ME-SA: Second Practice

Description

The performance invites the audience on a journey where images of the past and present intertwine. It touches on a woman's desire, a dancer and mother, to dive deep into herself through a practice that has become secondary amidst the chaos, fatigue, and constant distractions of daily responsibilities – the practice of conscious dance here and now. In today's reality, women predominantly bear the responsibility for caregiving. At the same time, we are immersed in virtual pseudo-truths, opinions, and an endless stream of information that affects us. Many of us live in a state of constant fatigue. In such a context, a simple pause, self-awareness, and following the needs of one's own body can become a political act. The personal is political. From this perspective, Martina Hajdyla Lacová enters the stage – a woman, dancer, and mother of three small children. Her nearly forty-year-old body carries numerous public and private stories. "Second practice," stemming from thirty years of dance practice and body-dance memories, creates space for a return to what is essential for her existence – to the awareness of her own dance and body history, to listening to herself in dance, and to the joy of movement. Martina Hajdyla Lacová's solo, created in collaboration with choreographer Renata Piotrowska-Auffret, thus opens not only a personal story but also a broader picture of what contemporary society lacks, what it needs, or what it questions itself. Credits
Concept, text: Renata Piotrowska-Auffret /PL/
Choreography: Martina Hajdyla Lacová, Renata Piotrowska-Auffret /PL/
Dance: Martina Hajdyla Lacová
Music & Video: Simon Aufrett /FR/
Costume and set design: Natálie Rajnišová
Visual dramaturgy & lighting design: Joanna Leśnierowska /PL/ Visual photography: Terezie Fojtová, Peter Coch
Production: Adéla Lipavská
Technical support: Sebastián Vích, Ján Čief, Jiří Hajdyla
PR manager: Jolana Danková
Financial manager: Daniela Řeháková
Creative Producer: Jiří Hajdyla

Musical citations used in the performance: STING: We'll be together, Jørgen Knudsen - music for the performance Manshape, Ben Frost, album: Aurora, track: Venter, music from the performance VerTe Dance & Zrní: Ceviche, Ábris Gryllus - music from the performance SOFT SPOT, Bach JS, Goldberg variations, BVW: Variation XXX. Quodibet and Aria da capo (interpretation: Beatrice Rana), ballet Sleeping Beauty, variation Organ Flower and Slovak folk song. Project partners: Hellerau - European Centre for the Arts, Theatre Studio of Dance Banská Bystrica, New Network / Art-in-res, festival 4+4 Days in Motion, CO. LABS, Venus in Švehlovka, Moving Station, Nowy Teatr Warsaw. The project is realized with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture, the City of Prague, the Statutory City of Brno, the State Fund for Culture, the National Recovery Plan, and the European Union. Profiles of the creators
The artistic platform ME-SA has been active in the independent dance scene since 2008. Its work is characterized today by collaboration across disciplines – from visual arts to sports and music to virtual reality – and also an experimental approach to working with movement, image, and theatrical strategies. In recent years, ME-SA has focused on feminist themes. The common denominator of all projects and the main creative personality of the platform is Martina Hajdyla Lacová. Martina Hajdyla Lacová is a choreographer, dancer, and performer. She studied at the conservatory in Banská Bystrica and completed her master's degree in dance pedagogy at Prague's HAMU, where she is currently continuing in a doctoral program. In her work, she perceives dance not only as an aesthetic form but primarily as a means of communication, interaction, and natural movement of human bodies. Throughout her career, she has received numerous awards: in 2015, the Dancer of the Year award for her performance in SuperNaturals, and the following year, a nomination for the Thalia Award for the solo production One of the Seven. In 2023, she received the Czech Centers Award for the performance SOFT SPOT and the following year, the Thalia Award in the category of alternative theater for the production Bodies in Progress. Renata Piotrowska-Auffret is a choreographer and performer who enjoys pushing the boundaries between dance, theater, and performative art. She draws inspiration from personal and fictional experiences and embeds them in broader social contexts. In her work, she raises questions about the politics of the body – how the body is perceived in history and today, in public space and in private, in text and in movement. She is interested in the tension and sometimes even perverse relationships between these worlds. She is a co-curator of the pilot program of the Pavilion of Dance and Performative Arts at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw and also collaborates with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as a choreography expert. Accessibility of the event
The performance lasts 50 minutes and is without a language barrier. The event is not suitable for parents with small children. The event is accessible for people with limited mobility. There is a barrier-free elevator to the hall, and the building also has several barrier-free toilets.