Teatr Soma, 1023 KJ, chor. Marta Zawadzka. Fot.Michał Kołosowski.
SOMA Theatre was founded in 2005 as the Contemporary Dance Group of the Toruń Regional Centre for Culture. Marta Zawadzka is a group’s instructor and choreographer. At the beginning, the classes were held in the form of workshops and were open to everybody. After some time, a regular group for adults (working and students), sharing the willingness to work with the body and to express themselves through contemporary dance, was created.
In June 2006 at Dance Stories – the Festival of Regional Amateur Artistic Work (KATAR), the group presented their first choreography entitled Ciasnota (Cramped Conditions). This was also a call for a workspace (the group used to meet in a cramped room). Ciasnota was also presented at a dance evening in Brodnica in October 2006.
The premiere of the next performance, For Identity, took place in May 2007 in Baj Pomorski Theatre, at a dance evening organized by the group and the Regional Centre for Culture, as part of the celebrations of the International Day of Dance. The performance was also presented at Dance Stories Festival in 2007.
The group took part in numerous performances: as a “living advertisement” of PROGRESSteron Festival for Women in Bydgoszcz in March 2008; at the seminar celebrating the International Day of Dance (lectures on dance were delivered by Anna Królica and Julia Hoczyk), at the Toruń Market Square in May 2008.
In August 2009 a dancer of the group took part in Rochus Aust’s performance Futuristic Restaurant at the End of the Universe – Ristorante Santo Food Turismo at Skyway 09 International Festival of Light.
The next group performance, Zapętlenie (choreography by Edyta Płaskonka, one of the group’s dancers) was presented at Dance Stories.
The group’s dancers also produce their individual projects (e.g. Od metryczki do metryczki, choreography by Małgorzata Bąk).Currently SOMA Theatre operates independently. Also the group’s composition has changed. The group is currently experimenting, developing its identity and working on technique. Their performance 1023 kJ is the first one under the group’s new name (SOMA Theatre replaced the former Contemporary Dance Group). The premiere took place on 26 February 2011 at the 8th Kalejdoskop Festival in Białystok. It was also performed at KLAMRA Alternative Theatres Festival in Toruń (2011).
