- Jagiellonian University, Faculty of Polish Studies, Graduate Studentadd
- Performing Arts, Theatre Studies, Performance Studies, Dance Studies, Performativity, Body in Performance, and 28 moreNonverbal Communication, Dance Anthropology, Polish Studies, Gardzienice, Chorea Theatre, Anthropology, Evolutionary Biology, Acting, Embodied knowledge, Stanislavski System, Grotowski, Experimental Theatre, Theatre History, Theatre, Actor Training, Actor Training and Working Practices, Embodied and Enactive Cognition, Postdramatic theatre, Physical Theatre, Dance, The Body, Devised Theatre, Transformation of University Systems, Performance Theory, Movement for actors, Performance and performativity, Critical Theory, and Performance As Researchedit
- Małgorzata Jabłońska is a theatre researcher. Her field of interest are the history and problems of actor training an... moreMałgorzata Jabłońska is a theatre researcher. Her field of interest are the history and problems of actor training and the methodology of description of the body and non-verbal communication strategies in the theatre and social life. She is working on a PhD thesis on the influence of Meyerhold’s Biomechanics on the concepts of actor training in European theatre. As a collaborator of The Grotowski Institute she was the originator and main coordinator of the first in Poland international conference on Vsevolod Meyerhold organized by The Grotowski Institute in Wrocław (October 2013). She is a member of the CHOREA Theatre Association and collaborator of the Studio Matejka. Since 2007 he has been running workshops, at the Jagiellonian University and the Institute of Polish Culture at the Warsaw University.edit
- Dariusz Kosińskiedit
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https://www.polishtheatrejournal.com/index.php/ptj/article/view/144/830 The article is a comparative analysis of the concept of modern sculpture by Katarzyna Kobro (1898–1951) and the theatrical biomechanics of Vsevolod Meyerhold... more
https://www.polishtheatrejournal.com/index.php/ptj/article/view/144/830
The article is a comparative analysis of the concept of modern sculpture by Katarzyna Kobro (1898–1951) and the theatrical biomechanics of Vsevolod Meyerhold (1874–1940). The starting point is the alleged community of experiences of the artists' milieu and their affiliation (even temporary) to the constructivism movement. Jablonska reconstructs Kobro's views based on the book Spatial Composition: Calculating the Spacetime Rhythm , focusing on the issues of formal shaping of space, spatio-temporal rhythm and architectural characterisation of sculpture, which becomes a theoretical model for composition of space interacting with the human body. Here the author sees the correspondence of Kobro's concept with Meyerhold's theatrical biomechanics, which she understands mainly as a set of rules for actor's body composition in time and space, or in other words, the implementation of the principles of spatio-temporal rhythm in the body.
The article is a comparative analysis of the concept of modern sculpture by Katarzyna Kobro (1898–1951) and the theatrical biomechanics of Vsevolod Meyerhold (1874–1940). The starting point is the alleged community of experiences of the artists' milieu and their affiliation (even temporary) to the constructivism movement. Jablonska reconstructs Kobro's views based on the book Spatial Composition: Calculating the Spacetime Rhythm , focusing on the issues of formal shaping of space, spatio-temporal rhythm and architectural characterisation of sculpture, which becomes a theoretical model for composition of space interacting with the human body. Here the author sees the correspondence of Kobro's concept with Meyerhold's theatrical biomechanics, which she understands mainly as a set of rules for actor's body composition in time and space, or in other words, the implementation of the principles of spatio-temporal rhythm in the body.
Research Interests:
The paper presents the Oratorium Dance Project and its impact on the activities of the CHOREA Theatre after 2011. In 2010-2011, the Chorea Theatre carried out the groudbreaking project for its biography: the Oratorium Dance Project. It... more
The paper presents the Oratorium Dance Project and its impact on the activities of the CHOREA Theatre after 2011. In 2010-2011, the Chorea Theatre carried out the groudbreaking project for its biography: the Oratorium Dance Project. It was inspired by the project of Simon Rattle, the conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, and Royston Maldoom, choreographer, who attempted to popularise classical music by engaging 250 people from local community into performing it. The Chorea Theatre responded to a similar challenge. A group of one hundred participants, led by an American choreographer Robert Hayden, Earthfall Dance group and Chorea Theatre artists, featuring the Orchestra and Choir of the Łodź Philharmonic Orchestra, created a dance and music performance. Maciej Maciaszek and Tomasz Krzyzanowski composed a musical piece Oratorium Antyk/Trans/Orchestra especially for this project. It was based on the arrangements of music from ancient Greece. This project's purposes were primarily ...
