The focus of the conference Remembering 1918: East and Central European Modernity Rebuilding in Performing Arts, which will be held at La Bellone – House of Performing Arts on 23 and 24 November 2017 is the centenary of the fall of the European empires and the creation of the nation states of central and Eastern Europe, to be celebrated in 2018. The birth of the new states was accompanied by a twofold desire to ask questions about modernity and create a unique identity in a multi-faceted Europe. Considerable thought was therefore given to the forms which these identities should take in politics, society and the arts.

The goal of the conference is to explore notions of modernity and the avant-garde and their equivalents in theatre, dance and performance, by way of a dialogue between academics and artists from Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia. The former will present their most recent research on the theme of the avant-garde in the performing arts (including Dariusz KOSIŃSKI, Justyna MICHALIK and Dorota WALCZAK-DELANOIS) whilst the latter will address the conference to clarify the way in which their practices echo the reflections (political, artistic, aesthetic) born shortly after the First World War (in particular Joanna LEŚNIEROWSKA, Monika DROŻYŃSKA, Katarzyna CHMIELEWSKA-JANKOWSKA and Jakub TRUSZKOWSKI).

The dialogue will be the starting point for an in-situ performance journey specially created for the building of the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Bruxelles presented on 27 May 2018 as part of the project Remembering 1918 / European Dreams of Becoming Modern.
More information to follow…

PRACTICAL INFORMATION
>>> La Bellone – House of Performing Arts (Rue de Flandre 46, 1000 Brussels) – see map
>>> Thursay 23 and Friday 24 november 2017 – 10:00 > 17:00
>>> free entry
>>> The conference will be held entirely in English

PROGRAMME
         23 November (session open to public)        

9h30 – welcoming of the participants
10h – official opening of the conference
Sarah FLOCK (Université Libre de Bruxelles, ULB)
Martina PECKOVA ČERNA (Arts and Theatre Institute Prague)
Jitka PANEK JURKOVA (Czech Centre Brussels)
Anna VONDRACEK (Palais des Beaux-Arts)

10h45 – BLOCK I – First and Second Avant-Garde: Ruptures or Inspiration for todays’ theatre?
Moderator : Sarah FLOCK (ULB)

• Dorota WALCZAK-DELANOIS (ULB): Dance Me to the End of My Poem: A Short Story of Synergy between Poets, Dancers and Painters in the Polish Interwar Period
• Dagmar KROČANOVÁ (Comenius University, Bratislava, Slovakia): Between Appeal and Refusal: Notes on Slovak Literary and Theatre Avant-Garde in the Interwar Period
• Martina MUSILOVÁ (Université Masaryk, Brno, Czech Republic): As you make your bed so you must lie on it (Czech avant-garde in the period 1920s – 1950s)
• Dariusz KOSIŃSKI (Zbigniew Raszewski Theater Institute, Warsaw, Poland): Reclaimed Avant-garde

13h – lunch

14h15  – BLOCK II – Artists Face the Avant-Garde (Presentations and personal statements of artists involved in the artistic creation for 2018

• Miřenka ČECHOVÁ (dancer and director, Czech Republic)
• Stanislav DOBÁK (dancer, Slovakia) 

Moderator: Martina PECKOVÁ ČERNÁ

• Katarzyna CHMIELEWSKA-JANKOWSKA and Jakub TRUSZKOWSKI (dancers, Dada von Bzdulow dance company, Poland)
• Joanna LEŚNIEROWSKA (Poland)
• Monika DROŻYŃSKA (Poland)

Moderators: Edyta ZIELNIK and Anna GALAS-KOSIL

• Farid FAIRUZ (Romania)
• Agnia ŠEIJKO (Lithuania)
• Boglarka BÖRCSÖK (Hungary) 
• Johanne SAUNIER and Ine CLAES (Belgium)

Moderator: Iulia POPOVICI

         24 November (morning session open to public)        

10h – BLOCK III – First and Second Avant-Garde: Ruptures or Inspiration for todays’ theatre? (after 1945)
Moderator: Karel VANHAESENBROUCK

