The mission of the BEYOND DANCE project was to present and promote the intensely developing Polish choreography in Sankt Petersburg.
On 15-22.10.2016 St. Petersburg audiences saw some of the most interesting Polish productions of recent years, and the shows were enriched by talks with the creators, master classes and a choreographic laboratory for local dance artists by Janusz Orlik and Joanna Leśnierowska.
For years Art Stations Foundation has been not only supporting the creation and presentation of Polish dance productions outside Poland (in Europe as well as in Brazil, Israel, Palestine, China) but also co-creating intensive presentations of Polish choreography in the most important dance centres in the world.
An important element of all these projects was always the exchange of experience between the Polish and the host contemporary dance circles, care for creating a platform for discussion, especially in countries where the condition and situation of dance art is similar to the Polish one, as well as establishing long-term cooperation enabling, in the near future, the creation of residency and educational programmes supporting joint artistic exploration and development of Polish and international artists of choreography.
This very purpose was served by the 2-stage (August / October) Orlik/Lesnierowska laboratory, whose goal was to share with young Russian artists the original choreographic strategies. In accordance with the project’s title-mottle – BEYOND DANCE – the Polish artists invited in a movement and aesthetic exploration of a dance area far removed from the ballet and modern dance tradition well-known to local dancers. Their choreographic laboratory offered to local artists to practice together and perform also within the project’s crowning performance (“…(rooms by the sea)”).
The program of the intensive week with Polish choreography was complemented by master classes for the Sanktpetersburg dance community led by Polish artists and post-show meetings with the audience, aimed at exchanging experiences and deepening knowledge about the art of choreography and its condition, as well as joint reflection on the possibilities of supporting this art form. In this way BEYOND DANCE became an expression of a desire (and an opportunity in practice) to go beyond the usual ways of perceiving contemporary dance and a strong voice of protest against the ever-widening definition of choreography.
