2nd Edition of the Festival of Form Theatre, Dance, Movement and Visual Arts
After last year’s interest in the festival already evident during the open call for applications – it became clear to us that it had to continue. Watching a new audience engage so fully with the festival events, reacting so vividly to what was happening on stage, and speaking so boldly during post-show discussions, I felt compelled — in the heat of those positive emotions, during one of the performances — to announce that there would be a second edition. And I have no regrets.
KTO Theatre has always been a place open to new aesthetics and forms that don’t always find space or understanding in the mainstream theatrical circuit.
Jerzy Zoń
Director of KTO Theatre
This year, the festival line-up positions itself both alongside nature — and against it. We step into it not to romanticize, but to confront. We are interested not only in well-being, but in nature as a force. Wild, raw, pulsing beneath the skin. A tension that drives us to act against logic and comfort.
We want to touch the core. To explore identity, impulse, and wildness in a world dominated by urbanization. We’ll dismantle nature — into muscles, instincts, and myths.
The body is our meeting point. On one hand: rhythms, cycles, elements. The body as part of an ecosystem. On the other: human nature. Emotions, urges, the friction between what is „natural” and what is „civilized”.
We want to look at nature without softening the edges. To ask: is nature something we discover — or something we constantly construct? Is what we call “natural” not, in fact, a cultural fiction? Is instinct merely evolutionary residue, or a rebellion against oppressive order? Maybe true nature isn’t about returning to something lost. Maybe it’s something we’re only just beginning to create. Maybe it’s a constant readiness to listen — to what’s within us, and to what’s beyond. Which, after all, has the right to shift.
The invited artists, dancers, and creators of experimental forms do not represent nature. They ignite it. They unleash it. They test how much wildness can still be held in the body — before it’s tamed again. Their works don’t illustrate nature. They activate it. They challenge it. They transform it.
Can the body be a manifesto?
Can movement be protest?
Can dance be a ritual of return — to the self?
The festival is an invitation to pause. To immerse in the labor of muscles and the crack of bones. We’ll do everything we can to ensure nature isn’t just a backdrop — but a voice. Exposed. Unbound.
Sławomir Szczurek
Curator of the Body and Time Festival
1ST EDITION OF THE BODY AND TIME FESTIVAL
- FESTIVAL JURY
Joanna Braun
Set designer and painter. She studied at the Faculty of Painting and Graphic Arts at the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków, and earned her diploma at the Faculty of Stage Design under Professor Andrzej Stopka. Between 1978 and 1981, she lectured on costume design and the history of costume at the Centro Universitario de Teatro in Mexico. Author of over 150 stage design projects.
Bartek Cieniawa
Actor and photographer. A graduate of postgraduate studies in Dance Theory at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. From 2017 to 2023, he was a lecturer at the AST National Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków. He has been affiliated with KTO Theatre since 1993, performing in over 40 productions and appearing at hundreds of festivals in nearly 50 countries, winning awards and distinctions with the ensemble in cities such as Tehran, Edinburgh, and Pula.
Maciej „Gąsiu” Gośniowski
Actor, dancer, performer, and drag queen. A graduate of the Faculty of Dance Theatre at the Ludwik Solski State Drama School in Kraków. His artistic portfolio includes collaborations with renowned theatre directors. He also choreographs stage movement for dramatic productions. A participant in the first edition of the TV show Czas na Show. Drag Me Out, where, alongside actor Michał Mikołajczak, he formed an unforgettable duo.
Dominika Knapik
Choreographer, director, and performer. She graduated from the Acting Department of the Stanisław Wyspiański Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków. For nearly twenty years, she has been collaborating as a choreographer with numerous directors in Poland and abroad. One half of the duo Gruba i Głupia („Fat and Foolish”), which she co-creates with Patrycja Kowańska.
Jacek Wakar
Theatre critic, journalist, and columnist. Head of the Culture Department at the Polish Press Agency. Co-host of the podcast Nowy Tygodnik Kulturalny („The New Cultural Weekly”). Author of the blog Zdania Wakara and of books including Hidden Genius. Janusz Gajos. 21 Stories, Profession: Actor, and The First Life of Marek Kondrat. Curator and jury member of numerous national and international theatre festivals.
Dominik Więcek
Dancer, choreographer, performer, fashion photographer, and stylist. A graduate of the Ludwik Solski State Drama School in Kraków, Faculty of Dance Theatre in Bytom. He creates original solo and group works, and is also the co-author of numerous choreographies for dramatic theatre productions. In 2023, he was selected for the prestigious list of 20 Priority Artists by the Aerowaves network.
- MASTER PERFORMANCES
Szekspirie
Krakow Dance Theatre
The Ophelia complex, the Lady Macbeth effect, Juliet’s tragedy.
