WoW
- Dance & performance
- As part of the Performing Arts Festival News From Polska. Resisting Bodies
60 min.
Info
In times of darkness and anxiety, we wonder what pleasure is – pleasure in life, pleasure in dancing or watching dance. The creators are inspired by the phenomenon of choreomania – a dancing plague that has appeared in various places in Europe for over ten centuries. The mania of dancing in the streets gathered hundreds of people in a common crazy dance until they were exhausted, lost consciousness, and sometimes even lost their lives. To this day, the causes of these ecstatic movements are associated either with the unconscious use of psychedelics, in the form of ergot poisoning, a fungus that feeds mainly on grasses and grains, or with a disease called chorea. One of the theories also states that the constant dancing was the result of a nervous breakdown, which was caused by a specific time full of plagues, wars and natural disasters.
Extract from review:
Dance in this context appears as a release mechanism, a natural, uncontrollable instinct (no one invented dance, and everyone knows how to dance). It’s a dance for everyone, as pathetic as it sounds. The musical repertoire suggests spontaneous dances with friends while listening to radio hits. Suddenly shame disappears and ecstasy appears.
– Didaskalia, Weronika Nagawiecka
Concept, direction, choreography: Marta Wołowiec
Creation, performance: Marta Wołowiec, Tomasz Pomersbach
Dramaturgy: Janusz Orlik
Music: Wojciech Kiwer
Light design: Klaudia Kasperska
Costumes: Dominik Więcek
Production: Przestrzenie Sztuki Taniec 2023, Wrocław Pantomime Theater
Biographies
Marta Wołowiec is a Polish dancer, performer and choreographer. She has performed on stages in Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Lebanon, Italy, Belgium, France and Lithuania. Author of several solos and collective performances created with Polish and foreign artists. In her own choreographic works, she explores the theme of the energy and progressive-trance movement. Natural flow, as well as engaging the audience through mutual stimulation of the mindfulness of the body and mind, is what is important to her. A minimalist, who searches for authenticity in each stage action.
www.martawolowiec.com
Tomasz Pomersbach – Dancer, performer and dance teacher. He took his first dance steps in different dance studios in Wrocław, his hometown and actual base. He studied dance at London Contemporary Dance School in 2009-2010. In the years 2010-2013 he worked as a fulltime dancer at Polish Dance Theatre in Poznań (PL). There he collaborated with such choreographers as Andrzej Adamczak, Ohad Naharin, Jo Strømgren, Ewa & Paulina Wycichowska. Since 2014 he has been a freelance dance artist. For many years he was a regular member of Pink Mama Theatre, a project-based theatre company in Bern (CH). He co-created and performed in most of the company’s oeuvre, including ‘Jungle’ (premiere in 2017) which was presented at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (UK) and Dance Days Chania festival (GR). Other than that, he performed in the works of Rosalind Crisp, Sjoerd Vreugdenhil and Loredana Parella. ‘WoW’ is his first collaboration with Marta Wołowiec. He is also an Ilan Lev Method practitioner, offering both 1-on-1 treatment sessions and teaching movement classes according to the ILM. Personally he lives in a happy relationship with his partner, Łukasz. He loves taking walks in the forest and hanging out hours-long with friends and family. He wishes for more justice and equality for all the living creatures in the world.
Premiere
September 20, 2023, Center For Performing Arts | Piekarnia
Organiser
Polish Institute in Bucharest
Co-financed by
Adam Mickiewicz Institute Warsaw
Partners
The National Center for Dance Bucharest, Teatrelli – CREART
Media partners
Bookhub, Ceașca de Cultură, Daily Magazine, Happ.ro, Haute Culture, Iscoada, LIFE.ro, Liternet, Modernism, Observator Cultural, Radio România Cultural, Revista Arta, Revista BIZ,Revista Golan, The Institute, Visit Bucharest, Zeppelin, Zile și Nopți.
Project team
Andreea Andrei – curator
Paweł Rutkowski – project manager Polish Institute in Bucharest
Alex Iliescu – graphic design
Anca Spiridon – PR and communication
Gabriel Copoeru – teaser video
The event is organized within the framework of the Polish Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2025 and the Poland-Romania Cultural Season 2024-2025, the result of the cooperation between the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in Warsaw, the Romanian Ministry of Culture and the Romanian
Special mentions
The show uses strobe lights, smoke and loud music.
-
photo: Rafał Skwarek -
photo: Rafał Skwarek -
photo: Rafał Skwarek -
photo: Rafał Skwarek -
photo: Rafał Skwarek -
photo: Natalia Kabanow -
photo: Natalia Kabanow -
photo: Natalia Kabanow -
photo: Natalia Kabanow -
photo: Natalia Kabanow
News
