Dance performance “Glory Game” | Poland
Creators: Komuna Warszawa Theatre, Sticky Fingers Club Collective
Idea and choreography: Dominik Więcek
Music: Przemek Degórski
Stage design: Mateusz Mioduszewski
Costumes: Weronika Wood
Lighting director: Piotr Pieczyński
Dramaturgical supervision: Konrad Kurowski
Producer: Teatr Komuna Warszawa
Cast: The Sticky Fingers Club Collective - Daniela Komędera, Dominika Wiak, Dominik Więcek, Monika Witkowska - as well as Natalia Dinges, Piotr Stanek, Michał Przybyła
Premiere: December 15, 2023
Date: August 24, 2025 | Sunday
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: 60 minutes
Age restrictions: 16+
Language: non-verbal
Content Warning: nudity appears in the performance
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
The first modern Olympic Games coincided with the invention of the cinematograph, which completely transformed the way sports are participated in and received. The order of media gains dominion over the order of sports competitions. The rules and regulations of the Olympic fields are being changed by the camera and the tele-participation of the spectator. Treatments related to the presentation of movement - slowed down and accelerated pace, replays, close-ups, or abrupt changes of viewpoints - impact the viewer like an immersive serial with its elements of melodrama.
At the centre of it all is the body, from which the rules of the game constantly demand more and more. Modern sports impose extreme loads on athletes that exceed the biological capacity of the body. Citus - altius - fortius (faster - higher - stronger).
“You say you want to win in Olympia. However, think through what this entails. You must be obedient, follow your diet, deny yourself cookies, exercise at set times, whether it’s hot or cold. You are not allowed to drink cold water or wine when you want. You should put yourself in the hands of a trainer as if you were entrusting yourself to a doctor. And later, during the competition, it's your opponent who will try to blind you, and it’s you who will dislocate your arm, and it’s you who will twist your ankle, and it’s you who will swallow sand and be flogged. And after all this, it may happen that you lose.” (Epictetus. Discourses III.15.2-4)
The performance “Glory Game” - enthusiastically received in Poland and abroad - is the result of the research project “Sport - through the prism of dance”, for which Dominik Więcek received a 2022 art grant from the City of Warsaw. Starting from the history of the Olympic Games, the artist researched how the approach to the body in sports has changed.
REVIEWS
“Six nude bodies standing on a dance floor strewn with golden sand, begin to slowly transform into ancient athletes. In slow motion, from right to left, they run in front of each other, exposing their physiques. At first, the sight of naked bodies astonishes, but over time the situation becomes investigative. Slow motion works like a magnifying glass or microscope - the performers allow the audience to watch themselves and their movement closely. The harsh light reflects in the smooth skin and the shock effect flows into a study of an athletic, taut body. This is how “Glory Game” begins at Komuna Warsaw.
(Alicja Stachulska, “Oceń mnie”, „Didaskalia. Gazeta Teatralna” 2024 nr 179)
“Glory Game” is a story about visibility. About the narrative of the cameras and the special effects that shape it. About all that we’ve got used to as the nature of sports broadcasting., After all, “Glory Game” is about sports. That is, about body discipline and effort, but also about brutal competition - not so much for records and medals, but for attention. The struggle in the stage arena is essentially yet another story about success. Its desire and its cost - in this sense, the new show is an extension of the previous two, especially the debut, in which the artists looked at failure, underachievement and unfulfillment, as well as the venomous pressure that lies in artistic competition. But “Glory Game” can also be read as a question: is success even possible, and if so, what does it really mean?”
(Dominik Gac, “Przebój”, “Teatr” 2024 nr 2)
“Glory Game” is all about incredibly mesmerizing and perfect movement in almost stillness. The six performers move in slow motion throughout the performance. Completely naked, athletic bodies are reminiscent of the ancient Olympics. Despite the slowed-down pace the muscles are in tension accompanying the titanic work the body does while running. The athletes move across a square-shaped stage strewn with sand, from right to left and back again.
(Kinga Senczyk, “Glory Game - recenzja spektaklu. Let’s watch it in slow motion”, Popkulturowcy.pl)
INFORMATION ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Dominik Więcek - is a dancer, choreographer, performer, movement director, but also a fashion photographer and stylist. His works are characterized by lightness of form, balancing on the intersection of arts and theatrical genres and playing with his own image. He graduated from the Faculty of Dance Theatre in Bytom (a branch of the Kraków Academy of Theatre Arts), and was a scholarship holder at the Folkwang Universität der Künste in Essen. He has performed at the Polish Dance Theatre in Poznań, the Kraków Dance Theatre (including “Nesting”, based on a concept by Israeli choreographer Idan Cohen, 2015) and the Grand Theatre - National Opera (in “Halka” directed by Mariusz Treliński, and “María de Buenos Aires” directed by Wojciech Faruga). He was born in 1992 in Germany. As part of the Tanzrecherche NRW 2021 residency fellowship, he worked on an autobiographical project called “The-Spiral”. The question “What kind of artist would I be if I grew up in Germany?” then led him to the solo performance “Café Müller”. In it, he referred to Pina Bausch’s legendary performance, and described his version as “fan fiction.” To work on “Glory Game”, he invited the Sticky Fingers Club Collective, which he co-founded with Dance Theatre faculty alumni and graduates in Bytom.
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.