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... by Małgorzata Jabłońska Source: Contexts (Konteksty), issue: 01 / 2008, pages: 129135, on www.ceeol.com. Page 2. Niniejsze rozważania pozwolę sobie rozpo-cząć od przedstawienia pewnego doświad-czenia. ... 129 MAŁGORZATA JABŁOŃSKA... more
... by Małgorzata Jabłońska Source: Contexts (Konteksty), issue: 01 / 2008, pages: 129135, on www.ceeol.com. Page 2. Niniejsze rozważania pozwolę sobie rozpo-cząć od przedstawienia pewnego doświad-czenia. ... 129 MAŁGORZATA JABŁOŃSKA Dramaturgia ciała ...
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Research Interests:
The article is a comparative analysis of the concept of modern sculpture by Katarzyna Kobro (1898–1951) and the theatrical biomechanics of Vsevolod Meyerhold (1874–1940). The starting point is the alleged community of experiences of the... more
The article is a comparative analysis of the concept of modern sculpture by Katarzyna Kobro (1898–1951) and the theatrical biomechanics of Vsevolod Meyerhold (1874–1940). The starting point is the alleged community of experiences of the artists' milieu and their affiliation (even temporary) to the constructivism movement. Jabłońska reconstructs Kobro's views based on the book Spatial Composition: Calculating the Spacetime Rhythm, focusing on the issues of formal shaping of space, spatio-temporal rhythm and architectural characterisation of sculpture, which becomes a theoretical model for composition of space interacting with the human body. Here the author sees the correspondence of Kobro’s concept with Meyerhold's theatrical biomechanics, which she understands mainly as a set of rules for actor's body composition in time and space, or in other words, the implementation of the principles of spatio-temporal rhythm in the body. In her analysis of biomechanics, apart from documents, Jabłońska use her own practical experience of this technique, focusing on such elements as playing with rakurses (forms, body positions visible from the perspective of a viewer) and rhythmisation of movement by its division into three phases (otkaz, posyl, stoika).
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Punktem wyjścia analizy jest wskazywana niejednokrotnie przez badaczy korespondencja pomiędzy koncepcją rzeźby nowoczesnej Katarzyny Kobro (1898-1951) a biomechaniką teatralną Wsiewołoda Meyerholda (1874-1940). Poglądy Kobro rekonstruuję... more
Punktem wyjścia analizy jest wskazywana niejednokrotnie przez badaczy korespondencja pomiędzy koncepcją rzeźby nowoczesnej Katarzyny Kobro (1898-1951) a biomechaniką teatralną Wsiewołoda Meyerholda (1874-1940). Poglądy Kobro rekonstruuję głównie na podstawie książki autorstwa Katarzyny Kobro i Władysława Strzemińskiego Kompozycja przestrzeni. Obliczenia rytmu czasoprzestrzennego, skupiając się na zagadnieniach łączności rzeźby z przestrzenią i formalnego ukształtowania przestrzeni, rytmu czasoprzestrzennego i architektonizacji rzeźby, która staje się w tym ujęciu teoretycznym modelem dla komponowania przestrzeni wchodzącej w interakcję z ciałem ludzkim. W analizie biomechaniki oprócz dokumentów posługuję się własnym doświadczeniem cielesnym tej techniki, którą rozumiem głównie jako zapisany w praktyce zbiór zasad kompozycji ruchu ciała aktora w przestrzeni. W analizie skupiając się na takich jego elementach jak gra rakusami i trójfazowość ruchu, rytm naprzemienny ruchu i „form plastycznych w przestrzeni” wysuwam wniosek iż biomechanika teatralna oparta także na rytmie czasoprzestrzennym jest modelem komplementarnym wobec propozycji Kobro.
