East European Performing Arts Platform (EEPAP) supports the
development of contemporary performing arts (dance and theatre)
in 18 countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

Maciej Kuźmiński

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Maciej Kuźmiński
Short biography: 

Author of award-winning dance etudes and improvised choreographies. He has performed on Polish and international stages at, among others, the Grand Theatre in Warsaw, Konzerthaus Vien in Vienna, or Sadler’s Wells in London, in works by such prominent choreographers as Nigel Charnock or Ohad Naharin.

 

The most important projects: 

Born in 1985, Kuźmiński graduated from the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance in London. He teaches at the Dance Theatre Department in Bytom (branch of the Ludwik Solski Academy for the Dramatic Arts in Kraków) and Institute for Contemporary Dance in Belgrade. He debuted in 2007 in Romeo and Juliet, a performance by a renowned Austrian choreographer Liz King. He has also collaborated with the Polish Dance Theatre, the British physical theatre group Clod Ensemble, and others.

Kuźmiński is also an author of several personal art projects and choreographies. The first one, NOT SO from 2009, was produced by the Mumuki group from Berlin, however he did not gain recognition on the dance scene until 2014, when he created the successful Room 40 at the Polish Dance Platform.

'Room 40 perfectly bridges concept and beauty' – the prestigious magazine Dance Tabs described the performance, while Hanna Raszewska wrote: 'Apart from being a philosophical statement, or a sophisticated stage work, the work also questions the limits of what is permitted in the name of artistic achievement.' The choreography, in which Kuźmiński objects to theatre conventions and offers a critical approach to tradition, was showcased during an international tour in London, Belgrade, Budapest, Hannover, Kraków, Warsaw, and Lublin.

The artist has also created the autobiographical diptych Difference and Repetition and the critically acclaimed choreography Repeat After Me, which received a double Jury Prize at the 3...2...1...Dance! '14 competition for 'precision of the choreography; coherent dramaturgy and awareness of each movement; for silence and stillness; humour, and auto-irony.' In the show, to which he refers as an anticapitalist manifesto, Kuźmiński used the Guy Fawkes mask, the symbol of the online activist group Anonymous, as well as many other protest movements worldwide.

Political and social themes also appear in Dominique, which received a distinction at the 30th International Competition for Choreographers in Hannover, and which focuses on feminism and contemporary images of women and men. Over the duration of eleven minutes, contemporary movement is accompanied by quotes from Oprah Winfrey, Emma Watson, Patricia Arquette, Hillary Clinton, and Michelle Obama. The director also makes references to significant female figures of the world dance scene – Anna Teresa de Keersmaeker, Yvonne Rainer, Martha Graham, Isadora Duncan, and Pina Bausch. The performance received excellent reviews.

According to the dance critic Alicja Müller, 'Dominique is an example of perfectly constructed critical choreography, which strength lies not in the poetic of shock, or transgression, but in a clever wit brilliantly danced by [Dominik] Więcek.' This dance etude had been also recognised at the Polish contemporary dance choreography competition Solo Dance Contest in Gdańsk, among others. Reviewers describe Kuźmiński's performances as formally daring and demanding for the dancers, as well as based on open symbolism. Their recognisable is rooted in a dynamic movement, based on auteur dance techniques.

Maciej Kuźmiński also works as a dance pedagogue, specialising in his own technique called Dynamic Phrasing and in improvisational arts. He is the founder and the concept coordinator of the Think Move Dance! project.

From culture.pl, source: maciejkuzminski.com, ed. AL, transl. AM, June 2016

Achievements, key awards: 

ROOM 40
Audience Award at Polish Dance Platform 2014

REPETITION
Tanzmesse NRW 2016 official programme selection

DOMINIQUE
2nd Prize & Scapino Production Award at 30. Hannover International Competition for Choreographers ( 2016 )
Audience First Choice & Audience Final Choice at 20. International Solo-Tanz-Theater Festival ( 2016 )
2nd Prize and Audience Award at International Solo Dance Contest in Gdansk ( 2015 )
 

 

 

 

International cooperations: 

Works presented at festivals / platforms: Vivadanca ( Salvador, Brasil ), Performance Tage ( Salzburg, Austria ), Manifest ( Belgrade, Serbia ), Plastforma ( Minsk, Belarus ), Gdansk Dance Festival ( Gdansk, Poland ), Aerowaves ( Ljubliana, Slovenia ), Free to Fall ( London, England ), All there Is ( The Hague, Netherlands ), Studio Theater Scene ( Warsaw, Poland ), Kaleidoscope ( Bialystok, Poland ) and others.

Teacher at Dance Theatre Departament in Bytom of the National Theatre Academy in Cracow, Poland, and Institute of Artistic Dance in Belgrade, Serbia.

Videos: 

Room 40 trailer

Repetition / Powtórzenie trailer

Difference / Różnica trailer

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