Panoramic maritime happening: "Dancing with the waves"
The Władysław Hasior Visual Arts School Complex in Koszalin, for the second time, made it to the finals of the competition announced within the "Wena" Grant Program of the Starak Family Foundation. The theme of the competition was: "Closeness and interpersonal relations". This time, the competition jury's recognition and funding was granted to an educational and artistic project - a panoramic „maritime/sea” happening "Dancing with the waves".
"Dancing with the waves" took place on 4 October 2021, the event referred to and was inspired by Tadeusz Kantor's happening "Sea concert" and the works of Władysław Hasior - the patron of the school of fine arts in Koszalin. The project is characterized by particular coherence and consistency. The costumes of the participants of the happening were made from recycled materials and were inspired by Hasior's sculpture "Firebirds" which is exhibited next to the school of fine arts in Koszalin.
The happening consisted of several artistic enactments performed simultaneously, side by side, on a beach in Łazy by three groups of students. The first formed a colorful procession of "Firebirds". Then, the other two groups of characters, dressed in black entered, cutting off the way to the audience and the sea. One more character, reminiscent of Tadeusz Kantor, added to the drama of the show. This part was played by a school teacher who entered the beach, broke the cordon, and calmly walked into the sea only to disappear under the surface of the water after a short while.
Happening składał się z kilku artystycznych inscenizacji odgrywanych w tym samym czasie, obok siebie, na plaży w Łazach przez trzy grupy uczniów. Pierwsi utworzyli barwny korowód „Ognistych Ptaków”. Następnie do akcji wkroczyły pozostałe dwie grupy postaci w czerni, odcinające drogę do widowni i morza. Dramaturgii widowisku dodała jeszcze jedna postać, przypominająca Tadeusza Kantora w tę rolę wcielił się nauczyciel szkoły, który wkroczył na plażę, przerwał kordon i spokojnym krokiem wszedł do morza aby po chwili zniknąć całkowicie pod powierzchnią wody.
The performance took place on a beach in Łazy, where exactly 55 years ago the famous premiere of Kantor's staging took place. The aim of the project was an artistic experiment in which the emphasis is put on the educational creative process and the experience of co-creative relation of the happening. The performance became a kind of experience of the relation between the artists and the environment, as well as between the actor and the camera which documented the whole event from a drone.
Young artists designed the unique forms of clothing and make-up themselves, searching for recycled materials in a teddybear factory and local sewing rooms. Some of the clothes were created from handmade paper during the preparatory workshops for the final project.
More than seventy people participated in the event. The project was supported by teachers and students from the befriended St. I. Witkiewicz High School of Visual Arts in Słupsk. They prepared an element of scenography, a large banner to support the stage movement. An accompanying event was an exhibition presenting some of the costumes and photographic documentation of the project.
The "Dancing with the waves" project was not only of great educational and artistic value but also provided the students with experience in project management and work organization.
We are impressed by the full engagement of students and teachers in the project, and the reflections triggered by the message of the performance will stay with us for a long time. We are motivated by the power of creative individuals, who thanks to the group can do anything and even a pandemic does deter them from acting. We hope that "Dancing with the waves" will surprise Baltic tourists on more than one occasion.
Urszula Januszewska - school headmistress, project coordinator.
Małgorzata Zelek - stage designer, supervised the concept and creation of unique forms of clothing and conducted thematic workshops during the project.
