Ola Maciejewska

A choreographer and dancer, Ola Maciejewska was born in Poland and lives in France. Her work focuses in particular on the tensions between materiality and transience. Through the lens of these questions, she offers a critical interpretation of the history of dance. By exploring the intersections between dance and the visual arts, her series of works centred on serpentine dances invites the viewer to reflect on the process of metamorphosis and the hybrid nature of movement. In 2023, she created The Second Body at the Ménagerie de Verre in Paris. She teaches as a guest artist at institutions including the HEAD in Geneva, the Beaux-Arts in Paris, and for a residency at the CND in Pantin. 

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 The relational, the sculptural, the narrative, and the abstract will be evoked to navigate into how historical references shape Ola Maciejewska’s practice.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.