Conceived by Polish choreographer Maciej Kuźmiński, this performance is an emotive journey through the landscapes of grief and endurance in a time of war.
The piece combines documentary perspectives with the art of dance, focusing on the personal stories of its performers.
'Meditation on grief'
Working with a Polish-Ukrainian team of dancers, including refugees, Kuźmiński has developed the piece collaboration with American dramatist Paul Bargetto.
The performance transcends conventional narratives of war, emphasizing the human experiences of trauma, exile and alienation against a backdrop of ongoing conflict.
The German dance criticism website Tanznetz lauded the performance as a "meditation on grief," highlighting its depth and emotional resonance.
The production serves as both an act of resistance against the deliberate targeting of Ukrainian culture and artists in the war and a statement of solidarity with Ukraine.
Pixabay License Image by Enrique from Pixabay
Kuźmiński views war as a relentless force reshaping our world, challenging our values, identity, and notions of safety and home. In Every Minute Motherland, this force is vividly captured through the body language and movements of the dancers, offering an emotional and philosophical exploration of the human spirit in the face of great adversity.
Kuźmiński has been crafting impactful dance pieces since 2014. His works, known for their aesthetic sparseness, powerful movement and existential themes, have been staged more than 300 times in 22 countries, and have won over 30 awards, marking him as one of Poland's most recognized dance creators.
Bargetto, an American theater director and dramatist based in Warsaw, brings his extensive experience in theater and dance to this project.
Founder of the NGO Fundacja Teatru Trans-Atlantyk, Bargetto's work spans various countries and includes significant contributions to the field of experimental and documentary theater.
Every Minute Motherland premiered at Studio Żak in Gdańsk, northern Poland, in 2022. It has since graced stages at a broad range of venues, including Materia in the central Polish city of Łódź, the National Theater of Luxembourg, the International Dance Theatres Festival in Lublin, eastern Poland, and the Umpolen Festival in Münster, Germany.
'Impressions of the war next door'
Bargetto commented on the artistic collaboration: "This performance is built upon several layers of collaboration. First there is the collaboration with the dancers from Ukraine, all of whom were refugees at the time of the creation of the piece. They are witnesses to and participants in the horrors of the Russian invasion, and these experiences were translated directly into the choreography.
"The second layer of the collaboration is the group of Polish dancers who bore witness to the Ukrainian artists' experiences and drew on their own feelings and impressions of the war next door.
"The other important collaboration is between Maciej Kuźmiński and myself. This is our fifth time working together, so I see this as a maturing artistic collaboration that has become very interesting and rich. We each bring very different but ultimately complimentary styles, experiences and disciplines. The piece has toured extensively in both Poland and Germany already, but playing in Berlin is a big deal, and for me personally the realization of a lifelong dream to play there."
The Berlin season of Every Minute Motherland runs on December 19 and 20 at the DOCK 11 venue, promising audiences an immersive and reflective experience on the power of art in times of conflict and suffering.
(rt/gs)
Sources: paulbargetto.com/paulbargetto.com, maciejkuzminski.com, tanznetz.de