WITOLD BARDZIŃSKI

DANCE AND BOUNDARY SITUATIONS

08.02.2010 – PSA result = 0,10 ng/ml

20.02.2010 – Classes at the FCUM, dr hab. prof Tadeusz Kobierzycki. I’m reading my assignment entitled: Dance and boundary situations. I’m wondering whether this assignment would take on such a dimension if I hadn’t got ill. Incorporation – there is something in this word, or maybe I went too deep into Pina Bausch’s situation, writing a poem about her… I thought then, how would I behave if I were in her shoes, would I draw up a will, give the living ones my last instructions? My case is different, I’ve still got time. Could I really have received it to find myself in a similar boundary situation and have time for something else? The healthier I am the more I think whether I’m using this time properly… Writing poems, prose, studies, work – is it all what I was given this gift of time for!!! Maybe it would be better to go out on the street and scream: people! Boys! Go and examine yourselves – before it’s to late. Test your PSA, Prostamol Uno is not medicine – if it must be then nettle tea or pumpkin oil is better, alcohol is harmful, even very harmful. And a good doctor. My doctors are good doctors. It is important to have confidence, or even more – there must be kind of a bond between a patient and a doctor. The doctor wants very much to save the patient’s life, but he doesn’t trust his decisions. It is similar with dance – a student and a teacher. The student opens himself and the teacher uses that, and creates a choreography – otherwise it wouldn’t work. And the most important is your love one, who will look at you with eyes full of tears of hope and will say that what counts is to save your life. And it is said in such a way that you know that there is no sand crumb in these words, not a bit. There is only one begging request – live!!! Because you mustn’t leave me! These words and this request of the heart is my wife, Renia – my only one for over 30 years… You don’t need any referral to the Institute of Oncology. You go to the reception desk, tell them what’s your problem and what disease do you suspect, and the same day you’re admitted to the ward. You make new acquaintances in the corridors crowded with waiting people, you listen to the more experienced patients’ advices and opinions about the doctors – which is the good one. When I entered the doctor’s office for the first time, a young lady said good morning and smiled at me warmly, which didn’t stop her from examining me per rectum.

I leave wondering where have I met her before, on a dance course, in the neighbourhood, or maybe I don’t know her at all? At home I use the prescription to check her name in the browser. And there she is! She’s my neighbour and she lives two houses from me. We used to meet each other once when she walked her dog and I walked mine. But I haven’t come across her for two years or so. During my next appointment I ask her:

– How’s your dog?

– We had to put it down, it was old and suffered a lot…

– Can you give me some advice, surgery or radiation therapy?

– I can’t make this decision for you. From the medical point of view the chances for recovering are the same. Surgery is followed by convalescence and in case of radiotherapy, there is a preparation period of three months, and then three months of therapy. Apart from Saturdays and Sundays, everyday treatment at the Institute. During radiotherapy other problems may occur, because the rays destroy not only the cancer, but may also damage other healthy organs, there may be problems with passing stools, bleeding and others.

– I know it’s my life but please, tell me, if this would be your problem, what would you choose, it is a matter of a 1% advantage…

When I saw her walking the dog I would have never thought she’s a physician, always smiling and dressed with no eccentricity, we exchanged some friendly words. In the hospital she sees her patients only according to the queue, she doesn’t have a private office, because that would be against her principles… Are these principles included in the words: “I will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice” (1)?

Hippocrates gave principles which are so relevant even today. Are there any such principles in dance too?... Incorporation – Chopin… Going up the winding staircase of the University I think “how much did you suffer and what beauty did you create”.

01.03.2010 – PSA result = 0,08 ng/ml

17.03.2010 – Karl Jasper’s “Introduction to Philosophy” (“Wprowadzenie do filozofii”) is finally delivered. I take a pencil, I underline, circle, erase. 

ON DANCE

    There is no unambiguous description for the word dance. Depending on the author or the period when the term emerged, there will be differences in its meaning. We can see these differences already while reaching for the Great National PWN Encyclopedia (Wielka Encyklopedia PWN) where we read: “dance [Czech < German]: 1) Art originating from the language of movement, next to the spoken language, a second basic means of communication between people”. In the further part we read, however, that (in dance – author’s note): “the means of expression are appropriately arranged body movements performed to a defined rhythm and according to the accompanying music” (Wojnowski 2005, pp. 168-160).  

