Date: 27.08.2024 / Tuesday
Time: 5:30 pm, 7 pm, 9:30 pm
Place: Room C_101, Art Factory in Lodz, 3 Tymienieckiego Street
Admission: free / prior booking of free tickets is required
Booking of free tickets: from July 29, 2024 / via kicket.com portal
5:30 pm
Performance "Oratorio Dance Project" | 2011/12 | CHOREA Theatre | Poland
Direction: Tomasz Rodowicz, Robert M. Hayden | Music: Tomasz Krzyżanowski, Maciej Maciaszek
Film: 09.12.2011, Klub Wytwórnia in Lodz | Creator: Piotr Weychert
Duration: 70 minutes (no intermissions)
Viewers' age: 12+
7 pm
Performance "The Brain" | 2013 | CHOREA Theatre | Poland
Direction: Tomasz Rodowicz | Scenario: Marcin Cecko
Film: 07.11.2015, Teatr Realistyczny in Skierniewice | Creator: Paweł Klepacz
Duration: 95 minutes (no intermissions)
Viewers' age: 16+
9:30 pm
Performance "2.0.4.5. Metaphysical Miniopera" | 2018 | CHOREA Theatre | Poland
Direction: Tomasz Rodowicz | Scenario: Katarzyna Knychalska
Film: 24.08.2018, Art Factory in Lodz | Creator: Rami Shaya / Hollybaba
Duration: 70 minutes (no intermissions)
Viewers' age: 14+
Creators: CHOREA Theatre
Music: Tomasz Krzyżanowski, Maciej Maciaszek
Artistic direction: Tomasz Rodowicz
Choreography and direction: Robert M. Hayden
Choreographers assistant: Aleksandra Maria Ścibor Infinity
Symphony Orchestra and Choir of Lodz Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by: Grzegorz Wierus
Preparation of the Choir of Lodz Philharmonic Orchestra: Dawid Ber
Preparation of The Great Choir of Young CHOREA: Tomasz Krzyżanowski, Maciej Maciaszek, Jakub Pałys
Choreography of The Great Choir of Young CHOREA: Lara Ward (Earthfall)
Jazz Quartet: Hubert Zemler (percussion), Mariusz Obijalski (piano), Wojtek Traczyk (double bass), Marcin Gańko (saxophone)
Sound: Krzysztof Sztekmiler
Light: Tomasz Krukowski
Costumes: Izabela Ofelia Śliwa
Visuals: Paweł Korbus
Dance instructors: Julia Jakubowska, Aneta Jankowska, Joanna Jaworska, Makja Justyna, Małgorzata Lipczyńska, Urszula Parol, Magda Paszkiewicz, Justyna Sobieraj, Aleksandra Ścibor, Katarzyna Wolińska, Janusz Adam Biedrzycki, Paweł Grala, Wojciech Łaba, Jacek Owczarek, Krzysztof Skolimowski
Vocal instructors: Joanna Chmielecka, Dominika Jarosz, Dorota Porowska, Elina Toneva, Tomasz Krzyżanowski, Maciej Maciaszek, Jakub Pałys
Premiere: 8-9.12.2011, 22.06.2012, Klub Wytwórnia, Lodz
"Oratorio Dance Project" is an international artistic and educational project, addressed to young people (aged 13-35) as well as children (aged 6-12), and mature adults (over 50 years of age), from Łódź and the Łódź region. Project participants included people from disadvantaged environments and those threatened with social exclusion.
The main aim of the project is integration of different social and age groups from multicultural Łódź and artistic activation of children and young people from disadvantaged environments. These are usually young people from poverished or pathological families, orphanages, community centres and educational care facilities who have very limited access to art education. Participation in the project may be the first opportunity in their life to do something creative in art and work with professional artists.
In autumn 2011, a common artwork – an unusual dance and music performance – was accomplished by a group of 200 participants, led by an American choreographer Robert Hayden, CHOREA Theatre artists, the British group Earthfall Dance and dancers from Pracownia Fizyczna, featuring the Orchestra and Choir of the Łódź Philharmonic Orchestra.
The original music was composed specially for this project by Tomasz Krzyżanowski and Maciej Maciaszek (CHOREA musicians) for a symphony orchestra and a choir of over 100 people. It was inspired by songs of Ancient Greece reconstructed from rescued music heritage which is 2.5 thousand years old. It is performed by choir of 50 young people from the Łódź region and the Łódź Philharmonic Orchestra Choir. Stage movement of the Oratorium choir was created by choreographers from the British group Erthfall Dance.
The dance part of the show was choreographed by Robert Hayden and performed by a group of 50 people who have never danced before. Robert Hayden was also assisted by choreographers and dancers of Pracownia Fizyczna run by Jacek Owczarek and actors and dancers from the CHOREA Theatre and independent Łódź artists.
The whole performance team of the "Oratorio Dance Project" is:
- The Łódź Philharmonic Orchestra (50 people)
- The Philharmonic Orchestra Choir (50 people)
- Jazz band (5 people)
- Youth Choir – the Great Choir of Young CHOREA (50 people)
- Young Łódź dancers (50 people)
The final of the project comprises full-size professional performances with a group of 100 performers (choir and dancers) and the Łódź Philharmonic Orchestra (50 people) and the Choir (50 people) on 8 and 9 December 2011 and 22 June 2012.
