Commission

Joanna Żygowska
Researcher and curator of art for children, graduate of Polish studies and theater studies at the Adam Mickiewicz University (AMU) in Poznań.
Joanna Brych
Author of interviews, reviews and articles on dance.
Stefan Drajewski
Theater, ballet and music critic.
Katarzyna Gardzina
Journalist, music and ballet critic.
Natalia Gorzelańczyk
Creative and executive producer, popularizer of DANCE MARKETING.
Adam Kamiński
Curator of the Mandala Performance Festival, President of the JEST CZŁOWIEK association, cultural animator
Edyta Kozak
Choreographer, dancer, curator, producer.
Hanna Strzemiecka
Founder, choreographer, and long-time artistic director.
Małgorzata Dzierżoń
Choreographer, dance teacher and producer
Jadwiga Majewska
Critic, researcher theoretician, curator, editor, lecturer, and translator.

Joanna Żygowska

Researcher and curator of art for children, graduate of Polish studies and theater studies at the Adam Mickiewicz University (AMU) in Poznań.

Joanna Żygowska is a researcher and curator of art for children, graduate of Polish studies and theater studies at the Adam Mickiewicz University (AMU) in Poznań. Żygowska is the head of the Children’s Art Center and member of the Children’s Literature and Culture Research Team at AMU. She has co-created such festivals as the Children’s Art Biennial and the International Film Festival. In the past, she co-created artistic and educational projects under the auspices of cultural institutions and NGOs. She is the author of the scholarly monograph “Skrzydła dla dzieci. Teatr poetycki Krystyny Miłobędzkiej” (Wings for Children. Krystyna Miłobędzka’s poetic theater), editor of books in the series “Sztuka i Dziecko” (Art and the Child) and  “Nowe Sztuki dla Dzieci i Młodzieży” (New Arts for Children and Young People). 

Joanna Brych

Author of interviews, reviews and articles on dance.

A contributor to the “Polityka” and “Przegląd” weeklies, as well as Przekroj.pl, taniecPOLSKA(pl), “Kultura Liberalna” and “Ruch Muzyczny,” Joanna Brych is a graduate of the Faculty of Law and Administration at the University of Warsaw. In 2011-2013 she completed Postgraduate Studies in Dance Theory at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. 

Between 2012 and 2014, Brych initiated and organized a series of meetings “Stars of Polish Ballet” and workshops “Little Terpsichore,” addressed to children and combining dance theory and history with dance practice. In 2018-2022, she ran the blog “Zapraszam do tańca” as part of Polityka.pl’s blogosphere, where she published several hundred posts dedicated to the art of dance (https://taniec.blog.polityka.pl/, currently at http://www.joannabrych.pl/). 

Joanna Brych is a member of the Dance and Ballet Section of the Union of Polish Stage Artists.  

Stefan Drajewski

Theater, ballet and music critic.

A graduate of Polish Studies at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, he holds the title of Doctor of Arts (music theory) and is Assistant Professor at the Academy of Music in Poznań. Drajewski is also an active theater, ballet, and music critic. 

He contributes to the “Ruch Muzyczny” periodical and the taniecpolska.pl and Kultura u Podstaw websites. He has written on ballet and opera for theater program booklets. He is the co-author (with Jagoda Ignaczak) of “Polski Teatr tańca 1973-2024. Historia ludzie, idee” (Polish Dance Theater 1973-2024. History people, ideas), published in 2023. 

In 2021, he published a collection of opera and ballet reviews entitled “Z dziesiątego rzędu” (From the tenth row). In addition, he has the following books to his credit: “Zatańczyć. Studia na polskim baletem i teatrem tańca” (To Dance. Studies on Polish Ballet and Dance Theater) (2019), „Ekfraza dzieła muzycznego w choreografiach Conrada Drzewieckiego” (Ekphrasis of a Musical Work in Conrad Drzewiecki’s Choreographies) (2017), “Conrad Drzewiecki. Reformator polskiego baletu” (Conrad Drzewiecki: A Reformer of Polish Ballet) (2014) and the extended interview “Życie z tańcem. Rozmowy z Olgą Sawicką, primabaleriną polskiego baletu” (A Life with Dance: Conversations with Olga Sawicka, a Polish Primaballerina) (2009). Together with Jerzy Borwinski, he co-authored “Teatr Polski w Poznaniu” (The Polski Theater in Poznan) (2015). 

