Dance performance “Carnation in empty shell” | Poland
Creators: Aleksandra Bożek-Muszyńska, Piotr Skalski
Direction: Aleksandra Bożek-Muszyńska
Choreography: Aleksandra Bożek-Muszyńska, Piotr Skalski
Music: Marcin Janus
Lighting: Ewa Garniec
Cast: Aleksandra Bożek-Muszyńska i Piotr Skalski
Production: Krakowski Teatr Tańca
Premiere: November 13, 2021
Performance created as part of the Kraków Dance Theatre's residency project "Rollercoaster. Young Creators of Impressions", carried out with the financial support of the Małopolska Voivodeship.
Date: August 26, 2025 | Tuesday
Time: 7 pm
Place: Stage, Art Factory in Łódź, 3 Tymienieckiego Street
Tickets: 40 PLN - early bird / 50 PLN - reduced / 70 PLN - regular
Ticket sales: kicket.com portal / online payment
Early bird tickets: on sale until July 13, 2025
Regular and reduced tickets: on sale from July 14, 2025
Duration: 50 minutes
Age Restrictions: 16+
Language: Polish
After the performance, around 8:30 pm, we invite the viewers to a meeting and discussion with the artists.
The discussion will take place in the Foyer of the Art Factory in Łódź.
The discussion will be led by Tomasz Domagała.
The discussion will be held in Polish.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PERFORMANCE
They are searching for the end of the beginning and the beginning of the end. Starting from an impression on the sculpture “The Kiss” by Romanian artist Constantin Brâncuşi, the artists look at the theme of long-term love relationships. What happens after the end of the first, idyllic, physically intense, bonding, but also transcending, stage of romantic love? Once it dies down, does it evolve into a more mature, intimate, deeply emotional relationship in which two people can be close and far apart at the same time? How does my organism, which is close to you, look at your organism from the distance of individual needs? How does my separate liver, after so many meals together, react to you? An instrument the size of a clenched fist, how can you be taken seriously? The heart wants heat, art. Don't tighten up on me. In the performance, the creators look at the love that follows the one elevated to a pedestal. They search for the beginning of its end, and the end of its beginning.
“Carnation in empty shell” was awarded as the Best Dance Performance in the 2021/22 season, by Alicja Müller in “Theatre” magazine for “its 'poetic tale of mature love subjects, in which “I love you” is said not only by the heart, but also by the lungs and livers; and the movement, so tender and attentive, yet playful and turbulent, passionate and loose, does not embody the pathos of grand gestures, but the desire to know - both oneself and the Other, including the one who, although close, can also be a nuisance, as unbearable as a broken radio."
INFORMATION ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Aleksandra Bożek-Muszyńska - dancer, performer, choreographer, business coach and philologist. In her practice, she combines movement, sound and words. Meaning is as important to her as sound. She works intuitively, both in improvisation and in the choreographies she creates. She works solo, in collectives and she creates choreographies for other dance and theatre companies. The social aspect is the driving force behind her work. Her work has been presented in Berlin, Budapest, Philadelphia, New York, Melbourne, Warsaw and Vienna, among others cities. She has received scholarships from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the Alternative Dance Academy 2015-2017, the Art Stations Foundation and was a beneficiary of the Global Practice Sharing at Movement Research in New York. Graduate of the Experimental Choreography course of the 2nd Centre in Movement. In 2022 she completed the BODY-MIND CENTERING® course at the Somatische Akademie in Berlin. From 2007 to 2020 she was involved with Anna Piotrowska's Mufmi Theatre in Warsaw, where she was an artistic coordinator, instructor and choreographer. In 2017, together with Hanna Bylka-Kanecka, she founded the Holobiont collective for interdisciplinary multigenerational projects. Since 2022, she has been working with Justyna Sobczyk and Theatre 21, where she has created choreographies for productions: “Family” (co-production with TR) and “You can fail! Failure show” (co-production with the Comedy Theatre). In 2023, together with Ilona Trybuła, she initiated the improvised dance scene [Sic!] Saute at the Łowicka Centre in Warsaw, which they curate together. Her work explores the boundaries between simplicity and naivety, presentation and facilitation, and finding patterns and breaking them. The visual aspect and a peculiar sense of humour are characteristic of her work.
Piotr Skalski - dancer, pedagogue, choreographer, who specialises in improvisation and contemporary dance. A graduate of the Academy of Music in Łódź (Music Therapy) and the Instructor's Qualification Course in Contemporary Dance. Since 2008 he has worked for Iwona Olszowska's Experimental Dance Studio as a dancer, choreographer, improvisation artist and instructor. Participant of many contemporary dance, contact improvisation and improvisation workshops. Collaborates with Kraków theatres as a dancer, creator of choreography and stage movement. Improviser in the Polish version of the performance “Soul Project” directed and choreographed by D. Zambrano. Dancer in the performance “Lighting” choreographed by A. Konjetzky, “Trans_Miss(i)on” choreographed by I. Olszowska and F. Fehera, “Kantor.Storm” directed by S. Krawczyński and choreographed by A. Godowska and “Rooms by the sea. Exercises in listening”.
Financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland, as part of the “Dance” programme, realized by the National Institute of Music and Dance.
