RECOMMENDED for those supporting Ukraine and its people

Choreography, lighting design, music editing: Maciej Kuźmiński
Playwright: Paul Bargetto
Choreographer’s Assistant: Monika Witkowska
Photographer and documentary filmmaker: Anna Semenova
Video footage and editing: Paweł Szymkowiak, Aleksander Joachimiak
Producers: Polina Bulat, Maciej Kuźmiński
Choreographers and original cast: Daria Koval, Anna Myloslavska, Vitaliia Vaskiv, Anastasia Ivanova,
Monika Witkowska, Szymon Tur, Omar Karabulut, Judyta Pakulska (intern)
Dancers: Daria Koval, Anna Myloslavska, Vitaliia Vaskiv, Anastasia Ivanova, Monika Witkowska, Szymon Tur, Maciej Kuźmiński, Judyta Pakulska (2nd cast)
Premiere: August 25, 2022, Klub Żak, Gdańsk, Poland
Produced by Maciej Kuźmiński Company in collaboration with Klub Żak and Materia Łódź (as part of the Przestrzenie Sztuki program), the Creators for Ukraine fund (founded by CIAS and ZAIKS), and the Ukrainian Institute.
Performance duration: 55 min

Movie runtime: 25 min
Movie trailer: https://vimeo.com/838223224

Critics’ Corner**
“The piece was as oppressive as it was captivating. […] Horrifying in its origins, yet terrifyingly beautiful in its artistic execution.” Helmut Jasny, Westfälische Nachrichten / “Maciej Kuźmiński’s dance piece reminds us how real and intimate the experience of war can be—a full-fledged experience that permeates time, the space around us, our bodies, and our minds.” Justyna Stanisławska, taniecpolska.pl / “A land without time, a life without land. The choreography avoids explicit references and drama, yet it radiates the wisdom of a sensitive and multi-layered dance, an excellent group of dancers, and the audience’s ability to immerse themselves in every moment.” Melanie Suchy, TanzWeb NRW

Maciej Kuzminski’s dance performance *Every Minute Motherland* was created in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine and the resulting refugee crisis. It was created in collaboration with playwright Paul Bargetto, together with a Polish and Ukrainian team that included refugees.
The work is inspired by the dancers’ personal stories and is grounded in documentary practice. It explores the effects of trauma, displacement, and alienation within the broader context of war, identity, and the immutable forces of history and geography. Against the constant backdrop of television and social media, where war unfolds in a chillingly repetitive cycle, the piece refocuses our attention on the bodies of the witnesses, whose experiences are rewritten through movement and conveyed on stage over time as a kind of ritual myth.
From Mariupol to Kharkiv and everywhere else where the war began, culture and artists have become deliberate targets in an effort to destroy the Ukrainian nation. This performance is an act of resistance against these crimes and a declaration of solidarity with Ukraine.

Maciej Kuźmiński is a freelance Polish choreographer who has been creating works since 2014. His works are fundamentally based on deep, dynamic movement and revolve around existential and philosophical concepts. The artist’s works have been presented more than 400 times in 23 countries and have gradually gained international recognition.
The artist has created choreography for companies such as the Hessisches Staatsballett, the Landestheater Linz, the Staatstheater Kassel, and the Polish Dance Theater. His independent works, created for Maciej Kuźmiński’s company, have won more than 30 awards for choreography, making Kuźmiński one of the most frequently awarded Polish dance creators. https://eng.maciejkuzminski.com/

The festival is funded by #LithuanianCouncilforCulture and #KlaipėdaCityMunicipality