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On 6 May (8 pm) Warsaw?s Teatr Wielki ? Polish National Opera (Chamber Hall) will show Nijinsky. The Rite of Dreams created by Sławek Krawczyński and Anna Godowska in collaboration with dancer and choreographer Tomasz Wygoda. This new staging of Igor Stravinsky?s groundbreaking ballet, which once opened up new horizons both for dance and music, is a solo performance consisting in a journey across Vaslav Nijinsky?s altered states of consciousness, created on the basis of this legendary dancer and choreographer?s  Diary and his works. 

 

The creators of the piece approached Nijinsky?s Diary as a book of dreams dreamt while awake and hastily recorded. Analysing them they found themselves in a world which continuously verged on ecstasy and oblivion, yearning for humanity?s childhood when thought was guided by the heart and community grew from ritual, whilst contact with God was as direct as with another human being. This world has found its dramaturgic reflection in Stravinsky?s The Rite of Spring. The work seemed to be waiting for an adaptation devoted to Vaslav Nijinsky. The Rite of Spring as The Rite of Dreams.

 

I am God in a body. Everyone has that feeling, but no one uses it. I do make use of it, and know its results. I love its results.
Vaslav Nijinsky, Diary

 

Read about The Rite of Dreams on taniecPOLSKA.pl in:

Adela Prochyra?s overview of the International Contemporary Dance Festival Body/Mind in Warsaw titled ?And you, do you like to watch??:

 

On an empty stage, Wygoda, in a black suit, fell into narcotic states and revelled in dance. Apart from the beauty of citations from original shows and the performance quality, the show had something valuable ? a point of mass in the form of a distinctive protagonist. The creators, fascinated with Nijinsky?s Diaries, reconstructed his character as the embodiment of dance itself featuring a hint of madness. Starting with small gestures, Wygoda imparted his insanity and the impulses that stemmed from the subconscious with a growing boldness.

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The Rite of Dreams premiered as part of the series Co z tym tańcem? [So What About Dance?] supported by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland.

The creators would like to thank the management of the Polish National Opera and the Polish National Ballet in Warsaw for the possibility to use the institutions? studios for rehearsals.

Thanks to the Ashtanga Joga Studio for their help in the project?s development.

Special thanks to Margarita Simonowa of the Polish National Ballet for her expert input on the Sacrificial Dance.

Sławomir Krawczyński is a theatre director and playwright. He conceived and implemented the research project Taniec Śniącego Ciała [Dance of A Dreaming Body] dedicated to applying the methods of Arnold Mindell?s process oriented psychology and C.G. Jung?s analytical psychology in dance and theatre. The project is developed in collaboration with the Academy of Process Oriented Psychology in Warsaw. He has received a range of theatre festival awards in Poland, as well as film festival awards in Poland and abroad, for example for his play Lustro. Byliśmy tam któregoś dnia, lecz zdążyliśmy zapomnieć [The Mirror. We?d Been There One Day, But We  Just Had Enough Time to Forget] at the 8th Polish National Competition for the Best Staging of A Polish Contemporary Play. He has been trice awarded a scholarship from the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, as well as a scholarship from the Polish Cinematography Committee.  He has cofounded the Bretoncaffe Theatre and serves as its artistic director. Apart from Lustro? he has created and directed such plays as Ś-nic, T-RAUM, Slam.in, Slam.out, Opera toffi [Toffi Opera], Manifest jaszczurki [The Lizard?s Manifesto], Tańcząc Sarę Kane [Dancing Sarah Kane], dion.is.us, Ja, Agaue [I, Agaue],or Topinambur. Together with the Bretoncaffe Theatre Krawczyński has represented Poland in France, Germany, Estonia, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Russia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary.

 

Tomasz Wygoda is a dancer, actor, teacher, and choreographer. He debuted with the Silesian Dance Theatre in Bytom and danced with the company for the subsequent six years (1997?2003). Together with Warsaw?s Bretoncaffe Theatre he created Slam out and Tańcząc Sarę Kane [Dancing Sarah Kane]. He collaborates with Stary Teatr in Krakow, where he has appeared in Zarathustra and Factory 2 by Krystian Lupa; Niewinna [Unschuld] by Paweł Miśkiewicz; and Ph?dre by Michał Zadara. He has also played in plays directed by Krzysztof Warlikowski (Cleansed; Teatr Współczesny in Wrocław, Polski Theatre in Poznań, TR Warszawa) and Agnieszka Olsten (Lincz ? The Lynching, Samsara Disco; Polski Theatre in Wrocław). He has created choreography for plays by Michał Zadara, Mikołaj Grabowski, and Jan Peszek. He has also designed stage movement for an adaptation of Wagner?s The Ring of the Nibelung directed by Valery Gergiev, George Tsypin, and Alexandr Zeldin and staged at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg. He has collaborated with Mariusz Treliński on Puccini?s La Boh?me (Washington National Opera), Musorgsky?s Boris Godunov (Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre, Teatr Wielki ? Polish National Opera), Szymanowski?s King Roger, Rachmaninoff?s AlekoandTchaikovsky?s Jolanta (Mariinsky Theatre), Gluck?s Orpheus and Eurydice (Bratislava Opera, Teatr Wielki ? Polish National Opera), Puccini?s Turandot (Teatr Wielki ? Polish National Opera), Jolanta and Bluebeard’s Castle (Teatr Wielki ? Polish National Opera). He has also choreographed Rihm?s Jakob Lenz, Moniszko?s Halka, Wagner?s The Flying Dutchman, andDusapin?s Medeamaterial.

Anna Godowska is a dancer, choreographer, and contemporary dance teacher. She has been a resident of the Centre national de la danse in Paris (2005), Maison Folie (Belgium), and the Choreographisches Zentrum NRW in Essen. She has received a Mobile Academy scholarship (2006), and participated in the Theorem Residency Project (2005) and Interdisciplinary Dramaturgy Coaching in Zagreb. She cofounded the Bretoncaffe Theatre, and worked as its choreographer and dancer. Since 2005 she has been collaborating with Sławomir Krawczyński on the art and research project Taniec Śniącego Ciała [Dance of A Dreaming Body]. She is the author of choreography for Partytura I [Score 1] and Magnificat by The Chorus of Women, and Requiemaszyna [Requiemachine]directed by Marta Górnicka, all of which debuted at the Theatre Institute in Warsaw. She has also collaborated with artists representing different artistic disciplines, in particular with Katarzyna Kozyra on Lord of the Dance (premiere: Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, 2002; choreographic collaborator); Cheerleader (premiere: Zachęta National Gallery of Art in Warsaw, 2006; choreography and movement design); Il Castrato (premiere: International Festival Gender Bender in Bologna, 2006; choreography for the performance and video project).

 

 

Concept, script, direction, lighting: Sławomir Krawczyński

Dance: Tomasz Wygoda

Choreography: Anna Godowska, Tomasz Wygoda, process work: Sławomir Krawczyński
Music: The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky performed by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Leonard Bernstein conductor, 1958

Costume concept: Sławomir Krawczyński, Tomasz Wygoda
Dance and performance art consultant: Jadwiga Majewska
Consultant on process oriented psychology: Agnieszka Wróblewska
Technical production: Łukasz Kędzierski

Graphic design: Marta Bystroń
Production: Art Stations Foundation by Grażyna Kulczyk

 

Premiere: 1 September 2013, Stary Browar ? Old Brewery, Studio Słodownia +3, Poznań

 

The show also features fragments of Nijinsky?s choreographies for the ballets The Afternoon of a Faun and The Rite of Spring.

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