© Bart Grietens

BOW A STUDY

Wojciech Grudziński in coproductie met Frascati Producties
Fri 23 Feb ’24 and Sat 24 Feb ’24
What happens at the moment of the bow?
Fri 23 Feb ’24
and
Sat 24 Feb ’24

The act of taking a bow usually takes place in a theatre or, more generally, in performative situations. While the audience applauds, the performer bows to reciprocate the gratitude. In ballet, there is a blurred line between the show and the bow, since there is a transition from one series of movements to another.

“BOW A STUDY” originates from Wojciech Grudziński’s long-term research on the phenomenon of the bow and its choreographic and social dimensions. With a pinch of melancholy, it echoes the tradition of classical ballet in Eastern and Central Europe, which reflected the new post-communist order dominated by power and neoliberal economics.

With his artistic team, Grudziński investigated the great bows of the history of dance, capturing the liminal and undefined moments. The bow is a boundary moment that encourages spectators to thank the artists, but it can also be understood as an act of acquiescence aimed at receiving the approval of others. It is never fully clear who submits and who dominates the game. What happens at the moment of the bow? Whom does it really serve?

People said: Bohemian crystals are not for maids.
So, we must become the crystal ourselves.
The diamonds, the pearls of choreography.
Today the dancers are your gifts
not limited by curtain falling and rising.

  • Duration: 70 min
  • Language: English
  • Dutch premiere: Fr 23 Feb 20:00

Credits

concept, research, choreography Wojciech Grudziński performance, creation Wojciech Grudziński, Katarzyna Szugajew, Olga Tamara Briks, Billy Morgan/Barnaby Savage artistic collaboration/dramaturgical support Klaudia Hartung-Wójciak, Szymon Adamczak text Wojciech Grudziński, Klaudia Hartung-Wójciak, Szymon Adamczak production dramaturgy & feedback Szymon Adamczak costumes Marta Szypulska music Wojtek Blecharz tutor Miguel Angel Melgares advisor Marta Keil

Thanks for the research support to Joanna Ostrowska, Emilia Cholewicka, Ewa Dziarnowska, Piotr Urbaniec and Bartosz Grędysa

Produced in the context of DAS Theatre, DAS Graduate School. The project is supported by the European Festivals Fund for Emerging Artists (EFFEA), co-funded by the European Union, as well as the Visegrad Artist Residency Program for Performing Arts (VARP-PA) and a scholarship from the Capital City of Warsaw.

        

About the maker

Wojciech Grudziński (1991) is a Polish artist, choreographer and dancer based in Amsterdam. What he explores in his work are the in-between and interdisciplinary spaces, queerness, and embracing diversity. His practice is based on performative freedom and investigating implicit or explicit power dynamics in theater and choreography. He graduated from the Warsaw State Ballet School and the faculty of contemporary dance at the CODARTS in Rotterdam. Throughout his Master Studies at DAS Theatre (2021-2023), Grudziński explored the bowing gesture and its ambiguous meanings.

His artistic development was supported by Movement Research Study Visit at Judson Church in New York, Art Stations Foundation by Grażyna Kulczyk, Komuna// Warszawa, NOWY Teatr, Visegrad Artist Residency Program, ICK-Artist Space, Tanzrecherche NRW and CN D - Centre national de la danse. As a performer he worked with many artists, including Dries Verhoeven, Ben J. Riepe, Marta Ziółek, Maria Magdalena Kozłowska and Ula Sickle. His own choreographic work includes: PAX, POPULUXE, RODOS and DANCE MOM. In July 2023, the Santarcangelo Festival in Italy hosted the premiere of BOW A STUDY, the graduation project from DAS Theatre.

Press

"Playful, baroque and weird research into bowing [...] we want to see more from this maker." Theaterkrant