As Hervé Kay once said, “You can dance anywhere; that's the beauty of dance.” This year’s two dance festivals in Kraków remind us what a timeless and boundless artform it really is.
Justyna Skalska
The 24th “Cracovia Danza” Court Dance Festival, organised by the Cracovia Danza Ballet led by Romana Agnel, once again draws in fans of early dance from Poland and abroad. The theme of this year’s event – Stars, Planets, Space and Courtly Dance – recalls the 550th anniversary of the birth of Nicolaus Copernicus. Kraków’s Main Market Square and other squares come to life with dancing celestial bodies performed by HéliosKine from France and cosmic-themed dances from Sanskriti Alaknanda from India. The Cracovia Danza Ballet also presents their spectacle Planets Moved by Dance, recalling visions of our universe from the era of the author of De revolutionibus.
This year’s 3rd Kraków Dance Festival, held under the banner Who’s Up For a Dance?, gives voice to dance choreographers and animators, as well as objects, plants and inanimate matter used in contemporary dance. Guests invited by the Nowa Huta Cultural Centre and the Kraków Choreography Centre present works which have been awarded numerous prizes in Europe and all over the globe. The programme features Alexander Vantournhout’s Through the Grapevine and Andrei Salustri’s Materia, both crossing the boundaries of contemporary choreography and modern circus , an evening with Granhøj Dans Company from Denmark with their An Eve and An Adam and Stone – Face – Book, as well as the spectacle Prima by the Czech artist Viktor Černický.
As well as their artistic sections, both festivals feature movement workshops for beginners and more advanced participants. This summer we’ll discover the art of dance in all kinds of ways!