The madness of Shakespeare’s female characters becomes a fascinating image for the creators, who search within it for emancipatory strategies. Often, however, these heroines act alone. But what if we displaced their stories and brought them together — through movement — into one shared space? Szekspirie is a dance collage of alternative visions of Shakespeare’s tragic heroines and their possible coexistence. The dancers of the Krakow Dance Theatre embody physical interpretations of Ophelia’s disordered thoughts, Lady Macbeth’s obsessions, and Juliet’s longing, uncovering uncharted dimensions of literary characters — and of ourselves.
Concept and Set Design: Eryk Makohon
Choreography: Eryk Makohon, Agnieszka Bednarz-Tyran, Yelyzaveta Tereshonok
Dramaturgy: Daria Kubisiak
Music: Piotr Peszat
Video: Grzesiek Mart
Performance: Agnieszka Bednarz-Tyran, Yelyzaveta Tereshonok
Lighting Design: Michał Wawrzyniak
Set Design Collaboration: Piotr Karp
Graphic Design: Weronika Wawryk
Coordination and Production: Paweł Łyskawa, Izabela Zawadzka
WoW
Marta Wołowiec
In times of darkness and unrest, we ask ourselves: what is pleasure?
The pleasure of living, of dancing, of watching dance.The creators draw inspiration from the phenomenon of choreomania — the dancing plague that appeared across Europe for over a thousand years. This mania, which broke out in streets and public squares, brought together hundreds of people in a collective, ecstatic dance — until exhaustion, unconsciousness, and sometimes even death. To this day, the causes of these frenzied movements remain unclear. They are often attributed to accidental ingestion of psychedelic substances or to a neurological disorder known as chorea. Another theory suggests that this relentless dancing was a physical response to psychological breakdown — triggered by a time marked by plagues, wars, and natural disasters.
Concept, Direction, Choreography: Marta Wołowiec
Creation, Performance: Marta Wołowiec, Tomasz Pomersbach
Dramaturgy: Janusz Orlik
Music: Wojciech Kiwer
Lighting Design: Klaudia Kasperska
Costumes: Dominik Więcek
ARCADIA
KTO Theatre
A picturesque tale about life — a musical and movement-filled journey through all its stages, inviting us to slow down and reflect on what truly matters.Take a seat on one of the nine benches that make up the set design. Laugh out loud or gaze into the past with gentle nostalgia. This is also a concert of extraordinary sounds — featuring songs by Dead Can Dance, Stevie Wonder, Doris Day, the iconic military group Rezerwa, and the monumental aria from Madame Butterfly.Set against the aesthetic of the 1950s and 60s, and brought to life through beautiful costumes, the performance searches for afterimages of paradise. Because the land of happiness truly exists — and its name is Arcadia.
Script, Direction, Music Selection: Jerzy Zoń
Stage Movement, Choreography: Eryk Makohon
Set Design: Marek Braun, Jerzy Zoń
Costume Design: Jolanta Łagowska-Braun, Elżbieta Kwasek
Music Composition (Viva la Arcadia): Michał Warmusz
Arrangement (Rezerwa): Janusz Grzywacz
Cast:
Magdalena Dymsza / Karolina Daniec-Franczyk, Paulina Lasyk, Grażyna Srebrny-Rosa, Marta Zoń, Sławomir Bendykowski, Bartek Cieniawa, Krzysztof Cybulski, Tomasz Łukawski, Franciszek Muła, Mieszko Syc
Very Cheap
Gruba i Głupia
(Fat and Foolish)
Patrycja Kowańska & Dominika Knapik
The third and final part of the „Very” trilogy, following Very Funny and Very Sad, created by the duo Gruba i Głupia (Fat and Foolish).A stage cabaret-treatise on the paradoxes of capitalism and the price of art, in which two freelance artists try on the masks of Shakespearean (and not only!) sex workers. Through this, they seek to uncover the parallels between sex work and independent artistic creation — both revolving around the constant offering of new “products” to “clients”: producers and curators.Both art and sex work, though operating on the margins of the economy, are treated as commodities under capitalism. Both rely on generating lucrative goods: authenticity and intimacy, creativity and desire.
Script, Direction, Choreography, Dramaturgy, Video, Costumes:
Gruba i Głupia (Fat and Foolish) — Patrycja Kowańska / Dominika Knapik
Music: Szymon Lechowicz
Lighting Design & Technical Direction: Wolfgang Macher
Performance: Gruba i Głupia — Patrycja Kowańska / Dominika Knapik
- COMPETITION PERFORMANCES
One Hundred Falls
Civilizations fall. Cultures collapse. Authorities crumble. We fall — morally, physically.It seems that the entire history of humankind is composed of sudden downfalls — wars, revolutions — but also slow, ignored declines, like the climate catastrophe. It’s hard to tell when a fall is still a tragedy, and when it becomes a new possibility.206 bones and around 640 muscles help us get back up. From the prenatal stage, our development is directed toward building a structure. One that lets us stand upright and resist what is inevitable. And yet, collapse is its ultimate purpose.