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Wiele zostało w ostatnim czasie powiedziane na temat niekwestionowanego bogactwa technik wypracowanego przez polskich twórców teatrów alternatywnych i niezależnych. W kolejnych debatach Ogólnopolskiej Offensywy Teatralnej, a także w... more
Wiele zostało w ostatnim czasie powiedziane na temat niekwestionowanego bogactwa technik wypracowanego przez polskich twórców teatrów alternatywnych i niezależnych. W kolejnych debatach Ogólnopolskiej Offensywy Teatralnej, a także w publikowanych choćby w „Nietak!cie” rozmowach i recenzjach powtarza się opinia o tym, że działania edukacyjne są integralną częścią pracy twórców offowych. Od czasu pierwszej i drugiej wielkiej reformy teatru wiemy, bo nauczyliśmy się od Stanisławskiego i Grotowskiego, że proces przygotowań może być z wielu względów ważniejszy niż ostatecznie wypracowane dzieło sceniczne, a element rozwoju osobistego stał się za sprawą choćby Osterwy pożądanym wynikiem pracy teatralnej. Od tego czasu przyglądamy się procesom poprzedzającym spektakl uważniej, rozumiejąc ich wpływ na późniejsze wykonania sceniczne, ale postrzegamy je także jako autonomiczne artystyczne działania twórców. Wielu z nich przyznaje zresztą, że te procesy pochłaniają ich w większej mierze niż praca inscenizacyjna i stanowią sedno ich zainteresowań. Cykl postanowiłam rozpocząć od opisu niektórych metod pracy Grupy „Próg” i jej twórcy Bartosza Nowakowskiego, głównie z powodu deklarowanej przez niego świadomej decyzji, żeby w pracy zawodowej poświęcić się przede wszystkim edukacji artystycznej. Pracując w dość dobrze znanym modelu pracy w procesie lub z angielska devised theatre, Nowakowski wzbogacił swoje narzędzia o modele pracy z grupą zaczerpnięte z psychologii i coachingu, z którymi zapoznał się dzięki wieloletniej współpracy z firmą doradczo-szkoleniową Pathways.
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W niniejszym artykule skupimy się na działaniach Mateja Matejki i prowadzonego przez niego Studia Matejka. Działania edukacyjne Matejki adresowane są do osób dorosłych, posiadających doświadczenie w pracy aktorskiej (czy szerzej –... more
W niniejszym artykule skupimy się na działaniach Mateja Matejki i prowadzonego przez niego Studia Matejka. Działania edukacyjne Matejki adresowane są do osób dorosłych, posiadających doświadczenie w pracy aktorskiej (czy szerzej – performatywnej) i zainteresowanych dalszym rozwojem zawodowym. Jednym z podstawowych pytań stawianych przez Matejkę w praktyce studyjnej brzmi: jak i kiedy dokonuje się przejście pomiędzy nauką i treningiem a samodzielnym działaniem twórczym?
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The paper presents the Oratorium Dance Project and its impact on the activities of the CHOREA Theatre after 2011. In 2010-2011, the Chorea Theatre carried out the groudbreaking project for its biography: the Oratorium Dance Project. It... more
The paper presents the Oratorium Dance Project and its impact on the activities of the CHOREA Theatre after 2011.
In 2010-2011, the Chorea Theatre carried out the groudbreaking project for its biography: the Oratorium Dance Project. It was inspired by the project of Simon Rattle, the conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, and Royston Maldoom, choreographer, who attempted to popularise classical music by engaging 250 people from local community into performing it. The Chorea Theatre responded to a similar challenge. A group of one hundred participants, led by an American choreographer Robert Hayden, Earthfall Dance group and Chorea Theatre artists, featuring the Orchestra and Choir of the Łódź Philharmonic Orchestra, created a dance and music performance. Maciej Maciaszek and Tomasz Krzyżanowski composed a musical piece Oratorium Antyk/Trans/Orchestra especially for this project. It was based on the arrangements of music from ancient Greece. This project's purposes were primarily educational. It was addressed to young people aged 13-24, children and and seniors (50+) from Łódź and the Łódź region. The group of young participants included people from disadvantaged environments and at risk of social exclusion. Implementing Oratorium Dance Project required from the artists a risky undertaking of going "into the city", many months of engagement with workshops and difficult stories of people's lives, as well as a test of their own maturity, that this team had not experienced before. This project and its results determined new directions of development for CHOREA and new scales to measure its success and failure. For the Chorea team, the existential and social resonance of the project became the fundamental validation for art they wanted to create and promote. The Theatre's activities after Oratorium were essentially a consequence of experiences resulting from Oratorium. They determined the programme of two consecutive editions of the Retro/Per/Spectives festival and its smaller special editions, Perspectives, the only festival in Poland which, in 2015, was entirely devoted to presenting so called engaged theatre, working for and in the communities at risk of social exclusion and raising the issues of defavorisation. Currently, the CHOREA theatre is composed of three groups born out of experiences from the workshops preceding Oratorium.
