Rooms by the Sea. Exercises in Listening

Joanna Lesnierowska returns to rooms by the sea. 10 years after the premiere of “.../rooms by the sea/ an exercise in looking,” she is once again looking through Hopperian glasses at characters persistently traversing landscapes dense with micro gestures and sounds. She juxtaposes the external and internal worlds, offering us insights into ambiguous, yet at the same time familiar to all of us and felt with our bodies, states of suspension, alienation and longing for that which is more indefinable and which escapes words. Together with five performers, she reactivates the choreographic language she has been developing for more than a decade, seeking physical and visual representation for a polyphonic body: a body of many voices coexisting and struggling with the overload, the cacophony, the noise. Continuing her exploration at the intersection of choreography and visual art, she asks: Where are we heading after the global experience of forced isolation? Do we still feel trapped in Hopper’s images? And after decades of alienation by choice, do we desire and know how to hear each other and be together differently?

Joanna Leśnierowska – Since 2003, alongside her work as a choreography curator, Joanna has developed an independent practice as a visual dramaturge, choreographer, and composer of light and space—both in her own works and in collaborations with other Polish and international artists. Between 2003 and 2009, she co-founded Towarzystwo Gimnastyczne, and in 2011 she debuted as the author of the performance "Rekonstrukcja". In 2013, she co-created the solo piece "Insight" with Janusz Orlik, which was awarded Best Choreography at the 2014 Polish Dance Platform and was subsequently presented in Europe, Brazil, Palestine, and Israel. Driven by her ongoing interest in visual arts, particularly exploring the translation of creative strategies from new painting and (post)photography into performance, Joanna initiated a research cycle in 2014, resulting in performances such as "...(rooms by the sea). exercises in Looking" (2014), , and "BLUR" (2017). After her discovery of traces of Polish choreographer Yanka Rudzka in Brazil she created "ZACZYN" (2016) and "Polyphony" (2018), a dialogue among artists from Armenia, Brazil, Georgia, and Poland.