Walks I've never taken

“Walks I’ve Never Taken” is a poetic performance about paths we never took – but which still live within us. Inspired by the spirit of Gospodinov’s Time Shelter, it creates a space of stopped time: not to return, but to take refuge from the hustle and bustle of the present. It is a theatre of tenderness and melancholy – towards individual fates that never came true, and towards collective memory, which echoes history, migrations and forgotten stories. From movement, gesture and silence, worlds are created that never existed, but still shape us.

KATARZYNA LESZEK Dancer, choreographer, teacher. Co-founder of Studio Nieznane (Poznań, 2024), co-founder of the Nieznany Dance Theatre (2018), vice-president of the TT Nieznany Association (2023) Graduate: Dance in Physical Culture with a specialization in Dancer-choreotherapist at the Poznań Academy of Physical Education (bachelor's degree), choreography at the Academy of Music in Łódź (master's degree), the Experimental Choreography Course at the Centrum w Ruchu in Warsaw (2020/2021) and Pedagogical Studies (1st and 2nd degree) at the Academy of Music in Łódź. She participated in the International Dance Program of the Vertigo Dance Company (Jerusalem, Israel) and graduated from the International Contemporary Dance Program at the Nuova Officina Della Danza school (Turin, Italy). Since 2021, she has been collaborating with Teatr Nowszy (Łódź). She is the author of the choreography for the play 'PO', based on the concept of Sara Kozłowska (2nd edition of the Szklarnia_Inkubator Teatralny Przestrzenie Sztuki Łódź competition). Multiple winner of prestigious choreographic competitions of national and international rank, including: International Solo Dance Contest as part of the 13th Gdańsk Dance Festival for the work "illusions of shameless abundance" (1st prize, 2021), Choreographic competition to the music of the Polish composer ZAIKS for the work 'Duet for cello, piano & a heartbeat' co-created with Kacper Szklarski (3rd prize, 2023), Warsaw Choreographic Competition for the work 'Duet for cello, piano & a heartbeat' (1st prize, audience award and invitation to the Mandala Dance Festival in Wrocław and to the Kaleidoscope Festival in Białystok, 2023), choreographic competition as part of the International Dance Theatre Festival My Dance in Tarnów for the work 'holy melancholy' (1st prize, 2022). The Holy Melancholy performance was also distinguished by Anna Królica in the annual survey of the monthly magazine ‚Teatr’ in the category of the Best Dance Performance in the 2022/2023 season. In her movement practices, she works mainly with improvisation, the broadly understood language of contemporary dance, as well as with sensitivity to her own body and the processes occurring in it.