In the beginning was darkness and cold fires

The performance , “In the beginning was darkness and cold fires” inspired by the works of Stanislaw Lem, combining the moving body, visualization and music. The leading means of expression is movement. Using the tools of contemporary dance, improvisation and body exploration, we enter into a dialogue with the surrounding world, change and evolution. The performance was created through a collective process, using ecosomatic choreographic practices and an extended research process on the topic of technology and the environment. Planet Earth is visited by o n i - those from outer space, from a distant galaxy, from a depth not covered by the reason of the small-minded Earthling. They look at humans, observe, analyze their gestures, weaknesses betrayed by involuntary movements of the lips or larynx, body posture towards others and during sleepless lonely nights. Their presence forces Earthlings to ask a series of questions and make a futile attempt to understand the incomprehensible. Are we living in an endless experiment that will lead our body to caricature? Will the body always be subject to political strife? Will there be parties that will remove unnecessary organs from the human body? Will it be possible to restore a human being shattered into atoms and “reassemble” him? What about nature? Will we long for unmodified corporeality? Will we long for the face of another person? The author of “The Star Diaries” looks into the soul of man with incredible perspicacity. In his stories he crosses the boundaries of human understanding and raises questions about the possibility of dialogue with what is radically alien to us.

Adrianna Kazimierz - performer, dance theater actress and choreographer. Graduate of the Department of Dance at the Academy of Music in Katowice. Member of the informal PLUR collective of Komuna Warszawa residency, creator of the performance M4G1C BL0W. Resident of Lublin Dance Theater and choreographer of the performance , “My pleasure lies at the tip of my tongue”. Creator and performer of the performance , “In the beginning there was darkness and cold fires” Barakah Theater. Assistant to the choreographer Jakub Lewandowski of the performance , “Doesn't one beat horses?”. Wroclaw Pantomime Theater. Creator of the HU-MAN project, Point 11 Bielsko Biala. Since 2022 she has been cooperating with the Piramowicz Institute as a choreographer in the performance productions “My Illuminations” and a dancer in “The King-Duch czyli Słowacki w Metaversum” as part of OFF POLSKA. Choreographer and initiator of the social project SZELEST 432Hz in Bielsko Biala. Winner of the ZAIKS “Vibrations” choreographic competition. In 2020-22 she collaborated with Art Spaces Katowice and Katowice City of Gardens, among others in the performance , “Bright Future” chor. by Anna Mikuła. As a dance theater actress, she collaborated in Clair Howells and Uwe Koehler's production, Novas Invasões Portugal, in the performance “I'll come back here for my heart” choreographed by Jacek Łuminski, Low states” chor. Omar Karabulut, and “Reformulation Exercises” chor. Katarzyna Kania. As an actress, she played in the drama “Materials for the Life of Gelileus” dir. Sebastian Majewski and short films. She completed the Graham Teacher Workshop MARTHAGRAHAM SCHOOL OF CONTEMPORARY DANCE, Screen and Stage by Sharon Reshef Armony, View Points by Laura Wayth, Repertoire /Composition Peeping Tom, a six-month composition course with Hilke Diemer and many others. Martyna Dyląg -A graduate of the Academy of Theater Arts in Cracow at the Department of Dance Theater in Bytom. Actress in the cast of the play “Musical about the musical Metro” (dir. R. Wasiewicz, M. Miętus, Komuna/Warszawa) the play “Mokosz” (chor. E. Makohon, Rozbark Theater) “Till tomorrow, till tomorrow!” (directed by M. Sajur, Rozbark Theater). Co-creator and performer in the play “Social SPA” (Art Spaces Lublin). Actress in the play “The Sufferings of Young Werther” (directed by M. Spiss, Fredry Theater in Gniezno), “Theory of Fatigue” directed by Bartek Juszczak. In a performative reading as part of the festival “Playing with Kantor”(Cricoteka/Krakow). She