Uczestnicy projektu „Akcja: EDUKACJA”. Fot. Czapi.
9 performances and dark expression foreshadow the 15th edition of one of Poland?s leading dance festivals. Addressed to those who know how to make use of their time. This year?s festival begins on 30 September in Warsaw and will conclude on 8 October. Performances will be presented at the Studio Theatre, Centre for Contemporary Art, and the Nowy Theatre.
An hour of pure choreography, nothing but expressive dance and minimalist, mantra-like music. 15 dancers in constant motion on stage, each covering a distance of 10 km throughout the show. All of this can be found in Guilherme Botelho?s Sideways Rain, presented at this year?s Body/Mind International Contemporary Dance Festival, with one of the Sideways Rain dancers featured on the poster for the 15th edition of the festival.
? The festival presents various forms of contemporary dance. This year, the main theme is the rush of the modern-day world, increasingly more frantic, increasingly more incoherent. In another performance, ?Bataille: Dawn of New Days? by Sławek Krawczyński and Anna Godowska, the expression of six dancers acts as a mirror of the unconscious. Dance can serve to express what cannot be rendered with words and images, says Edyta Kozak, the founder and director of the Body/Mind Festival.
The festival program includes a total of 9 performances and meetings with their creators. One piece was selected especially for the 15th anniversary edition. Martin Schick?s This is a Gala (one of three installments in his Low-budget Series) is an ironic game which takes up the celebration of vernissages, galas and banquets.
Who is the Body/Mind Festival addressed to?
The festival has been organized since 1995. In 2001, it adopted its current name, Body/Mind. Its founders emphasize that the event has been inclusive since its first edition, and as such attracts both lovers and pundits on contemporary dance, as well as the general public. Why is such a festival needed?
? Because it?s difficult. We need an occasion and a space designated for coming to a halt, for inspiration?a time to refocus and reflect upon things. We are not just after entertainment, our goal is to provoke people to think. The festival reaches towards those who know how to make use of their time, says Kozak.
Dance not just for dancers
The idea behind the Body/Mind Festival is to seek out the most intriguing currents, trends and techniques, present new tendencies in choreography and support bold artistic proposals. In refusing to compromise its principles, the festival has helped Polish audiences discover a number of important dance artists.
? There is little discussion on contemporary dance in Poland. We create an opportunity to inspect the art extensively and integrate it
in the main current of our culture. Our motto could read, ?Dance not just for dancers?, adds Kozak.
The festival strives to present a variety of artistic stances and dance styles, bridging them with other art forms. Visual art, performance, architecture, live music and new media have all been featured more prominently both during the festival and in the field of dance in general.
More information:
Body/Mind Festival
The Body/Mind International Contemporary Dance Festival has been held annually since 1995, when its first edition was organized by Edyta Kozak and Jarosław Żwirblis. Originally known as ?Małe Formy Teatru Tańca? and the first event of its kind in Poland, the festival was renamed to Body/Mind, presenting dance as a thought-provoking field which integrates the matter (body) with ideas (mind), offering new possibilities to present latest art projects. Since 2009, the festival has been held annually, with each edition heralded by a new leitmotif. The festival presents the oeuvre of groundbreaking artists of each generation, including many eminent international artists, for whom the festival frequently serves as the venue of Polish premieres of their work.
