Every Minute Motherland premiered in August at Studio Zak in Gdansk on August 25, 2022. Subsequently the piece has been performed at Materia in Lodz, the National Theater Luxembourg, the 26 International Dance Theatres Festival at the Lubelski Teatr Tańca Centrum Kultury w Lublinie, and at the Umpolen Festival at Theater im Pumpenhaus Münster .
“The choreography avoids clear depictions and drama, but relies on the cleverness of sensitive and multifaceted dance, on the magnificently attuned group and the audience’s ability to look and feel every minute”.
“The dance painting by Maciej Kuźmiński reminds us of how real and close the experience of war can be – a total experience that permeates time, the space around us, our bodies and minds. […] Despite the very expressive and emotional scenes, the performance is not depressing. It is moving, touching at times, but it is the kind of feeling that allows you to experience catharsis in the theater.”
Every Minute Motherland is a dance performance created by Maciej Kuzminski and devised using documentary methods in response to the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and the refugee crisis that followed it. The performance was made with a Polish-Ukrainian team including refugees in collaboration with the dramaturg Paul Bargetto.The piece is inspired by the personal stories of the dancers and based on extensive laboratory work. It explores the effects of trauma, exile, and alienation set against larger themes of war, identity, and the immovable forces of history and geography. With the constant daily background of television and social media where the war plays out in numbing repetition, the piece refocuses our attention on the bodies of the witnessess, whose experiences will be released on stage transcribed in motion and time and reaching for the spirit of ritual and myth. From Mariupol to Kharkhiv, and everywhere else the war has come, culture and artists have been made deliberate targets in an attempt to destroy Ukrainian nation. This project is an act of resistance to these crimes and a statement of solidarity with Ukraine.
Paul Bargetto 