“I am here as an animator, that is, someone who is on an equal footing with the others. I am neither a leader, nor a guru, nor an instructor,” Mariusz Laudański, a cultural animation student, told Boleslawiec.org about his role. “The Sculpture of Imagination” at the Bolesławiec Cultural Centre is his way of completing his professional internship. Participation is free, and the workshops are open to everyone. “You come whenever you want, leave whenever you want, and you can join the group at any moment,” Laudański explains. Anyone interested can take part in the sessions. There is just one condition: participants must be at least of middle-school age.
Mariusz Laudański has been interested in theatre for a long time. He co-creates the Bolesławiec-based Tygrys Ogłuszony Domem group. “Surrealism, abstraction, crazy people, an unreal world—these are concepts that have always tempted, pricked and tickled me,” says the animator. For him, theatre is an escape from the reality created by the media, a kind of healthy drug. As a cultural animation student in Zielona Góra, he organises happenings and festivals of amateur and fringe theatres. It is precisely off theatres that interest the Bolesławiec resident most. “They are created by people without formal training in this field, so they do it out of passion. To me, that is more authentic,” the student explains.
“The Sculpture of Imagination” encompasses a very broad range of artistic activities and explorations. The summer workshops combine theatre, contemporary dance and singing. “All three elements connect with and arise from one another,” the animator points out. “This will not be traditional theatre, in which a play is staged. It will be more about paratheatre activities and exercises that open people up and break down barriers.” Therefore, as Laudański himself admits, the sessions are aimed mainly at young people who think unconventionally and outside established patterns. “The main idea is to sculpt our imagination. It is about sculpting in a metaphysical sense, sculpting from within ourselves. It is about unlearning linear thinking and perceiving the world more broadly than in three dimensions,” the Bolesławiec resident adds.
Those frightened by the word “dance” can be reassured: this is not dance in the traditional sense of the word. “Contemporary dance is not a krakowiak, and it is not dancing in pairs. You do not need to know how to dance, do the splits or be a ballet dancer. You can be thin or fat, short or tall,” Mariusz Laudański insists. “To dance, all you need to do is set your imagination in motion. Dance is expression. You can dance with one hand, or even with facial expressions.”
This week’s sessions are, in fact, a kind of prelude to dance week, which will begin on 6 August and conclude with a performance in an urban space on 11 August. The contemporary dance workshops will be led by two other cultural animation students, Piotr Soroka and Jacek Niepsujewicz, founders of “może_teatru tańca”. Why a performance specifically? “It is the safest term,” Laudański explains. It is not known exactly what will be created. The “Sculpture of Imagination” animators want the initiative to come from the workshop participants. “Anything can be done in a performance,” Mariusz Laudański adds.
This week, the sessions will also be held from Thursday to Friday, from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. at the Bolesławiec Cultural Centre. From 6 to 11 August, dance workshops will take place. The sessions will be held daily for three hours. The first meeting is on Monday, 6 August, at 6:00 p.m.
(GA information)