directed by: Leszek Bzdyl
choreographed and performed by: Katarzyna Chmielewska, Rafal Dziemidok, Leszek Bzdyl
music: Mikołaj Trzaska
set design: Maciej Chojnacki
lighting design: Michał Kołodziej
produced by: Dada von Bzdülöw Theatre, Klub Żak Gdańsk, Association FREE.C. co-produced by: Gdynia City Theatre, “Zamek” Culture Centre in Poznań, Helsinki City Council - Culture Office supported by: Culture 2000 Programme of the EU, Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, Office of the Marshal of the Pomorskie Voivodeship, Gdańsk City Council.
The performance was created in the framework of - Trans Danse Europe (project’s head - Les Hivernales, Avignon, France)
After ten years Dada von Bzdülöw Theatre gives back to Gombrowicz what Gombrowicz’s is.
Looking back at our artistic creations as yet, we may wonder how many of them were corresponding with the art and philosophy he tried to convey: a human creates a human, maturity must integrate with immaturity, the narrow fights the wide.
We have been constantly touching upon the same topics:
- to see oneself means to reflect oneself in the eyes of others
- to create one's own image means to stigmatize the others
Reading Gombrowicz again and again, a specific emotional dance emerges, the one of a human stripped of poetry. Still Gombrowicz loves paradoxes, so in his universe the real changes into the poetic, and the poetry suddenly transforms into an abstraction. It should be noticed though that Several Witty Observations (à la Gombrowicz) is a performance in a sense suspicious, half-hearted, somehow hysterical. lt's being created with disregard for the writer's greatness as the greatness overwhelms. Yet, it expresses love for his methodical madness of getting out of nihilism.
reviews: Purposeful, energetic, sometimes sexy and funny. John Rockwell, New York Times
The highly expressive and individualistic bodies and faces of this trio spoke legions about how dance today remains regimented in its quest for newness. Why not just let go and express oneself in the “costume” of everyday street clothes, they seemed to be asking as they became ever more interactive with the audience. Coming from an expression turned inside out they made a point of dancing to their own rhythms even as they revealed a transparent struggle for integration. Lisa Paul Streitfeld, NYArts Magazine, May-June 2007
Even at the piece’s most difficult moments, the performers are adorable: When Bzdyl strikes a rippling Christ-on-the-cross pose, he still looks around, hoping for a pat on the head. Simply hold Gombrowicz’s famous stories (a rude stalker lusts for correction, a piqued police examiner manufactures a murder) lightly in the mind while watching Leszek Bzdyl’s choreographic sketches. And even if you haven’t read Gombrowicz, the dancers’ effervescence crystallizes his dogma: Let yourself be unenslaved. Helen Shaw, TIME OUT, November 23-29,2006
Once in the theatre, with its white floor and cyclorama and clear-plastic set pieces lit in lurid colour, Katarzyna Chmielewska dances a heroic toga-clad solo, which is comically reprised by Bzdyl. Her dancing is the best I've seen in this or perhaps any Live Arts Festival - like liquid gold, infinitely articulated, and eminently watchable. Lisa Kraus, The Philadelphia Inquirerer, 14.09.2007
presentation dates:
2004
10 June - Klub Żak, Gdańsk / 11-12 June - Teatr Miejski, Gdynia / 26 Aug - Dance Corporation Festival, Klub Żak, Gdańsk / 15 Oct - Kochanowski’s Theatre, Radom / 22 Oct - Teatr Narodowy, Warsaw / 14 Nov - International Dance Festival, Lublin, / 4 Dec - Klub Żak, Gdańsk
2005
19 Feb - Penitents Blancs, Les Hivernales Festival, Avignon (France) / 12 March - Dance Festival, Kalisz / 14 March - “Klamra” Theatre Festival, Toruń / 1 July - Malta Festival, Poznań / 7-9 July - Festival de la Cite, Lausanne (Switzerland) / 15-17 July – Teatr Collegium Nobilium, Warsaw / 21 Aug - Studio L’Envers, Les Brigittines, Brussels (Belgium) / 2 Sep - Visual Art Festival – Tczew / 11 Sep - WerftPark Theater, Kiel (Germany) / 28 Oct - T-Werk, Unidram Festival, Potsdam (Germany) / 5-6 Nov - BMW Werk, euro-scene Festival, Leipzig (Germany) / 24 Nov - Ballet Meetings, Kraków / 3 Dec - Klub Żak, Gdańsk
2006
21 Jan - Plesni Teater, Ljubljana (Slovenia) / 26-27 April - Malmitalo, Helsinki (Finland) / 16 May - Festival Traverses, Nancy (France) / 28 June - Klub Żak, Gdańsk / 16-19 Nov - La MaMa Theatre, New York (USA) / 24-26 Nov - La MaMa Theatre, New York (USA) / 15 Dec - Klub Żak, Gdańsk
2007
10 Jan - Sammukh, New Delhi (Republic of India) / 14 Jan - Sishir Mancha, Calcutta (Republic of India) / 20 May - Szaniawski’s Drama Theatre, Wałbrzych / 2 June - Rialto Theatre, Limassol (Cyprus) / 21 June – Teatr Montownia, Warsaw / 12-15 Sep - Christ Church Neighborhood House, Philadelphia (USA) / 9 Dec - Klub Żak, Gdańsk (50th performance !!!)
2008
14 June - Doły Biskupie, Ostrów Świętokrzyski
2009
2-3 April - Centralny Basen Artystyczny, Warsaw / 24-25 April - Turteatern, Stockholm (Sweden) / 7 July - Viljandi Vana Spordihoone, Viljandi (Estonia)
2010
7-8 March - Teatr Wybrzeże - Malarnia, Gdańsk / 24 March – Ramallah (Palestine) / 25 March - The Gerard Bachar Center, Jerusalem (Israel)
