Mobile Academy of Dance Criticism – regular meetings of young masters of thinking and talking about bodies moving on stage – opens its second edition in Lublin at the International Dance Theatres Festival!
The idea of educating young dance critics by offering them possibility to collaborate directly with established artists and theoreticians (from the area of dance related arts, such as theater, performance, film and visual arts) came out from the assumption that certain imbalance exists between rapid development of contemporary dance in our country and in-depth reflection on it that would allow, both the artists and the audience, to see intellectual and aesthetic context of the art considered to be purely physical.
Responding to that urgent need a group of young, full of initiative and critically minded people makes the tour (during the year) visiting several of the most important festivals in Poland; they travel to sense dance performances with all their senses and to come with their minds in closer contact with those who have something to say about performing arts in general. Dance performance is after all the work of theater, fine arts, music and drama; therefore among MAKT’s lecturers are academics and practitioners, classicists and revolutionaries, the recognized outstanding artists and those unappreciated but worth to be remembered.
The first stop on the way of the speeding vehicle of thoughts-in-motion was Poznan, and the Old Brewery New Dance at Malta Festival; next is Lublin and the International Dance Theatres Festival. The last one is the local event and there are many initiatives, standing between theory and practice, which moor to its shores. Dance projects are apparently present in Lublin for years but this year dancers are to be accompanied by young critics who will talk them over. The participants of MAKT come from all over the Poland but there are also guests from Ukraine, Lithuania and Belarus; it definitely demonstrates a growing international prestige of the Polish art of dance and the dance as art itself.
„Polish dance has entered the period of its maturity, it seems to be the right time to participate fully in the cultural debate, and it is also the highest time for the people of dance to challenge themselves intellectually”, as Jadwiga Majewska, the creator of MAKT, states. Hopefully more such ambitious initiatives! Maybe one day we may the Europe set in motion… – all united in thinking about it.
Until now MAKT’s teachers were: Krzysztof Cicheński, Piotrr Grzymisławski, Agnieszka Jelewska, Michał Krawczak, Joanna Leśnierowska, Jadwiga Majewska, Agata Siwiak, Jacek Wachowski.
MAKT (Mobile Academy of Dance Criticism) – idea and realization Jadwiga Majewska – is supported by great personalities and esteemed institutions as:
The author and coordinator of the program – Jadwiga Majewska
jadwiga.majewska9@o2.pl/
Organizers:
Lubelski Teatr Tańca, i Centrum Kultury w Lublinie
East European Performing Arts Platform
Fundacja Burdąg
Partners:
Uniwersytet Marii Curie-Skłodowskiej w Lublinie
Katedra Dramatu, Teatru i Widowisk UAM w Poznaniu
Stary Browar Nowy Taniec na Malcie (Art Stations Foundation)
HAT Interdyscyplinarne Centrum Badawczego (UAM)The project was possible by financial support from The Government of the Wielkopolska Region.