Study visit to Nowy Teatr

The meeting, which took place on 15 November and was attended by representatives of the dance community and the Warsaw Observatory of Culture, as well as architect Maciej Siuda, who will be working on adapting the Vistula Pavilion to the needs of the dance pilot programme. Olga Drygas, curator and head of the Nowy Teatr’s Program Cooperation Department, and technical director Tomasz Zin and his deputy Mateusz Andracki were our guides during the visit. We toured the theatre’s interior, which is located in the former MPO bus depot. We discussed the modernisation of the post-factory facilities and the state-of-the-art technical equipment. We were very impressed by the vastness of the theatre space, not only the stages but also the backstage area with dressing rooms, toilets and work areas: a technical workshop and storage area.

The second part of the meeting was held in the Świetlica building on the premises of Nowy Teatr. We shared our impressions of the tour and discussed how the building could inspire the modernisation of the Vistula Pavilion. The discussion focused on the building’s spatial and infrastructural limitations. We discussed issues related to expectations of the technical space and equipment that would provide comfortable working conditions for dancers and choreographers. We also considered the needs of the audience, including neurodivergent people and children. One crucial point we discussed was the role of the Vistula Pavilion in the broader context of the city’s cultural policy.

We record minutes and notes for all meetings and workshops related to the new municipal dance centre project. These records are accessible to all interested parties. If you want to learn more about the process of modelling dance institutions in Warsaw, please contact us at taniec@wok.art.pl.