Every Minute Motherland is a dance performance created by Maciej Kuzminski and devised using documentary methods in response to the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and the refugee crisis that followed it. The performance was made with a Polish-Ukrainian team including refugees in collaboration with the dramaturg Paul Bargetto.
The piece is inspired by the personal stories of the dancers and based on extensive laboratory work. It explores the effects of trauma, exile, and alienation set against larger themes of war, identity, and the immovable forces of history and geography. With the constant daily background of television and social media where the war plays out in numbing repetition, the piece refocuses our attention on the bodies of the winessess, whose experiences will be released on stage transcribed in motion and time and reaching for the spirit of ritual and myth.
From Mariupol to Kharkhiv, and everywhere else the war has come, culture and artists have been made deliberate targets in an attempt to destroy Ukrainian nation. This project is an act of resistance to these crimes and a statement of solidarity with Ukraine.
Maciej Kuźmiński Company as part of the residency/premiere 2022 project Club Żak in partnership with Materia Łódź (Spaces of Art programme), Creators for Ukraine foundation (founded by CIAS and ZAIKS) and the Ukrainian Institute.
The Spaces of Art programme is financed by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and implemented by the National Institute of Music and Dance and the Zbigniew Raszewski Theatre Institute. Operator: Materia, partners: the Grażyna and Kiejstut Bacewicz Academy of Music in Łódź, the City Culture Zone, the Art Centre and the City of Łódź.
Maciej Kuźmiński
Choreographer, teacher and producer. Creator and director of the first Polish Dance Network in 2018-2022. His independent works form the repertoire of Maciej Kuźmiński Company. Since 2014 Kuźmiński’s works have been performed over 300 times in 21 countries. He created works for Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, Landestheater Linz, Staatstheater Kassel and Polish Dance Theater among others. Honored with over twenty international awards and distinctions for his original works created with the Maciej Kuźmiński Company. Graduated with distinction from BA Dance Theater and Masters Choreography degrees from Trinity Laban Conservatory in London