Gatunki Chronione (Protected species)
Authors: Rafał Urbacki, Anu Czerwiński
Four dancers in the unusual space of the Silesian Masuria. The choice of location is not accidental, a nature reserve, species that have to be protected by the state in order to survive, and young people with alternative motor skills. The choreography, composed for the dancers involved in the project, challenges them not only in terms of movement, but also in terms of acting. Protected Species is an attempt to critically reflect on the way people with alternative motorities are perceived, without the overused narratives of ‘victim’ or ‘superhero’ in the media.
Protected Species is a movement performance combined with a documentary film, shot in the Żabie Doły nature and landscape complex called the Silesian Masuria. In the Species, as in nature, natural defence mechanisms follow. The protagonists find the truth about their bodies somewhere on the boundary between stage performance and real life. Confronted with their everyday experiences, the stage becomes a safe haven for them, a reserve, the only place where they can honestly, though not without fear, talk about their identity.
“(…) ‘Protected Species’ are free of laudatory sublimity, which is its greatest asset. It is true that one can speak of a kind of affirmation, but this should not be confused with an attempt to sanctify disability. For if the performers are affirming something, it is far from being a ridiculously fond of disability. What we have instead is a display of pride drawn from the physical, by the way truly impressive, capabilities of imperfect bodies.”
20 November 2014, Alicja Müller, Teatralia Krakow
Premiere: 27.06.2014, Bytomski Teatr Tańca i Ruchu Rozbark
- Performance: Tatiana Cholewa, Filip Pawlak, Karolina Stroisz, Katarzyna Szarawara
- Choreography, performative actions: Rafał Urbacki
- Light designers: Rafał Urbacki, Michał Wawrzyniak
- Assistant: Marlena Hermanowicz
- Film concept, montage: Anu Czerwiński, Rafał Urbacki
- DOP: Anu Czerwiński
- Voice over: Karolina Kędziora
- DOP assistant: Piotr Gacek (WRiTv UŚ),
- Coordination: Filip Pawlak / laba off | Natalia Starowieyska
