Pracowni Fizyczna, Zdarzenia w ms2 (Muzeum Sztuki) w łodzi. Fot.Janusz Ratecki.
Pracownia Fizyczna is a group founded by Jacek Owczarek in February 2009 in Łódź. Based on dance improvisation and contemporary dance techniques, members of Pracownia use various forms of movement as well as means of choreographic and theatrical expression, looking to explore their bodies potential to the fullest. The group focuses on the creative process. Pracownia is based at the Grażyna and Kiejstut Bacewicz Academy of Music in Łódź.
Pracowna Fizyczna productions: Powyżej nieba (Above the Sky; reconstruction of Witold Jurewicz’s 1998 choreography by Jacek Owczarek and Krzysztof Skolimowski; 2009), Len (Linen; directed and choreographed by Skolimowski; 2009), and choreographies by Jacek Owczarek: Meandrująca rzeka (Meandring River; 2009), a3 (2010), Zdarzenia (Happenings; 2011) in collaboration with Paweł Szamburski and Patryk Zakrocki, i.e. the SzaZa duo, Re:akcje (Re:actions; 2012), Fajdros (2013) and Soul Project / PL (2013) directed by David Zambrano and developed under the Choreographic Commission’s programme of the Institute of Music and Dance in Warsaw.
Owczarek has developed his own method of approaching on-stage improvisation. His PhD thesis written at the Academy of Music in Łódź was devoted to improvisation as a tool of artistic expression in performance.
In 2011 Pracownia was invited to develop Zdarzenia (Happenings) at the Museums Quartier in Vienna, with the participation of guest dancers from Austria and Hungary, and international musicians.
Pracownia has also produced the fable Wszystko sięrusza (Everything Moves), directed by Jacek Owczarek, which is currently shown at the Pinokio Puppet and Actor Theatre in Łódź, and an outdoor performance making 40 years of the Polish Institute in Vienna (2014).
Pracowna Fizyczna’s dancers have been participating as guest performers in artistic projects, theatrical plays, and dance production is Łódź, Lublin, Warsaw, Gdańsk, Połczyn Zdrój, and other places in Poland. They have been awarded grants under programmes run by the Institute of Music and Dance: Stage for Dance (2011, 2012, 2013, once in collaboration with the Pinokio Theatre) and Choreographic Commissions.
In 2013 Pracownia Fizyczna won a Creative Madness award in the plebiscite ‘Punkt dla Łodzi’ (Point for Łódź) for ‘practicing and promoting a collective approach in dance-making, and expanding the definition of improvisation in dance’.
Pracownia’s works have been shown at a range of festivals and venues in Poland and abroad:
SIC! International Dance Improvisation Festival in Warsaw; RETROPERSPEKTYWY International Theatre Festival in Łódź, International Dance Theatres Festival in Lublin; Summer Contemporary Dance Forum in Lublin, International Contemporary Dance Festival KRoki in Kraków, World Theatre Day, “Dotknij Teatru” (Touch Theatre) in Łódź, Kalejdoskop Festival and Contemporary Art Days in Białystok, Gdańsk Dance Festival, Performance Festival “Testing Reproduction” and the exhibition You come, we’ll show you what we do. On dance improvisation at Muzeum Sztuki in Łódź, Centrum Dialog, Szwalnia Theatre, Nowy Theatre in Łódź, Stara Prochownia in Warsaw (as part of the project Sza/Za ZapraSza) Lander Festival Polen in Stuttgart, Museums Quartier in Vienna, 2nd Polish and Ukrainian Festival of Partnership in Lviv, and more.
In 2014 Pracownia Fizyczna was selected to take part in the Polish Dance Platform showcae. Out of 95 entries, the nine-person Artistic Commission chose thirteen acts to be shown on 79 November 2014 in Lublin, including Re:akcje by Pracownia Fizyczna.
Currently working with Pracownia Fizyczna:
Martyna Jagodyńska, Aneta Jankowska, Joanna Jaworska, Aleksandra Łaba, Urszula Parol, Anna Skolimowska, Paweł Grala, Dawid Lorenc, Wojciech Łaba, Paweł Skalski, Krzysztof Skolimowski oraz gościnnie Iwona Olszowska, Anna Piotrowska, Aleksandra Ścibor, Adrian Bartczak i Hubert Żórawski.
