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Dance

Małgorzata Bakalarz-Duverger PhD
Łucja Staszkiewicz
Related entry
Warsaw’s Performing Arts Scene
Since September 2023, the Warsaw Observatory of Culture has been supporting the process of laying the foundation for a dance institution in Warsaw – including the development framework and evaluation of the pilot year for Warsaw's Pavilion for Dance and Other Performing Arts.

Context

WOK’s role in the process of preparing the competition and pilot scheme was to bring together the Warsaw dance community, the Culture Office and the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw (MSN) in discussions to establish the terms of the competition and the vision for the redevelopment of the Pavilion on the Vistula, as well as to run educational workshops.

In May 2024, our role in this process changed: from being an institution that facilitated the process, WOK became a hub for the production of knowledge about dance – we supported the creation of the Dance Pavilion by sharing our expertise and providing intellectual inspiration to all those involved. We organised two series of interviews conducted by Joanna Leśnierowska. The first series, conducted in autumn 2024, featured Léo Chavaz (responsible for the programme of Pavillon ADC, Geneva); Rivca Rubin (co-director of Islington Mill, Salford); and Eva Broberg (manager of the European Dance Development Network), and concerned the institutionalisation of dance.

In 2025, we produced a series of interviews entitled What will dance make of us? Conversations on the agency of dance and choreography, exploring the potential of practising and engaging with dance. Those taking part in the discussions included, amongst others, Monica Gilette, Gwen Hsin-Yi Chang, Julia Asperska, Renata Piotrowska Auffret, Magdalena Przybysz and Katarzyna Słoboda.

What lies ahead?

In parallel with activities aimed at building a knowledge base, WOK, in collaboration with the Evaluation Centre, is conducting an analysis of the pilot year of the Pavilion of Dance and Other Performing Arts. Between April and December 2025, we carried out an evaluation of the competition for the Pavilion’s programme concept. Since January 2026, we have been carrying out an evaluation during the pilot year in consultation with the Pavilion team, which will run until November 2026. It will be summarised in a report, the release of which is scheduled for January 2027.

Opening of the Warsaw dance scene in the Vistula River Pavilion – Julia Hoczyk talks to Joanna Leśnierowska

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3 years ago
How is it possible that the capital of a Central European country with a population of almost 40 million does not yet have a venue dedicated to one of the most dynamically developing performing arts? - asks Joanna Leśnierowska in a conversation with Julia Hoczyk.

What do we do?

What will dance make of us? Talks about agency of dance and choreography

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11 months ago
To broaden the knowledge of dance and choreography, WOK is preparing a series of conversations with dance practitioners entitled What will dance make of us? developed by Joanna Leśnierowska. The aim of the series is to find answers to the question: What can regular contact with dance, and experiencing and practising it, offer us, each of us individually, and us as a community?

How to create a dance house? Joanna Leśnierowska in conversation with Eva Broberg

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2 years ago
We need stable long-term funded institutions to sustain the work and protect the community from multiple crises that are going to haunt us more and more. If you don't have any structure at all, if everything relies on independent artists and NGOs, all the competence is at risk and likely to be gone when hard times come.

Uniquely United. A talk with Rivka Rubin

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2 years ago
At the beginning of Upwording practice is anoticing the words in our communication and questioning why sometimes they have an impact opposite to our intention or don’t work at all, and instead of connecting people, words we use often land us into a spectrum that we’re so far apart from one another - says Rivca Rubin in a conversation with Joanna Leśnierowska.

Pavillion for Dance and Other Performance Arts. Launch of an open call for a year-long curatorial concept

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2 years ago
This is the moment that the Polish performing arts community has been waiting for. The competition for the year-long curatorial concept for the Pavilion for Dance and Other Performing Arts has been launched. The competition is organised by the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw. Entries are open and will be accepted via the pawilontanca.pl website.

Negotiating autonomy. An interview with Léo Chavaz about Pavillion ADC in Geneva

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2 years ago
In December 2023, as part of the development of the architectural concept of adapting the Vistula River Pavilion for the needs of the dance community, Joanna Leśnierowska and architect Maciej Siuda made several study visits to, among others, the Pavillon ADC in Geneva. The office of the Association for Contemporary Dance (ADC), which opened in 2021, turned out to be an exceptionally inspiring place – almost a twin building with almost identical floor plans, dimensions and organisation, which, similarly the Warsaw dance community fought for its own space for dozens of years and now successfully supports the local dance scene. Following the December visit, which resulted with numerous architectural inspirations, we spoke with ADC’s dramaturgist, Léo Chavaz, to find out how they think and work and how they support choreographers.