In 2010-2011, the Chorea Theatre carried out the groudbreaking project for its biography: the Oratorium Dance Project. It was inspired by the project of Simon Rattle, the conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, and Royston Maldoom, choreographer, who attempted to popularise classical music by engaging 250 people from local community into performing it. The Chorea Theatre responded to a similar challenge. A group of one hundred participants, led by an American choreographer Robert Hayden, Earthfall Dance group and Chorea Theatre artists, featuring the Orchestra and Choir of the Łódź Philharmonic Orchestra, created a dance and music performance. Maciej Maciaszek and Tomasz Krzyżanowski composed a musical piece Oratorium Antyk/Trans/Orchestra especially for this project. It was based on the arrangements of music from ancient Greece. This project's purposes were primarily educational. It was addressed to young people aged 13-24, children and and seniors (50+) from Łódź and the Łódź region. The group of young participants included people from disadvantaged environments and at risk of social exclusion. Implementing Oratorium Dance Project required from the artists a risky undertaking of going "into the city", many months of engagement with workshops and difficult stories of people's lives, as well as a test of their own maturity, that this team had not experienced before. This project and its results determined new directions of development for CHOREA and new scales to measure its success and failure. For the Chorea team, the existential and social resonance of the project became the fundamental validation for art they wanted to create and promote. The Theatre's activities after Oratorium were essentially a consequence of experiences resulting from Oratorium. They determined the programme of two consecutive editions of the Retro/Per/Spectives festival and its smaller special editions, Perspectives, the only festival in Poland which, in 2015, was entirely devoted to presenting so called engaged theatre, working for and in the communities at risk of social exclusion and raising the issues of defavorisation. Currently, the CHOREA theatre is composed of three groups born out of experiences from the workshops preceding Oratorium.
Research Interests:
The paper presents the Oratorium Dance Project and its impact on the activities of the CHOREA Theatre after 2011. In 2010-2011, the Chorea Theatre carried out the groudbreaking project for its biography: the Oratorium Dance Project. It... more
The paper presents the Oratorium Dance Project and its impact on the activities of the CHOREA Theatre after 2011.
In 2010-2011, the Chorea Theatre carried out the groudbreaking project for its biography: the Oratorium Dance Project. It was inspired by the project of Simon Rattle, the conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, and Royston Maldoom, choreographer, who attempted to popularise classical music by engaging 250 people from local community into performing it. The Chorea Theatre responded to a similar challenge. A group of one hundred participants, led by an American choreographer Robert Hayden, Earthfall Dance group and Chorea Theatre artists, featuring the Orchestra and Choir of the Łódź Philharmonic Orchestra, created a dance and music performance. Maciej Maciaszek and Tomasz Krzyżanowski composed a musical piece Oratorium Antyk/Trans/Orchestra especially for this project. It was based on the arrangements of music from ancient Greece. This project's purposes were primarily educational. It was addressed to young people aged 13-24, children and and seniors (50+) from Łódź and the Łódź region. The group of young participants included people from disadvantaged environments and at risk of social exclusion. Implementing Oratorium Dance Project required from the artists a risky undertaking of going "into the city", many months of engagement with workshops and difficult stories of people's lives, as well as a test of their own maturity, that this team had not experienced before. This project and its results determined new directions of development for CHOREA and new scales to measure its success and failure. For the Chorea team, the existential and social resonance of the project became the fundamental validation for art they wanted to create and promote. The Theatre's activities after Oratorium were essentially a consequence of experiences resulting from Oratorium. They determined the programme of two consecutive editions of the Retro/Per/Spectives festival and its smaller special editions, Perspectives, the only festival in Poland which, in 2015, was entirely devoted to presenting so called engaged theatre, working for and in the communities at risk of social exclusion and raising the issues of defavorisation. Currently, the CHOREA theatre is composed of three groups born out of experiences from the workshops preceding Oratorium.
