Prague journey
 

In order to find the way to white, bright rooms of Studio Berlin, first you have to go through dark backyard, pass damp staircase and climb up to the second floor taking wooden stairs. The latest show of Koncentrat Artistic Group is being played in warsaw district of Prague, at building on Inżynierska 3, where studios and galeries can be found. It is there, where as informed by wall plate, works artist and performer - Paweł Althamer. Nearby you can find fashionable pubs, in dark gates shimmer colourful shrines, and on the opposite side of the street, among old buildings scares new, glass structure of "television superstation".

The audience sit on the chairs put in various places of the bright kitchen, where - following scenography - a wild party has taken place. On the table, standing in the middle of the room, there are crackers, sticks, cookies. Whereas on the table by the wall, there are empty Champagne bottles. The only thing that is missing are drunk guests laying on the dirty floor. From a pile of white blocks, which seemed to be an old stove, a young, atractive woman jumps out. Choreographers, Anka Jankowska and Rafał Dziemidok decided to put in the leading role a dancer performing withWytwórnia Theater and Good Girl Killers group. Magda Jędra, a dancer with great technique, is dressed in white-silver dress with glitter. Nawrotnik stretches the space, makes extraordinary moves and activities. Provokes, not seeing the audience, or pretending not to see them; in just a second It will be leading them through other rooms. It goes to a kitchen, takes a piece of toilet paper, cleans Its nose, and repeats the action several times. It leans back against walls, goes though groups of people. It tries to go back to the place It came from; however It does not suceed in putting together the pieces of the "broken egg".

In the show programm we read: "Nawrotniks do not live in herds. They lead single life without awareness of their own species. . [] Nawrotniks do not reflect in matter, only in space. However this does not mean they do not care about appearance - they constantly mirror and examine themselves. Nawrtoniks move from one place to another, and freeze in analyzing their reflections". We move therefore with It; this time to empty, white room. Here It moves slowly to the wall, with Its back to the audience. The head and upper body try to stay steady, but legs and hips are turning and twisting. It is learning how to move. Seeing Its shadow, It moves in Its direction, without haste. It observes It thoroughly, ties to blend into the whitness of the wall. However, It does not suceed , the shadow clearly bothers and disturbs It. It goes back, tries to articulate something, the audience observes twists of the lips. It leads the audience to the technical back of Berlin Studio; we pass by a table with tools, boxes, cardboard. Through a narrow passage the audience goes to another room with one, small window, located just below the celling. It is already seating there, squeezed on a tiny window sill. How did it end up there? A round, slightly colourful headlight, in whose light It tries to fill the window space with Its body. As if trying to blend Its whiteness with the whitness of the surrounding. It does not suceed, so It goes through smoky corridor to a white room, in which It was earlier. Here It stretches, leans against the wall. It seems as if it tried to move it, put in another place, push it away. It stands with the wall in the background, takes white paint which is in a mug, and It starts to put it on Its face and arms.

In a desparate act It tries to blend with the surrounding. How difficult it is to go back to the form, to the birth, to the early beginning.

Nawrotnik tries in various manner blend with the surrounding, looks for acceptance in the eyes of the audience. It all ends not only in a terryfing, but also final movement, sentenced to a failure. Putting white paint on face and arms becomes a gesture of surrender, Aschenbach's gesture of misery from "Death in Venice", trying to get younger, to be accepted in the eyes of a teenager; putting makeup on the lips, powdering his face are becoming an apparent chase after youth.

"There is neither beginning nor end of the journey for the Nawrotnik" - directors write. "It is even incorrect to call Its form of life "a journey". This is not a nomadic instinct that moves Nawrotnik from one place to the other. It is It's existence. It's vanity.". The show "Nawrotnik" is a successful journey, well thought trough and mastered in every element. Stoic expression on Nawrotnik's face, Its non-human movements increasing the impression of extraoridnary. Every step, every movement has its taste, in which the main protagonist moves differently.

Nawrotnik goes out, disappears in spaces of Berlin Studio. Where did It go? Maybe It is wandering through corners of Warsaw's Prague, hiding in the shadows of shrines, in the bushes of nearby square? Or maybe after a weekend party It went with a visit to somebody's bright living room? Maybe it would be worth to sit down in the morning and wait for It? Maybe it shows up in a corner.

Bartlomiej Miernik, "Teatr" (nr 4, 19-05-2008)

It is hard to imagine the coexistence of such different phenomena like a dance show "Opentaniec"choregraphed by Jarosław Staniek and a dance performance "Nawrotnik" by Koncentrat, under the same roof and brand.  new, glass structure of "television superstation".

Janusz Marek, "Center. Can dance develop in Poland,"Teatr", September 2008

It is a excellent solo about a strange creature exploring the space.

Julia Hoczyk, Dance Theatre AD 2008. Hopes and continuations,
Kultura enter. Monthly for exchange of ideas, www.kulturaenter.pl,
September 2008