Meeting with Catja Loepfe, artistic and managing director of Tanzhaus Zürich

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2 years ago
On 18 March 2024, a meeting of representatives of the Warsaw dance community with Catja Loepfe, the artistic director of Tanzhaus Zürich (TZ), took place at WOK.Lab. The guest spoke about the establishment of the Swiss dance institution in the 1990s, its new premises and current activities within the broader framework of performance arts in the city.

Podsumowanie spotkania ze Slavą Gepnerem, dyrektorem TanzFaktur w Kolonii

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2 years ago
26 lutego 2024 roku Warszawskie Obserwatorium Kultury zorganizowało spotkanie przedstawicielek środowiska tanecznego ze Slavą Gepnerem, dyrektorem zarządzającym i artystycznym oraz pomysłodawcą TanzFaktur w Kolonii. Spotkanie miało na celu poznanie historii tej instytucji oraz zdobycie wiedzy o tym, jak budować nowe miejsce dla tańca, czego w tym procesie unikać oraz jak współpracować ze środowiskiem niezależnych tancerzy i choreografów. Spotkanie moderowała Joanna Leśnierowska.

Modelling a new institution – Summary of a meeting of the dance community with Maciej Siuda

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2 years ago
A meeting of the dance community with Maciej Siuda, architect and author of the Vistula Pavilion's functional and utility plan (PFU), was held at the WOK Lab space at ul. Marszałkowska 34/50 on 12 February. The plan’s development was preceded by workshops at the MSN (Museum of Contemporary Art) premises and study visits to the Pavillon ADC and Uferstudios and Radialsystem in Berlin).

Scena tańca współczesnego w Warszawie – wyzwania i oczekiwania. Badania fokusowe

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2 years ago
Na zlecenie Warszawskiego Obserwatorium Kultury IPSOS przeprowadził badania na temat nowej instytucji – sceny tańca współczesnego. Raport dostarcza informacji na temat potrzeb środowiska i oczekiwań publiczności, a także zawiera rekomendacje dotyczące założeń programu pilotażowego nowej sceny tańca. Jest to część prowadzonego przez WOK wieloetapowego procesu wspierającego powstawanie tej placówki.

Architecture Workshop with Maciej Siuda at the Museum of Modern Art. Report on a participatory workshop

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2 years ago
On Friday, 1 December 2023, an engaging workshop on architecture took place at the Museum of Modern Art at ul. Pańska 3. The session was led by Maciej Siuda, the mastermind behind the project to transform the Vistula River Pavilion into a dance centre. The event consisted of two modules: a presentation and a hands-on session. It successfully brought together a diverse group, including representatives from the theatre and dance communities specialising in directing, choreography, performance and architecture. Participants also included technical staff from Nowy Teatr and TR Warszawa and members of the Culture Office of the City of Warsaw.

Study visit to Nowy Teatr

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3 years ago
In mid-November, we visited the Nowy Theatre on ul. Madalińskiego as part of our work on planning the Warsaw Dance Centre. This time we were inspired by a post-industrial space adapted to the needs of a theatre.

Study visit to the Vistula pavilion

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3 years ago
At the beginning of November, we went on a study visit with representatives of the dance community to the Vistula Pavilion, which now houses the Museum of Modern Art. The pavilion will be adapted to meet the needs of a pilot dance programme next year.

Second workshop meeting on modelling a dance institution in Warsaw

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3 years ago
In October, the second workshop for the dance community took place at the Warsaw Observatory of Culture. This is the next stage of the work on modelling a new dance institution in Warsaw. The meeting was attended by representatives of dance organisations, the Culture Bureau of the City of Warsaw and WOK. The workshop was chaired by Joanna Leśnierowska.

First workshop meeting

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3 years ago
Elise Bernhardt led a workshop which launched a study aimed at facilitating the process of modelling a dance institution in Warsaw.

Research

Here you can find a research related to the performing arts that we are involved in.

Warsaw’s Performing Arts Scene

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3 years ago
At the Warsaw Observatory of Culture, we carefully monitor the contemporary artistic landscape and the mechanisms that condition it. We are interested in the changes that are currently taking place in this field.

Dance. Research the working conditions

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3 years ago
At WOK, Marta Seredyńska is researching the working conditions of freelancers working in the field of contemporary and conceptual dance.

Well-being. Well-art. Well-dance

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3 years ago
The Warsaw Observatory of Culture was a partner of an international discussion panel during the 22nd edition of the Ciało/Umysł Festival. Our research interests are close to the topic of the state of the creative sector, taking into account the psychophysical well-being and working conditions of people working in the cultural sector, which, among other things, was the subject of the meeting on 7 October 2023.

 

If you would like to receive updates from WOK on the next stages of the process, please contact taniec@wok.art.pl. 

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dance workshop 2023