• Iulia POPOVICI (University of Arts Tîrgu Mureş/Márosvásárhely, Romania): Legacy of Romanian Avant-Garde
• Judit GALÁCZ (ELTE University): The Hungarian Theatre Avant-Garde and the Green Donkey Theatre
• Jitka PAVLIŠOVÁ (Czech Republic): Czech Dance Avant-Garde in the Context of Modern/Expressive Dance (R)evolution in Central Europe
• Justyna MICHALIK (Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciencies): Theater in un-obvious spaces – Cricot and Cricot 2

12h45 – lunch

14h30 – Discussions and preparations for the projects for 2018 (private session)

Monika DROŻYŃSKA
an artist, designer and initiator of collaborative projects presented in a public space, among others “The Point” (2004-2010), “Sew your cultural centre” (2008-2009), “Urban embroidery” (2010-2011). She participated in both individual and group exhibitions, among others at the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Zachęta National Art Gallery (2010-2013), Łaźnia Centre for Contemporay Art, Gdańsk (2008), Kronika Centre for Contemporary Art, Bytom (2013, 2014), Grand Theatre – National Opera, Warsaw (2011), MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art, Cracow (2010). Her works are in the collection of Bunkier Sztuki Gallery of Contemporary Art and National Museum in Cracow. She was a scholarship holder of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (2010) and the Visegrad Artist Residency Program (2012). She was a laureate of competitions Kulturysta of the Polish Radio Program 3 (2011) and Kulturalne Odloty of Gazeta Wyborcza (2008). Monika was also nominated to the award “Polityka” Passports (2012, 2013). She is a founder of the Hands of Gold Embroidery School for Ladies and Gentlemen and member of the collective Hands of Gold. Monika lives and works in Cracow.

Katarzyna CHMIELEWSKA-JANKOWSKA
graduated from the National Ballet School in Gdańsk (1984-1993), studied at
P.A.R.T.S in Brussels (1996-1997); in 1993-1994 danced at the Ballet Group of the Baltic
State Opera House in Gdańsk, and in Gdańsk Dance Theatre (1994-1995). Since 1992,
together with Leszek Bzdyl, she has run the Dada von Bzdülöw Theatre; since 2008
given the support of Gdansk City Council, regularly staging and presenting its repertoire
at Wybrzeże Theatre, Gdańsk. She holds the position of Artistic Director and Chief
Executive in Dada Theatre, since 2008 run in the form of Association (NGO). She has
been selected by the Polish Institute of Music and Dance /IMiT/ as one of the key coorganisers of 2019 Polish Dance Platform in Gdańsk. As part of her artistic career in the
theatre, she’s run workshops of contemporary dance technique and improvisation, eg.
Dada Hub at the Bay of Art in Sopot (annual choreographic summer workshop), she’s
made original choreographies, such as “so beautiful” (2002), “Complexion” (2007),
“FRUU” (2011), “Why don’t you like sadness? (2016), and co-created and appeared in
most dada productions, including “Magnolia” (2003), “Several Witty Observations”
(2004) / performance produced within Trans Dance Europe Network and shown eg. at
LaMaMa in New York (2006/07) or in India (2007) /, “Factor T” (2008) coproduced
with Dance Advance, Philadelphia & Art Station Foundation, Poznań; “Red Grass”
(2009), “Caffè Latte” (2009), “Le Sacre” (2010), “Invisible Duets” (2012) / performance
shown eg. in South Korea (2012) and China (2012) /, “Play it, so 17 dances about
something” (2013), “INTRO” (2015) / performance shown eg. in New York within
Rehearsal for Truth Festival in Sept 2017/, “Today, Everything” (premiere 2017). She’s
been a regular contributor to the performances of other choreographers eg. Roberto
Olivan, Malgven Gerbes and David Brandstätter, as well as has created scenic movement
for drama theatres. Awarded in 2012 by the Mayor of Gdańsk and Marshal of the
Pomeranian Region for lifetime outstanding artistic achievements.

