Choreographic Territories New Paths for the Avant-Garde – Online Conference 2021 on 28 and 29 September 2021

The conference programme revolves around three themes: the role of women in the development of contemporary dance, the regional and transregional perspectives of the history of 20th-century European dance, and the relationship between contemporary dance and national and folk dances. The conference will be available in Polish, English, and Russian.</p>

Poland regained its independence at the same time that modernism and the avant-garde movement became part of the zeitgeist, as well as increased immigration due to political circumstances and the nomadic life of artists. What distinguishes dance from other art forms is the fact that women, such as Isadora Duncan, Loie Fuller, Mary Wigman, and Marta Graham, as well as Bronisława Niżyńska, Pola Nireńska, and Irena Prusicka (who were of Polish descent), were behind the early 20th-century avant-garde movement of it.

Referring to these traditions and to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Poland’s regained independence, in 2018 the Adam Mickiewicz Institute launched the Choreographic Territories – New Paths of the Avant Garde project. The project is focused on the artistic work and fascinating biographies of Pola Nireńska, Bronisława Niżyńska, Marie Rambert, and Yanka Rudzka – Polish artists who can still be a source of inspiration through a modern understanding of their choreographies. Each year the project is continued by young artists, focusing exclusively on one artist.