This stage work is the artistic answer to the early works of Pola Nireńska, the Polish dancer and choreographer of Jewish origin who began her career in Mary Wigman’s group in the1930’s. During the Dance Congress in 1934 in Vienna, she was awarded for her choreography entitled Cry. Despite the success, the solo Pola Nireńska’s solo career was a continuous, lonely and fearful escape from the experience of Nazi persecution.
CRY OVER
Licht über den Häusern hin
Ein Traumring schnell vorbei
Ein wenig Zauberei
Ein kleines Spiel
Ein Sommerabend
Luft vibrierte
Wenn ich nicht will, ich will nicht
Wenn ich nicht will, ich will nicht
Hört ihr?
The main inspiration for this choreography comes from images of the artist a description of Cry. The result is a stage performance composed of fragmented information, traces and associations connected to the works of the dancer. The choreographic traces led us back to the methods developed by Mary Wigman and German Ausdruckstanz. Each dance étudewas developed by improvising on a single element. Over the course of our daily rehearsals, new elements were added to create full choreographical sentences, paragraphs and chapters. Ausdruckstanz was the tool Pola used to face the traumas of war, offering her the recuperation of catharsis. For us, she become the inspiration to create this work.
This choreographic Practice as Research project was supported by the Polish Institute of Music and Dance.
Choreography and Dance: Iwona Wojnicka, Gosia Gajdemska
Music Compositons and Dance: India Czajkowska
Director of Light and Space: Roman Woźniak
Sound realization: Rafał Smoliński
Graphic design: Beata Pofelska
Stylization: Roman Woźniak, Zuzanna Sapeta
Manager: Joanna Stasina
Production: Art Collective Format Zero
Premiere 15th of June 2016, Teatr Academia, Warsaw