prof. Dariusz KOSIŃSKI
a professor at the Performance Studies Department of the Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland. At the beginning of his career he researched the theory and history of 19th century acting, publishing two books on the subject and editing the series of source materials. Later he focused on the tradition he had called the Polish theatre of transformation, developed by the most important Polish artists from Adam Mickiewicz to Jerzy Grotowski. His main publications in the field are: “Polski teatr przemiany” (Wrocław 2007) i “Grotowski. Przewodnik” (Wrocław 2009). He is the author of the history of Polish theater and performances “Teatra polskie. Historie” (Warsaw 2010) – the book was also published in German and Chinese. From 2010 till the end of 2013 he was the programme director of the Grotowski Institute in Wrocław. He was the member of the editorial board of the Jerzy Grotowski collected texts, published in Polish in 2012. From 2014 he is the research director of the Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute in Warsaw. His latest publications include a book on the performances after the cathastrophy of the presidential plane in Smolensk (Teatra polskie. Rok katastrofy, Warsaw 2013), a monography of the early performances by Jerzy Grotowski (“Grotowski. Profanacje”, Wrocław 2015) and the collection of essays on performance studies (“Performatyka. W(y)prowadzenia”, Cracow 2016).

Joanna LEŚNIEROWSKA
a dramaturge, dance curator and performance maker. She published on dance for major Polish theatre papers and lectured on Polish choreography in universities in Poland (Poznań and Cracow) and at numerous conferences abroad; since 2004 she runs performative program of Art Stations Foundation (www.artstationsfoundation.pl) in Poznań (known as Old Brewery New Dance Programme) which presents the latest achievements in contemporary choreography and strongly supports choreographic development of Polish artists. In years 2011-2014 Lesnierowska was a member of Advisory Board for Music and Dance Institute in Warsaw. Parallel to her curatorial work, Joanna developed practice as an artistic coach to young choreographers and as a dramaturge and light designer to a number of Polish and international artists, including Janusz Orlik, Renata Piotrowska, Anna Nowicka, Arkadi Zaides, Lia Haraki, Jurij Konjar and Márta Ladjánszki. In 2003-2008 Joanna was coruning a dance collective and association Towarzystwo Gimnastyczne within which she co-created and toured three choreographic works. Since 2011 she creates also her own works (“reconstruction”, 2011; “…(rooms by the sea)”, 2014; “Leavening”, 2016; “blur”, 2017). For co-creation of a solo “Insight” (together with Janusz Orlik), in a frame of Polish Dance Platform 2014 she received the Polish Minister of Culture’s award for best choreography.

Justyna MICHALIK
a PhD student at the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences, co-editor of numerous books and exhibition catalogues published on the occasion of exhibitions organized by the Centre for the Documentation of the Art of Tadeusz Kantor “Cricoteka” in Cracow. Author of the book “Idea bardzo konsekwentna. Happening i Teatr Happeningowy Tadeusza Kantora” (Cracow, 2015). Member of Theatre Researchers Forum – a collective which promotes democratization of the discourse on theatre.

Jakub TRUSZKOWSKI
Jakub Truszkowski started his dance training in 1987 at the State Ballet School in Gdansk, where he obtained his degree in 1996. Between 1994 and 1996, as a student he performed in several classical pieces at the Opera House of Gdansk. In 1996 he was admitted to Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s contemporarry dance school P.A.R.T.S. After graduating in 1999 he joined the company Rosas where between 2000-2006 and 2010-2016, he performed in Drumming, Mozart / Concert Arias, Grosse Fuge and Mikrokosmos and participating to the creation of In Real Time, Rain, April Me, Repertory Evening XX, Bitches Brew / Tacoma Narrows and Kassandra. In 2007 he joined the company Les Ballets C de la B, dancing in Import Export and Ashes.
Between 2013-2015 he was a program coordinator at P.A.R.T.S. He is a guest teacher at P.A.R.T.S. And several other places including De Theaterschool / Amsterdam and The Folkwang University of the Arts / Essen, Springboard / Montreal and Rosas dance company.
As a rehearsal director, he staged Rosas repertory at P.A.R.T.S., Opéra de Lyon, Opéra de Paris, Gothemburg Opera and Companhia Nacional de Bailado of Portugal.
His personal creations include: Solo For The Projector, Bodyscapes, Walking Duet, Memory Reset, White Noise, Dzisiaj Wszystko.
He is a co-founder and a performer at The House of Bertha dance collective in Brussels.

Dorota WALCZAK-DELANOIS, PhD
a lecturer at the ULB, responsible for Polish language and culture who has authored several books on poetry, especially the Polish avant-garde. She serves on numerous editorial and academic boards, and on the Wisława Szymborska Award jury. Besides being a painter and poet, she is also a great lover of dancing.