Thanks to co-operation with choreographer and teacher Robert Hayden, CHOREA composers and musicians, the Earthfall group and members of CHOREA Theatre and Pracwonia Fizyczna, young participants of the project had the opportunity not only to stand up to a great challenge, work on a professional dancing and music performance, but also, above all, were able to discover their own creative potential as well as strength and joy coming from teamwork. Taking part in 'Oratorio Dance Project' is the beginning of artistic quest for these young people, in the area of singing, theatre and dance.
Creators: CHOREA Theatre
Direction: Tomasz Rodowicz
Script and dramaturgy: Marcin Cecko
Music: Tomasz Krzyżanowski, Marcin Cecko, Kuba Krzewiński, Tomasz Rodowicz
Visuals: Maria Porzyc, Rami Shaya
Stage design: Korbus
Light and sound: Tomasz Krukowski
Costumes: Katarzyna Jasińska, Dominika Krzyżanowska Gorzkiewicz
Cast: Joanna Chmielecka, Małgorzata Lipczyńska, Adrian Bartczak / Michał Jóźwik, Janusz Adam Biedrzycki, Robert Wasiewicz
Special thanks to Aloha From Deer for making costumes for the performance
Special thanks to Laurie Anderson for permission to use the song "Big Science" in the performance
Premiere: 22-24.11.2013, Szwalnia Theatre, Lodz
Strobe light is used in the performance
Nowadays the latest technologies and scientific discoveries have created a very uncomfortable and embarrassing situation in the area of the arts and so-called 'humanities', because they enter without permission into the field of questions and problematics reserved exclusively for the "spiritual" and philosophical sphere of human activity. The matters which, until now, were considered as the exclusive domain of philosophers, artists, theologians, ethicists and prophets, are now being penetrated into by physicists, computer scientists, neurosurgeons, neurophysiologists and neurobiologists.
With the help of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), magnetic resonance tomography (MRT), and the latest generations of CT scanners, researchers and scientists are able to stimulate and define, in a very precise way, the areas of the brain which are responsible for the creativity of the human mind and soul. They can register, manipulate and play with human consciousness and memory. Recently, they even created an artificial brain, giving it a graceful name: "The Organoid".
On the other hand, we are losing all points of reference, in this fluid postmodern void in which we live. Surrounded by a vague, misty state in which all values are relative, with our hands full of the latest gadgets and wonders of technology, we are starting to feel a strong need of building an objective order and finding some constant, solid qualities.
In such a reality, the brain becomes a new oracle, a real hope, and the greatest fetish of the twenty-first century. We're not talking about mind, soul, consciousness or the “Self” - here the definitions are fluid, ambiguous and can be questioned easily. Objectively, the brain is just a one-and-a-half-kilo jelly-like object, which used to be the biggest mystery of mankind (not only from the perspective of evolution, but also that of functionality, creativity, unpredictability and insanity). Finally, we are able to explore this mystery. We can manipulate it, and convert it into a cult object. The brain is a creator of everything in the universe which is not a pure product of nature. (Besides, the brain as a product of nature, is already manipulating nature!) We believe that by deciphering the brain's access codes we can discover absolute truth - unquestionable, measurable, easy to verify, and easy to experiment on.
In our performance, we are asking about the position of the human factor in this situation. Are we able to reduce all the emotions, inter-human relations, and various states of mind and soul into neuronal schemes of electrochemical impulses?
A group of researchers is now finalizing the last stage of a complex project, in which they are exposing their bodies and minds to extreme experimentation. In this final stage of exploration, they are trying to define their own personal perspectives and points of reference, showing the opposition (and helplessness) of the human aspect set against the arrogant ruthlessness of science and bio-techno-ideologies.
Tomasz Rodowicz
"2.0.4.5. Metaphysical Miniopera"
Creators: CHOREA Theatre
Concept and direction: Tomasz Rodowicz
Scenario and dramaturgy: Katarzyna Knychalska, Tomasz Rodowicz
Music: Tomasz Krzyżanowski
Scenography: Tomasz Rodowicz
Choreography: Joanna Jaworska-Maciaszek
Costumes: Daria Szymańska
Visuals: Rami Shaya
Light: Tomasz Krukowski / Tomasz Kubiak
Sound: Marcin Dobijański
Photos: HaWa
Cast: Joanna Chmielecka, Bartosz Figurski, Joanna Jaworska-Maciaszek, Majka Justyna, Michał Jóźwik, Aleksandra Kugacz-Semerci, Tomasz Rodowicz, Mertcan Semerci / Tomasz Hołubowicz, Daria Szymańska
String quartet Befane: Kamila Wójcicka-Maciaszczyk (first violin), Małgorzata Kwaśniak / Barbara Solnica (second violin), Małgorzata Sielatycka-Sobczyk (viola), Zofia Łęczycka (chello)
Premiere: 24.08.2018, International Theatre Festival Retroperspektywy 2018: Theatre between Words, Art_Inkubator in Fabryka Sztuki in Lodz
"2.0.4.5. Metaphysical Miniopera" stands a question about human subjectivity in post-human times. In 30 years, artificial intelligence will become independent of man, and man, thanks to the latest technologies, will be able to eliminate illnesses and gain immortality. This is not science fiction, it is already happening. Who will be a man in the era of machines? How to define our identity? Should we look for meanings and messages in the greatest texts of humanity? Should we follow what man has created? Follow what already begins to elude human hands, and at the same time gives humanity hope for immortality? Or maybe we need to seek the most important knowledge in what is stored in our body? We must ask such questions today, before it is too late...
Tomasz Rodowicz