He has published articles and sketches in collective books, among others: “Reprezentacje i konstrukty dzieciństwa w literaturze oraz kulturze XX i XXI wieku” (Representations and Constructs of Childhood in Literature and Culture of the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries) (2022), “Współczesny dramat i teatr wobec wojny, przemocy i uchodźstwa” (Contemporary Drama and Theater in the Face of War, Violence and Exile) (2018), “Biblia w dramacie” (The Bible in Drama) (2018), “Jazz w kulturze polskiej” (Jazz in Polish Culture) (vol. 3. – 2019 and vol. 4. – 2022), “Teatr Nowy w latach 1973-1987 pod dyrekcją Izabelli Cywińskiej” (The Nowy Theater between 1973 and 1987 Under the Direction of Izabella Cywinska) (2013). 

Katarzyna Gardzina

Journalist, music and ballet critic.

She graduated from the Faculty of Applied Linguistics and Philology, as well as the Faculty of Journalism at the University of Warsaw, also majoring in Dance Theory at the F. Chopin Academy of Music (2005). She has collaborated with the leading professional Polish music magazines, including “Ruch Muzyczny,” “Muzyka21,” “Twoja Muza,” “Playbill – Scena Polska,” “Place for Dance,” as well as the magazines of the Warsaw and Poznań opera houses. She has published in theater programs for ballet performances and in the local press. She is currently a publishing specialist at the Polish Royal Opera House. She runs the ballet blog “Na czubkach palców” (On her toes) (www.naczubkachpalcow.pl). 

  

Natalia Gorzelańczyk

Creative and executive producer, popularizer of DANCE MARKETING.

Natalia Gorzelańczyk is a member of the Selection Committee for the Polish Dance Platform 2024 (organized by the National Institute of Music and Dance). She is also the producer of a dance marketing campaign for the MissiSleepy company (2023), and author of the #NIETAŃJAKCIZAGRAJĄ project (as part of the Santander Foundation’s program: Hacks for Cyberattacks, implemented by the Poznań Science and Technology Park, 2022). 

Since 2022, she has guest-lectured on marketing at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. Between 2019 and 2021, she was involved in the production and promotion of the Art Stations Foundation by Grażyna Kulczyk. She graduated in Theater Studies at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and in Management (major: marketing) at WSB University in Poznań. A panelist of the 3rd Dance Congress organized by the National Institute of Music and Dance, she is also a co-initiator of the grassroots group Performative Women Producers. 

Adam Kamiński

Curator of the Mandala Performance Festival, President of the JEST CZŁOWIEK association, cultural animator

Adam Kamiński is a curator, coordinator of numerous performing arts and contemporary dance projects, including 2016 ECC Movement Laboratory “Creative Vibrations,” “Art in Action,” “Dance Vibrations,” “Interdisciplinary Fringe Festival,” as well as the program implemented at the Impart Art Center (2009-2013).  

He has collaborated with Anna Królica in the projects “Make love, not war,” “The fifth side of the world”, and “Dance-Guide.”  

An organizer of dance workshops with Polish and foreign choreographers and dancers, Kamiński was a member of the Jury of the Polish Dance Platform in the years: 2008, 2014, 2024. 

He is an author of texts on dance and action art, and a member of the Open Forum of Dance Art Communities. 

Kamiński has collaborated with the National Institute of Music and Dance in a number of projects on education and promotion of Polish dance. He is the originator and curator of the program “Wrocław Dancing,” and a member of the scholarship commission in the category of dissemination of culture at the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in 2012 – 2014. In 2017, he was awarded a scholarship of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. 

Edyta Kozak

Choreographer, dancer, curator, producer.

With her ties to the dance scene dating back more than 30 years, Edyta Kozak is a former soloist of the Grand Theater in Warsaw and Stadttheater Bern in Switzerland.  

A graduate of the National Ballet School and the Academy of Music in Warsaw, Kozak has made for one of the most spectacular examples of breaking with classical ballet and turning to contemporary dance, to the point of fascination with its experimental forms and the conceptual non-dance current. She is an author of performances and choreographies, and a curator of independent art-related projects developed in Poland and abroad. 

Kozak was the initiator and organizer of the first Polish Dance Platform “taniec.pl” held in Warsaw in 2003, as well as a member of the selection committee in the subsequent editions of the event (2008, Poznań; 2017, Bytom).  

