideas have also strongly influenced the process of developing the_rite_of_dreams, which is a follow-up on the project, based in its psychological aspect on Nijinsky’s Diary.