In 2010-2011, the Chorea Theatre carried out the groudbreaking project for its biography: the Oratorium Dance Project. It was inspired by the project of Simon Rattle, the conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, and Royston Maldoom, choreographer, who attempted to popularise classical music by engaging 250 people from local community into performing it. The Chorea Theatre responded to a similar challenge. A group of one hundred participants, led by an American choreographer Robert Hayden, Earthfall Dance group and Chorea Theatre artists, featuring the Orchestra and Choir of the Łódź Philharmonic Orchestra, created a dance and music performance. Maciej Maciaszek and Tomasz Krzyżanowski composed a musical piece Oratorium Antyk/Trans/Orchestra especially for this project. It was based on the arrangements of music from ancient Greece. This project's purposes were primarily educational. It was addressed to young people aged 13-24, children and and seniors (50+) from Łódź and the Łódź region. The group of young participants included people from disadvantaged environments and at risk of social exclusion. Implementing Oratorium Dance Project required from the artists a risky undertaking of going "into the city", many months of engagement with workshops and difficult stories of people's lives, as well as a test of their own maturity, that this team had not experienced before. This project and its results determined new directions of development for CHOREA and new scales to measure its success and failure. For the Chorea team, the existential and social resonance of the project became the fundamental validation for art they wanted to create and promote. The Theatre's activities after Oratorium were essentially a consequence of experiences resulting from Oratorium. They determined the programme of two consecutive editions of the Retro/Per/Spectives festival and its smaller special editions, Perspectives, the only festival in Poland which, in 2015, was entirely devoted to presenting so called engaged theatre, working for and in the communities at risk of social exclusion and raising the issues of defavorisation. Currently, the CHOREA theatre is composed of three groups born out of experiences from the workshops preceding Oratorium.
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I have been collaborating with Tomasz Rodowicz for many years now. He is one of founders of Gardzienice Theatre and later CHOREA Theatre. In his (and later in my own) pedagogical practice we use journaling or reporting as a part of... more
I have been collaborating with Tomasz Rodowicz for many years now. He is one of founders of Gardzienice Theatre and later CHOREA Theatre. In his (and later in my own) pedagogical practice we use journaling or reporting as a part of (self)educational process. We convince students and participants of workshops to write or create in any other form (vlog, drawings, poems, interventions) notes from work or their response to it. They are often scribbles or drawings so I would like to reflect on usability of journaling in training practice and self-reflection in training.
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W swojej praktyce scenicznej Wsiewołod Meyerhold rozpoznał zapotrzebowanie na „nowego aktora”, obdarzonego nową świadomością miejsca, jakie zajmuje w wieloskładnikowej kompozycji spektaklu. W jego koncepcji aktor, operując świadomie... more
W swojej praktyce scenicznej Wsiewołod Meyerhold rozpoznał zapotrzebowanie na „nowego aktora”, obdarzonego nową świadomością miejsca, jakie zajmuje w wieloskładnikowej kompozycji spektaklu. W jego koncepcji aktor, operując świadomie dostępnym mu materiałem (ciałem i głosem) ma być odpowiedzialnym współtwórcą przedstawienia. Biomechanika powstała jako odpowiedź na to zapotrzebowanie, zmieniając fundamentalnie paradygmat pracy aktora. Stworzony eksperymentalnie trening jawi się nie jako skończona, dana do opanowania i naśladowania technika gry aktorskiej, ale jako scenariusz „przygotowanego doświadczenia”, który może zostać odtworzony i zaktualizowany, pozwalając aktorowi w praktyce, na poziomie doświadczenia somatycznego, zrozumieć generalne zasady rządzące zawodem i według nich komponować swoje działania w dowolnej estetyce i dowolnym kontekście.
