The solo performance Nijinsky. The Rite of Dreams is a new staging of Igor Stravinsky’s ballet, consisting of a journey through Vaslav Nijinsky’s altered states of consciousness. Created on the basis of his Diary and his works, it is The Rite of Spring seen as The Rite of Dreams. Nijinsky’s Diary seemed to the artists like a book of dreams, dreamt while awake and hastily recorded. It transported them into a world which constantly balances between ecstasy and oblivion. The work constitutes an instalment of the art and research project Taniec śniącego ciała [Dance of the Dreaming Body], which Sławek Krawczyński and Anna Godowska have been involved in since 2004.
SŁAWEK KRAWCZYŃSKI is a theatre director and winner of the Grand Prix at the Eighth National Contest for Staging a Polish Contemporary Play, and a several-time holder of the Polish Ministry and National Heritage Grant. He is the artistic director of Teatr Bretoncaffe, which he founded with dancer, choreographer and contemporary dance teacher ANNA GODOWSKA. Anna Godowska collaborates with artists from various fields, including Katarzyna Kozyra, Marta Górnicka and Kuba Czekaj. TOMASZ WYGODA has worked as a dancer and choreographer with directors such as Krystian Lupa, Krzysztof Warlikowski, Michał Zadara and Maja Kleczewska. Since 2007, he has been chief choreographer for Mariusz Treliński.
Script, direction, process work, lights: Sławomir Krawczyński
Choreography: Anna Godowska, Tomasz Wygoda/ The show features remixed fragments of Nijinsky’s choreographies for the ballets The Afternoon of a Faun and The Rite of Spring
Performed by: Tomasz Wygoda
Music: The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky performed by the New York Philharmonic, conductor: Leonard Bernstein, 1958
Costumes: Sławomir Krawczyński, Tomasz Wygoda
Content-related consultancy: Jadwiga Majewska
Process-oriented psychology consultancy: Agnieszka Wróblewska
Technical production: Łukasz Kędzierski
Production: Art Stations Foundation by Grażyna Kulczyk
Première: 01.09.2013, Stary Browar, Studio Słodownia +3, PoznańThe première was produced as part of the series What About Polish Dance? 2013, supported financially by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage.
Special acknowledgments to Ashtanga Joga Studio for their assistance in the realisation of the project.