10.04
pt
19:00
11.04
SAT
19:00
Event dates
, directed by Wojciech Grudziński
bow
BOW is a continuation of Wojciech Grudziński’s multi-stage exploration of the technique of headbanging and the nature of the bow—its form, function, and social significance. The project has evolved gradually: from his thesis project BOW A STUDY (2023) at DAS Theatre – Academy of Theatre and Dance in Amsterdam, through a presentation of the BOW process. A return visit during the Body/Mind Festival in 2025, all the way to the full premiere, produced in collaboration with the Pavilion and the Body/Mind Foundation. Earlier stages explored the gesture of gratitude and the subversive meaning of the very phrase “a nod toward someone or something.” A simple shift in context is enough for this seemingly innocent nod to become a gesture of political recognition or social consent.
Now Grudziński expands this exploration, shifting the focus to the relationship between the dancers and the audience. Who is truly submitting, and who is taking control? What happens at the moment of the bow? Whom does this gesture truly serve? The relationship between the performer and the audience becomes the central element of the experience. The artist exposes the vulnerable back of their head to the gaze of the audience, revealing the most sensitive part of the body—not only as a private, individual being, but as a carrier of history, norms, and social conditions. Each bow becomes a dialogue with the audience: their gaze, presence, and interpretation interact with the performance, creating an intimate, tense, and meaningful space.
During the performance on April 10 (Friday), we provide childcare for children aged 3–11. Details about childcare can be found in the News section.
Following the performance on April 11 (Saturday), there will be a discussion with the artists, interpreted into Polish Sign Language.
Now Grudziński expands this exploration, shifting the focus to the relationship between the dancers and the audience. Who is truly submitting, and who is taking control? What happens at the moment of the bow? Whom does this gesture truly serve? The relationship between the performer and the audience becomes the central element of the experience. The artist exposes the vulnerable back of their head to the gaze of the audience, revealing the most sensitive part of the body—not only as a private, individual being, but as a carrier of history, norms, and social conditions. Each bow becomes a dialogue with the audience: their gaze, presence, and interpretation interact with the performance, creating an intimate, tense, and meaningful space.
During the performance on April 10 (Friday), we provide childcare for children aged 3–11. Details about childcare can be found in the News section.
Following the performance on April 11 (Saturday), there will be a discussion with the artists, interpreted into Polish Sign Language.
Duration: 40 minutes
The performance contains loud music
Sensitive content (partial nudity)
The performance features intense lighting effects (including strobe lights) and smoke
Sensitive content (suicide-related topics)
The performance is recommended for viewers aged 16 and over.
Childcare available
COMPANY
Concept and choreography: Wojciech Grudziński
Performance and dance: Tamara Briks, Wojciech Grudziński, Ana Kuszarecka
Music: Wojciech Blecharz
Lighting: Jacqueline Sobiszewski
Video: Rafał Dominik
Costumes: Marta Szypulska
Artistic collaboration: Igor Cardellini
People involved in earlier stages of the project: Joanna Ostrowska, Szymon Adamczak, Katarzyna Szugajew, Billy Morgan, Klaudia Hartung-Wójciak, Miguel Angel Melgares, Marta Keil
Photography: Pat Mic
Performance and dance: Tamara Briks, Wojciech Grudziński, Ana Kuszarecka
Music: Wojciech Blecharz
Lighting: Jacqueline Sobiszewski
Video: Rafał Dominik
Costumes: Marta Szypulska
Artistic collaboration: Igor Cardellini
People involved in earlier stages of the project: Joanna Ostrowska, Szymon Adamczak, Katarzyna Szugajew, Billy Morgan, Klaudia Hartung-Wójciak, Miguel Angel Melgares, Marta Keil
Photography: Pat Mic
Producer: Pavilionof Dance and Other Performing Arts
Co-producer:Body/MindFoundation
Co-producer:Body/MindFoundation
Dancer and choreographer. Graduate of the General Ballet School in Warsaw and the CODARTS contemporary dance department at the Rotterdam Dance Academy in the Netherlands. In 2023, he completed a master's program at the DAS Graduate School – Academy of Theater and Dance at the University of Amsterdam. In 2024, he was a resident at Cité internationale des arts x CN D in Paris. For his "performances, in which virtuoso execution is combined with a thoughtful attempt to convey personal experience, and matters of the highest importance – with a sense of humor and distance," he was awarded the first ever Polityka Passport in the Stage category in 2025. He is an artist associated with Frascati Producties in Amsterdam. He is a scholarship holder of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage (2017, 2021), winner of an artistic scholarship from the City of Warsaw (2021) and Dutch programs such as Schuurman Schimmel-van Outeren Stichting (2012/2013) and Stichting Bekker-laBastide-Fonds (2013). In 2018, he was awarded a study visit to Movement Research at Judson Church in New York, organized in cooperation with GPS/Global Practice Sharing Program, Art Stations Foundation, and the Institute of Music and Dance. He realizes his own choreographic projects. In 2016–2017, he created the solo works SLAVE4YOU and PAX. In 2018, as a resident of the Art Stations Foundation (Solo Projekt Plus), he created POPULUXE, which qualified for the Polish Dance Platform 2019. In 2019, he created RODOS (produced by Komuna Warszawa), which was recognized in the TOP10 ranking of the weekly magazine Polityka. In 2021, the performance DANCE MOM, created in collaboration with the artist's mother, Ewa Grudzińska, premiered. In recent years, he has presented BOW: A STUDY (2023, premiere at the Santarcangelo Festival), THREESOME (2024, co-production of Belluard Bollwerk and Nowy Teatr), TEACH ME NOT! (2025, co-production of Zodiak – Centre for New Dance, Wojciech Grudziński, Nowy Teatr, and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute), and CUTE & AWKWARD (Frascati Production and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute).
Wojciech Grudziński
