When a former student invites their old dance teacher to take part in a performance he is himself, what opens up is an opportunity to tip a bygone relationship built on authority and unequal competence. But once the teacher has refused, another question arises: how can that relationship be addressed in his absence and, above all, what does such a refusal mean?

Teach Me Not! choreographed by Wojtek Grudziński was born precisely in reaction to such a refusal. Grudziński – choreographer, performer, and winner of the Polityka Passport Award in the “Stage” category – is interested in power relations within the artistic world, and especially in dance; ones that become particularly visible in educational contexts. On stage, Grudziński performs with Maria Magdalena Kozłowska – an artist operating in theatre, music, and video. In a startling choreography of two naked bodies, the performers enact attitudes of submission and care, while at the same time playing with each other like two urchins. The unsettling masks used in the play were designed by Marta Szypulska, and the sound amplifying the trance-like atmosphere of the work – by the outstanding Lubomir Grzelak and Wojtek Blecharz.

Teach Me Not! – produced by Warsaw’s Nowy Teatr, Finland’s ZODIAK – Centre for New Dance, and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute – demonstrates that Polish is aligned with the most compelling currents of contemporary conceptual dance, and contributes to their development.

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The performance includes nudity, sexual content, and stage haze.

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Photo by Pat Mic