Preview
MADE IN POLSKA (MUSEUM OF IMAGINATION)
W&M Physical Theatre
Starring Wojciech Mochniej and Tomasz Wygoda
Created by Wojciech Mochniej, Tomasz Wygoda and Janusz Skubaczkowski
Runs April 1 to 3
Dancers’ Studio West
When Polish choreographer Wojciech Mochniej conceived Made in Polska (Museum of Imagination), it was meant to be a three-man work exploring the modern Polish experience through the personal journeys into manhood of Mochniej and his fellow countrymen-dancers, Tomasz Wygoda and Janusz Skubaczkowski.
However, the illness of one of his two collaborators has forced Mochniej to reconfigure the piece, which makes its debut this weekend at Dancers’ Studio West.
"The three of us… started working on this in Poland in December during the Christmas break from university," explains Mochniej, who is artistic director of the international W&M Physical Theatre and currently a guest artist in the University of Calgary’s dance program. "All of us were supposed to meet in Calgary a month ago and have a chance to re-choreograph, reshape and (do) the right things with costumes here."
Instead, Mochniej learned that Skubaczkowski had been diagnosed with a brain tumour and would be forced to remain in Poland.
"It was really emotional news," he says, adding that, thankfully, the tumour does not appear to be dangerous and Skubaczkowski will undergo an operation in Belgium later this month.
"He recommended we keep going," says Mochniej. "He said, ‘Go ahead, boys, and I’ll join you when you return.’" Made in Polska is scheduled to tour to Poland and Finland later this year and Mochniej is hopeful that Skubaczkowski will be part of those performances.
Mochniej and Wygoda have taken their friend’s advice and carried on, although Mochniej says it’s been challenging to rework the piece.
"We have basically the same material, basically the same story, only set on two people instead of three," he says. "We keep going and going with the movement – we don’t have time to consume and digest all this stuff. But because we are working 12 to 14 hours a day, I think the final result will be close to the original plan."
Made in Polska, which is part of a U of C-funded project by the W&M company labelled The Men’s Project, intends to challenge the way audiences may think of men and their relationships to movement – and to each other. It is also a piece that comments on personal and universal experiences, as seen by Mochniej, Wygoda and Skubaczkowski.
The trio originally played with the notion of including text in the show, but Mochniej, who speaks English as a second language, decided that movement would be a stronger way to communicate and transcend the limitations of language.
"Movement was always the first expression of emotional human nature," he says. "It’s sometimes much easier to express something through the movement than the words…. (W)ords, especially within the second language, don’t give you the right (statement you’d like to make)."
Made in Polska tracks the social and political changes of Poland over the past three decades through the lives of the three dancers. "This is our museum of the imagination," says Mochniej. And, even if there will be only two dancers onstage in Calgary, "spiritually, it’s still three of us," he adds. "When the two of us perform, I can feel (Skubaczkowski’s) presence dancing between us." |
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