Eisa Jocson „Macho Dancer”. Fot. Giannina Ottiker.
The first edition of the Idiom Festival, which was organised as part of the ?This is Poland/To Polska właśnie? programme, was implemented by the Performat Foundation with the support of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland (Promesa 2016). The organisers began with analysing the issue of ?Polishness? and the stereotypes about Polish culture and tradition in both arts and society. The performances which we decided to present were focused on the body?s language in relation to the alphabet, dance as a way of communication and a space for intercultural dialogue, and the stereotype of a Pole. The organisers pondered over the significance of referring to dance as ?Polish? in the context of modern-day creative reality, when artists move between art centres much more often, create their performances as co-productions with others, and are immersed in mobility of projects, thoughts, and ideas.
Idiom 2017 employs a new approach to the project. By arranging art residency programs for two Polish choreographers, Małgorzata Haduch and Irena Lipińska, who will cooperate with Prague artists, the organisers aim to facilitate an inspiring meeting of Czech and Polish artists, and open our activities to the element of surprise and process instead of a finished product. Yhe organisers have invited Irena Lipińska, a Wrocław-based choreographer and performer, and Małgorzata Haduch, a Cracow-based choreographer and pedagogue. Lipińska will cooperate with a Czech musician, while Haduch will lead a three-person dance group, who will work on a given subject under her supervision. The original works created during this residency will first be presented in the Czech Republic (on 15 and 22 October), followed by presentations in Poland. The subject matter undertaken by both residency programmes will be the relation between _imagination/interpretation, and their field of study will be new choreography and experimental music.
The organisers also wish to continue the idea of the Idiom Festival and continue to focus on the idiomatic (concrete) features of dance and movement. However, this time they will strive to address the experiences that are seemingly verbally indescribable and inexpressible. Paradoxically, it is precisely the inability to discuss or imagine these experiences that renders them idiomatic. Thus, the organisers intend to explore dance and choreography in search for what is, colloquially speaking, ?unimaginable?.
The artists? residency in Prague will enable the development of original choreographic projects addressing the notions which seem difficult to imagine, but eventually may become verbalized: the _imagination/interpretation relation. The starting point will be the indescribable: the symptomatic sphere, which in dance is usually associated with difficulties in naming and defining. This choreographic research will include experiments conducted in order to determine the extent to which the indescribable affects choreography (e.g. during a dance that is improvised, or in reaction to other stimuli, such as music); to what degree choreographers use the imagination of their object of study, how they understand verbalization trough movement, and what tools they use to describe their actions. How does the sphere of the indescribable begin to manifest in dance, why is dance an art form that is so difficult to describe, what does it mean to say that movement is the universal language of expression, and how to talk about this experience.
About Małgorzata Haduch?s residency:
Resonance. A silent choreographic composition of vibration
Resonance is a barely perceptible micro-movement of the entire body, situated between silence and whisper. Soothing, calm, circular, of minimal amplitude.
Resonance is a part of the choreography Whisper in my Eye, which was directed by Małgorzata Haduch with local dancers in Mexico in 2015. The concept of the piece is based on creating a score analogous to a music composition, where each of the choreographic parts has different rythm, character and melody. Investigating the possibilities of choreographic notation, Małgorzata had created a book, where the Resonance part embraces concrete directions of the dance as well as abstract indications, each of which may be interpreted individually.
Based on that script, young choreographers accompanied by the author are seeking choreographic patterns. Resonant, abstract images are embodied in their actions. The literary piece will be interpreted through corporeal reactions.
?Resonance is a barely perceptible micro-movement of the entire body, situated between a whisper and silence. Soothing, calm, circular, of minimal amplitude. Not a lifeless position, but a trance.?
Małgorzata Haduch a dancer and choreographer, Małgorzata Haduch graduated from School for New Dance Development in Amsterdam. She has strong ties with the Dutch free jazz scene. In 2006, she established the Unfinished Company, an Amsterdam-based group associating international artists from various fields. She is a recipient of scholarships from danceWEB in Vienna and the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland (2011), as well as the residency project from Solo Project in Poznań?s Stary Browar (2009). She is the author of the following shows: Zona Segura (2009), Wielka Inwencja na spragnione theorbo, uśpiony kontrabas i cztery tancerki [The Great Invention for thirsty theorbo, sleepy double bass and four dancers] (2011). She is the head of the FREE THE DANCE programme in Cracow, a series of performances by musicians and dancers who create improvisation at the junction of music and dance. Since 2011, she has regularly taught David Zambrano?s Flying Low technique and Passing Through compositions.
About Irena Lipińska?s residency:
?Be like water: adjust to every vessel, and you will become that vessel.?
Bruce Lee
While visiting Prague, the choreographer Irena Lipińska will research the relation of _imagination/interpretation in reference to the body, thespace between people, and choreography. Her starting point will be the unimaginable, which is the symptomatic sphere in dance, usually associated with difficulties in naming and describing. Successive stages will mark out the moments of becoming ? of performing ? in ever-changing situations and groups of people. Improvised movement may become the language of these events, while the pre-conceived structure will constitute their bounds. This choreographic research will contain experiments in order to check how much the unimaginable affect choreography and how does it verbalize moments and meanings. The visit will result in a work-in-progress show, together with select artists from Prague.
?This artistic, Polish-Czech meeting is a vessel that we?ll fill. We?ll become something exceptional and united, during this particular moment of exchange and of building new qualities. Using our creativity and collective interpretation of actions, we?ll grasp the indescribable. I?ll become the water that fills the vessel, not only in my personal vision of creating, but also in a collective act. This is how I imagine movement: the lack of specialization changes all systems and encountered formations; that which is structured, named, and included in particular vision and thinking, will never be completely interesting and exceptional or new. I hope to break down the already-imagined structure and arrive at that which is still new, still unimaginable.?
The residency visit in Cross Club in Czech Republic will be a part of Idiom 2017 ? second edition of the Performat Foundation project, which promotes Polish dance and performance artists in Czech Republic. This stay will serve to deepen artistic relation with foreign creators, and foster networking between Poles and Czechs.
Irena Lipińska ? a performer, dancer, and choreographer, Irena Lipińska received a scholarship from the Alternative Dance Academy in Poznań (2011) and was a resident of Solo Project for young choreographers by the Art Stations Foundation (2011). Her solo pieces include hydrohypno, line, Kompilacje, DNACE, dwa na jeden, LU2077. After receiving a scholarship from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage of Poland, she developed !GROT! (2014) in collaboration with the new media artist Paweł Janicki. The same year she participated in a choreographic exchange programme between Poland and Philadelphia, USA as well as Isabelle Schad?s choreographic projectCollective Jumps. She collaborates with contemporary music and new media artists, and conducts dance and movement workshops for future actors, children, and adults with psychological disorders and movement disabilities.
Dates of residencies: 12?15 October 2017 (Małgorzata Haduch), 16?22 October 2017 (Irena Lipińska)
The organisers wish to invite everyone to the final presentations, which will take place on 15 and 22 October 2017, respectively, at Cross Club in Prague (admission free, crossclub.cz)
Organiser: Performat Foundation
Partners: European Capital of Culture Wrocław 2016, AIR Wro artist-in-residence programme, Cross Club
http://plfestival.eu/
http://www.fundacjaperformat.com/
http://www.crossclub.cz/cs/
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