Our protagonist loses herself in a dance upon a fallen civilization, a fallen culture, fallen authorities, and our moral decline — and in doing so, finds acceptance in her own falling body.
Concept: Jakub Mędrzycki
Choreography: Jakub Mędrzycki, Ilona Gumowska
Performance: Ilona Gumowska
Music: Marta Forsberg, Gieorgij Puchalski
Duration: 35 minutes
7
The performance explores the power of choice and its consequences through the lens of the seven deadly sins.At the heart of the story are a man and a woman whose chance encounter leads them into trials shaped by envy, wrath, pride, greed, sloth, gluttony, and lust. Each sin is revealed through expressive and dramatic dance scenes, emphasizing that any path can be changed by making the right decision.
Direction, Choreography, Lighting Design: Andrei Kamarou
Music: Leszek Kołodziejski
Cast: Students of the University of Humanities and Economics in Łódź
Duration: 30 minutes
WHOFRAMEDTHETHINGS
This performance by Ana Kuszarecka is an attempt to engage in dialogue with the standards and expectations imposed on the body — by recognizing and reconstructing them.
This metamorphosis shapes the world around us, shifting the boundaries of imagination into material reality. It navigates between the recognizable and the unrecognizable, through bodily images that imprint themselves on identity. It is about entering and exiting the frames we might be trapped in. Look at the body as a vast database.
Choreography and Performance: Ana Kuszarecka
Dramaturgical Support: Rodia Vomvolo
Costume: Mariola Homoncik
Music: Artificial Biosphere – Igor Dyachenko, Call – Zamilska
Duration: 15 minutes
This performance contains strobe lighting.
Plemię (Tribe)
I, you, we, you, they.
I, you, we.
I, you.
I, I, I…
In today’s world, the “we” has lost its meaning. Western society is a collection of autonomous individuals. The ancient tribe that once shaped human life for millennia has vanished. Or has it?
Perhaps we are still connected — by something intangible. There is still the mysterious realm of dreams, a thread weaving images that travel from me to you. A collective space where the “I” dissolves into you, we, you (plural), they — and where time flows differently.This is cyclical time, mythical, nonlinear, archetypal — where the path forward leads toward the past, confronting us with something greater than the self. The dream envelops us, dripping like water, washing away the “I” like waves. It is endless, beautiful, threatening, oppressive — stripping and granting identity, much like the collective itself. A journey through eternity — a “little death” of the ego.
Direction & Choreography: Patrycja Neumann
Music: Michał Rudkowski
Duration: 17 minutes
Duet on cello, piano & a heartbeat
This work is a poetic reflection on loss — an attempt to capture the melancholy of passing time, where past and present intertwine.
Choreography and Performance: Kacper Szklarski, Katarzyna Leszek
Costumes: Klaudia Ostrega
Duration: 10 minutes
De (la) Pressure
When you want your body to move, but it stands still — like stone.
If only that fear wasn’t there, the one that makes you nauseous…
I miss the whiteness in my teeth and in myself to once again become a blank page on which anything can be written.
A story about searching for life within a sick body — a body weighed down by the pressure of expectations, yet taking its first steps forward to confront the demons of the past.
The action unfolds in Lower Silesia, where the environment is dying under the burden of pollution and the indifference of its inhabitants.
Salt, salt, salt —
the salt of the earth is your breath and your thoughts.
……………………………………………………………………………
Direction & Performance: Marta Mańka
Duration: 35 minutes
Touch me
A performance inspired by the sense of touch.
We explore its many forms, restore its importance, and open a dialogue about this often “forbidden” sense — one that, in today’s digital world, is increasingly pushed aside. The fusion of technology, nature, art, and interaction creates an immersive audiovisual experience, where every movement of the dancers becomes a trigger for generating sound.
Choreography & Concept: Angelika Bosacka, Eliza Bilska, Nadine Gregor
Set & Costume
Design: Magdalena Wolak
Music: Filip Wydma
Lighting Design: Sylwia Hefczyńska-Lewandowska, Krzysztof Urban
Duration: 30 minutes
Przecież ja żyję jeszcze (But I’m Still Alive)
Inspired by Weronika Murek’s book Growing Southern Plants Using the Michurin Method
That it’s hard to remember his voice and his smile?
That you have to wear black to a funeral?
That the mass must be held — because it’s proper — even if he didn’t believe in God?
That now everything — the slippers, the umbrella, the glasses — is his, even if he never used them?
That maybe she didn’t love him, because she only shed three tears?In this imagining, the dead mourn themselves.
They try to keep living — again and again — until they run out of breath.And after Grandpa died, Grandma said: “One must die someday.” And she’s probably right. She’s an old lady — and when it comes to death, I’ll trust old ladies forever.
Direction and Choreography: Aniela Turkot
Cast: Aleksandra Heral, Zuzanna Meyer, Aniela Turkot, Zofia Żwirblińska (understudy)
Duration: 25 minutes