For more than a decade she was a Polish partner and expert of the European networks Aerowaves and Apap Open Latitude.  

She is the founder and artistic director of the Body/Mind Foundation, as well as the creator of the original program of the 22nd edition of the International Body/Mind Festival. 

She was a juror of the “Young Dancer of the Year” competition (2015) and Solo Dance Contest (2023), as well as a member of the prestigious Competition Chapter in the “Pearls of Dance” competition. 

Kozak has won numerous awards and scholarships, including the award of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage for promoting the art of dance. 

www.edytakozak.pl 

Hanna Strzemiecka

Founder, choreographer, and long-time artistic director.

Founder, choreographer, and long-time artistic director of the Lublin Dance Theatre and the Contemporary Dance Group of the Lublin University of Technology, as well as a long-standing artistic director of the International Dance Theatres Festival in Lublin.

For many years, she collaborated with the independent amateur artist student movement that was created within the University of Technology in Lublin dance ensemble. She is the author of over 40 choreographies and dance theatre pieces that were presented at leading festivals in Poland and abroad.

In 2012, she joined the National Institute of Music and Dance as a member of the Artistic Committee of the Polish Dance Platform (2012-2014, 2024) and the Programming Board for Dance (2015-2017). In recognition of her contributions to culture, she was awarded a number of awards such as the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage Lifetime Award (2010), the Silver Cross of Merit (2014), the silver and bronze Medals of the Mayor of the City of Lublin (awarded in 2006 and 2016, respectively), and the Medal of the 700th Anniversary of the City of Lublin (2017).

Małgorzata Dzierżoń

Choreographer, dance teacher and producer

She has performed with, among others, Rambert, Gothenburg Ballet and Royal Danish Ballet and made guest appearances with Wayne McGregor and the Ballet Boyz. She has danced full length classical productions as well as neo-classical and contemporary works by Balanchine, Neumeier, Béjart, Forsythe, Cunningham, Tankard, Duato, Bruce and Wheeldon, receiving nominations for the Spotlight and Outstanding Female Dancer Award in the UK National Critics’ Circle Awards.

She has taught at the Royal Academy of Dance and, as a guest lecturer, at the Royal Ballet School and Central School of Ballet in London. She was an artist-in-residence at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts in 2020. She worked for many years as the artistic director and producer at Fertile Ground and New Movement Collective. As a choreographer she was commissioned by dance companies, schools and galleries including Rambert, Sopot Dance Theatre, Hong Kong APA, Ballet Central, Serpentine Gallery and English National Ballet (Dance Journeys) among others.

She joined Wrocław Opera as a Ballet Director in August 2022.

http://www.malgorzatadzierzon.com

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Jadwiga Majewska

Critic, researcher theoretician, curator, editor, lecturer, and translator.

She graduated in religious studies from Jagiellonian University.

She is writing about dance, theatre, and art. She has published, inter alia, in the “Teatr” monthly, “Didaskalia”, Znak” „Res Publica Nowa” „dwutygodnik.pl”.

She is the author and the editor of numerous book publications on dance, theatre, and performative arts in both Polish and English language.

Majewska was a member of the editorial board of Słownik tańca XX i XXI wieku (Dictionary of Twentieth and Twenty-First Century Dance) and author of many dictionary entries.

She has led artistic, research and educational projects as a curator in Poland and abroad.

Majewska has served on the juries of Polish and international dance and performance competitions and platforms and is an expert of the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. A member of the first Program Council of the Institute of Music and Dance (2010-2013), author and curator of MAKT (Mobile Academy of Dance Criticism),

She initiated and directed the International Steps Contemporary Dance Festival in Krakow (2013-2018), and together with Mikołaj Mikołajczyk the Studio Dance Stage at the Studio Theatre in Warsaw.

She is a recipient of numerous prizes and scholarships. She is a member of the Dance Critics Association, Congress of Research in Dance, The International Dance Council CID, Polish Society for the Theatre Research, Polish Choreological Forum and was one of the founding members and firs president of the Forum of Dance Art Communities. In September 2022, she was named President of the Board of the European Network of Information Centres for Performing Arts (ENICPA).

In October 2019 she joined the Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute in Warsaw as head of the Research and Publishing Department. From February 2022 she has been the director’s plenipotentiary for publishing, foreign affairs, and the Spaces of Art program.