performs in the play “Love in Pieces” (directed by Iwona Kempa, Teatr Nowy Proxima in Cracow). Her choreographic work can be seen at the Barakah Theater in Cracow in the play “Rosemary” and “Requiem for Dreams”, directed by M. Nowicki, and at the Polish Theater in Bydgoszcz in the play “Fight Club, or Men's Circles”, directed by M. Osowicki. And in the play “Sphincters”, directed by Bartek Juszczak and Marcel Osowicki at the Polish Theater in Szczecin. This year's grantee of the City of Cracow under which she will realize her performance “In the beginning there was darkness and cold fires. Co-creator of the performance “My pleasure lies at the tip of my tongue” selected in the competition for chamber premiere solo/duo (art spaces Lublin). Among others, she performs in “Flora” and “Soliloquium” (directed by K. Monwid-Olechnowicz) In the film “No Beast. So Fierce” of Polish/German production, directed by Burhan Qurban. Jori Gerula - dancer, actress, graduate of the Stanislaw Wyspianski Academy of Theater Arts in Krakow, Department of Dance Theater. She performed in the plays “Do Tomorrow, Do Tomorrow!” directed by Maciej Sajur (Rozbark Theater, Bytom) and “MOKOSZ” choreographed by Erik Makohon (Rozbark Theater, Bytom), for her role in which she received an honorable mention at the 40th Theater School Festival in Lodz. Co-creator of the dance theater performance “Lublin Labyrinth of Memory” created as part of the Scholarship of the Mayor of the City of Lublin, choreographed by Anna Puzio in December 2022. She has performed in music videos by Polish artists including Apple Blossom titled “The Dusk”. “Twilight” and Sanah's ‘Cologne and Shlugi’. She has performed in projects with the Cracow Art Color Ballet under the direction of Agnieszka Glinska. Dancer in the dance theater performance “United States of Solidarity” chor. Agnieszka Jachym (ECS, Gdansk 2024). Co-creator and performer in the dance theater performance “My pleasure lies at the tip of my tongue” realized in the framework of the program Spaces of Art - Dance (Lublin Dance Theater, Cultural Center in Lublin 2024). Co-creator and performer in the dance theater performance “In the beginning there was darkness and cold fires” realized within the framework of the Creative Scholarship of the City of Krakow (Barakah Theater,Krakow 2024). Since 2024, she has been working with Artur Grabarczyk's h.art dance company, where she performed in the performance “Incredibly Close” and de(light). In her work she seeks connections between dance and other artistic media. Jakub Kotynia - Set designer, visual artist, creator of stage lighting. Graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow. Author of, among others, stage design, light, visualization for the plays “Fight Club, or Men's Circles” (Polish Theater in Bydgoszcz), “Fatigue Theory” (KTO Theater) “Hamlet's Transformation” (Shakespeare Festival), “Social SPA” (Lublin Dance Theater, shown, among others. Warsaw Theater Meetings, and the international Kontrapunkt Festival in Szczecin), stage design and visualization for “Moby Dick” (Wroclaw Pantomime Theater), or visualization for the opera “I, Sekure” by Aleksander Nowak (Slowacki Theater in Krakow, presented at the Malta Festival). Founder of the audio-visual duo komat.studio in which he focuses on the synergy of visual and audio experiences. Michal Smajdor - composer, music producer, percussionist. Born in 2001 in Tarnow, Poland. He studies composition at the K. Penderecki Academy of Music in Cracow. His compositions have been performed by the Contemporary Ensemble Music Cooperative and at the Sacrum Profanum festival. He also writes music for theater productions that have been performed at the Boska Komedia Theater Festival (Promise Me There Won't Be a War, directed by Dominika Przybyszewska), at the AST Theater in Krakow (Grzybobranie / Nuclear Winter, directed by Piotr Wach), at the KTO Theater (Theory of Fatigue, directed by Bartłomiej Juszczak), at the Barakah Theater (At the beginning there was darkness and cold fires, choreo. Martyna Dyląg, Jori Gerula, Adrianna Kazimierz) and at the Shakespeare Festival in Gdansk (Hamlet's Transformation, directed by Piotr Wach).