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Theatre and performance education in Poland is divided between practical, professional theatre schools, and theory and research oriented universities, with little or no will of cooperation. This creates bland problems related to the... more
Theatre and performance education in Poland is divided between practical, professional theatre schools, and theory and research oriented universities, with little or no will of cooperation. This creates bland problems related to the subject of education and methods of education. On the one hand it leaves theatre schools locked in a circle of invariable and undiversified curriculum set on educating in one, quite outdated model of acting, and on the other hand we have university staff conducting research utterly disconnected from any stage practice. Over the time some theatre companies (usually representing so called alternative theatre) and institutions like The Theatre Institute and The Grotowski Institute have undertaken to create their own alternative education proposals that go beyond the one-off, and even recurring workshop. Their curricula, usually centered around physical training technique, provide serious alternative for the mainstream education or aim to make up its deficiencies. In that context truly noteworthy are: The Academy of Theatre Practicies “Gardzienice” created in 1997 and BodyConstitution – a project of The Grotowski Institute. Basing on these examples and my own experience from attempts of introducing a practical training into university curriculum, I would like to pose some questions regarding: outcome of alternative education systems (aesthetic bias, actual range of skills), teaching performative skills to non-actors (theatre critics, dramaturgists, culture and social workers), combining practice and research.
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This presentation aims to introduce a different approach to actors training. Developed through experiment, training is seen here not as a process of adoption of a given acting technique (thus incorporation un-neutral body image and/or... more
This presentation aims to introduce a different approach to actors training. Developed through experiment, training is seen here not as a process of adoption of a given acting technique (thus incorporation un-neutral body image and/or body technique) or process of deconstructing and eliminating any un-neutral habits, but as a script of ‘prearranged experience’ that can be actualized, giving an actor a chance to understand on a deep somatic level the general principles of the profession, and to use them in creating and composing their actions in any given aesthetic and ideological context. This approach based on the notion that actor training is in fact in contrast to sports training primarily cognitive process (although not necessarily verbalized and fully conscious), not just the executive one. Therefore this approach sets us outside the alienating and subjective perspective of a trained body that as a product of training is or is not neutral, towards the question of a human/actor consciousness and one’s professional/creative choices.
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Relacja z festiwalu Źródła Pamięci, Rzeszów 2012
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Realacja z festiwalu Retroperspektywy 2010
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Na ścianie, niczym na tabliczce z Pylos, geometryczny labirynt. Nad nim symbol, jak wszystko w tym przedstawieniu, wieloznacz-ny: rogi byka, a może łódź? Dokąd jednak ta łódź miałaby płynąć: w powrotną drogę do domu czy może na tamtą... more
Na ścianie, niczym na tabliczce z Pylos, geometryczny labirynt. Nad nim symbol, jak wszystko w tym przedstawieniu, wieloznacz-ny: rogi byka, a może łódź? Dokąd jednak ta łódź miałaby płynąć: w powrotną drogę do domu czy może na tamtą stronę? Światło już za moment ...
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Thinking about Meyerhold's Theatrical Biomechanics, we have become accustomed to remembering the well-known list of inspiration: comedy dell'arte, Orient, taylorism, reflexology of Ivan Pavlov and Vladimir Bekhterev, theory of emotions of... more
Thinking about Meyerhold's Theatrical Biomechanics, we have become accustomed to remembering the well-known list of inspiration: comedy dell'arte, Orient, taylorism, reflexology of Ivan Pavlov and Vladimir Bekhterev, theory of emotions of William James. This set, however, would not be complete without another name, rarely mentioned in studies - Pyotr Lesgaft and his system of physical education. Pyotr Lesgaft (1837-1909) - a scientist, surgeon, creator of the functional anatomy was also an originator of the first Russian scientific system of physical education. Starting from the basis of the functional anatomy and developmental pedagogy Lesgaft developed not only exercises but, above all, the pedagogical process. He was convinced of the materialistic basis of mental phenomena and perceived physical exercises as a tool for both physical and mental development, which is why the teaching methodology he proposed was aimed at stimulating students' cognitive processes undertaken consciously and voluntarily. I want to outline a possible historical relationship between Lesgaft's physical education system and Meyerhold's Theatrical Biomechanics (in the person of doctor Alexander Petrovich Petrov, a lecturer at the Kurmascep) and explore parallels between both systems. I hypothesise here that at a certain stage of this grand experiment, contact with an elaborated and scientifically grounded system of physical education, namely the system devised by Pyotr Lesgaft – a prominent anatomist and ‘father of Russian physical education’ – was an important catalyst for Meyerhold on the way to create a functional training and eventually a didactic system for actors.