Ola Maciejewska

Ola Maciejewska, choreographer, focuses her work on the friction between materiality and ephemerality, movement and the conditions of its appearance. In light of these questions, she produces a critical reading of the history of dance. Working on the convergences between dance and the visual arts, her series of works focusing on the serpentine dances invented by Loïe Fuller engages the viewer in a reflection on metamorphosis, the natural world, and the hybrid nature of embodiment. Between 2016 and 2018, she was an associate artist at the CCN de Caen Normandie. In 2020, Ola Maciejewska received a grant from Tanzmesse NRW to conduct research on Rolf Borzik’s scenography at the Pina Bausch Foundation archives. In 2022, FIGURY (przestrzenne), which premiered at the CNDC Angers, received the Gallery Award from the Nadežda Petrovi Gallery in Cacak (Serbia), which will lead to a solo exhibition. In 2023, she created On Time, a performance-installation for students at the Beaux-Arts in Paris, and the solo The Second Body at the Ménagerie de Verre in Paris. 

The Serpentine Dance Club, invites participants to discover the multiple layers of the iconic serpentine dances invented by Loïe Fuller. The relational, the sculptural, the narrative, and the abstract will be evoked to navigate into how historical references shape Ola Maciejewska’s practice. During the first days, the participants will practice individually with the actual ‘dancing dress’. What does the dancing dress offer as a co-partner? Endurance, coordination patterns, repetition, visual rhythm, and the sculptural will be explored during the first part of the workshop. The second part of the workshop will revolve around the creation of material with the ‘dancing dress’ and without it. Structured around working in pairs, both participants will explore corporeal memory of what it is to work with physical imprints, gaps in memory, delay, and fragments as a potential for re-invention of a new vocabulary, stories, and relational dynamics. The last stage of the workshop, will explore the collective energy of dancing together. Focusing on togetherness, creating ‘sculptural situations’, and opening the doors to gather in an informal setting with the viewers will culminate the Serpentine Dance Club.