    Whereas in the Universal Dictionary of Polish Language (Uniwersalny Słownik Języka Polskiego) we can find another definition: “dance <Middle High German tanz> 1. »rhythmic body movement, especially of the legs, performed to the beat as social entertainment, an artistic show or kind of ritual«”… “Ballroom dancing »dance meant to be performed as entertainment at parties, receptions (e.g. tango, waltz) as opposed to the ritual, theatre, regional dance«” (Dubisz 2003, p. 20).

There are several thousands of various dances’ names and terms related to them. I can conclude that on the basis of the entry in the lexicon – “Dance in the Polish tradition” (“Taniec w polskiej tradycji”) where the author, Grażyna Dąbrowska writes: “It is the lexicon’s resources of dances’ names and terms related to it, amounting to 1.000 entries with concise, lexicographic descriptions” (Dąbrowska 2005/2006, p. 5). Not only Polish dances have been included.

Let’s turn to ancient Greece and the words of Lucian of Samosata: “The essence of dance is to accurately express and depict our spiritual experiences, and to vividly make us aware of that what is mysterious to us” (Lange 2009, p. 14).

    „Plato, however, did not accept neither »wild« dance performed by warriors and hunters, nor magic dance, which shall guarantee a great harvest, for these dances do not belong to art. According to his conception, art should have an element of imitation, which is, however, not tantamount to copying a fact, but it shall evoke in the viewer his sensation; it shall evoke and reconstruct his emotional feeling” (Lange 2009, p. 15).

    In 1933 Curt Sachs published a work entitled „World History of the Dance”, in which he gave the following definition of dance: “Dance is every rhythmic movement not linked with any working activity […]”. Further he stated that dance as a form of art is fundamental and primeval in comparison with every other kind of artistic work revealed by man, because the dancer uses his own body as an instrument (Lange 2009, p. 38).

    „The basis of dance is a non-verbal communication, which requires the introduction of appropriate methods. It is seldom fully understood. A verbal instruction is often inaccurate. That is why it is advisable to pay more attention to the kinaesthetic transmission of dance from one body to the other” (Kubinowski 2000, p. 117).

    10.04.2010 – I’m by the university at 7,30. I eat a breakfast from home in the car, I sip tea. I’ve got some time till the beginning of the classes, I doze off, around 10 o’clock I hear in the radio that the presidential plane has crashed near Smoleńsk, my wife calls me and asks whether I already know about the tragedy. I keep listening to the radio, maybe the passengers are still alive, maybe someone has survived. Our group is waiting in the university corridor, they ask – we will have classes or not? Yes, we will. Eryk switches on the TV using a paperclip as an antenna. There comes no voice, but we can catch a blurry vision, the camera focuses its lens on the plane’s tail, the most important white-red chessboard emblem. On the black strip below we read that 132 people are dead. The class on the History of dance starts, we watch a film from a ballet performance:

    The Brazilian Dance Theatre „Grupo Corpo”, choreography Rodrigo Pederneiras, music Jan Sebastian Bach.

    I see organ pipes in the scenery. At the beginning of the performance, the dancing figures present to me the soldiers killed in Katyń… And the viewers, invisible on the screen, are the members of the state delegation who tragically died in today’s catastrophe. Did they expect that it won’t be them who’ll speak today to the fallen soldiers, but it will be those soldiers who’ll tell them their tragic story…? At first the marching figures kind of define the marching army, to the east, in order to attack the Hitlerian forces after joining together. Then there are images of memories created individually on the stage – from the early love to girls, fiancées to the more mature love to the wives. Depictions of women who don’t know what happened to their husbands, but they must still make sure that they and their children have something to eat in these severe war conditions. A scene where the children play and have fun – they’re often unaware of the fate of their fathers and the despair of their mothers, they just need to play! Now there’s the growing up period again – new experiences, moments of reverie, ups and downs, a dear person helping to rise up from discouragement.    

    The end of the war, the Soviet occupation enters our country – and there is again this goose-step, but the legs are lifted higher, persecutions of families, death, tragedies of peoples, but on the other hand building of something new and unknown on the ruins. The spirits of the slaughtered raise in the memory – how cheerful they once were, how did they enjoy their life, these memories increase in power… People start talking about Katyń next to normal life, play, love, death. The fallen soldiers are climbing the organ pipes making place for – the next ones? There is less and less free space, everybody goes on the stage – the end? 

    10.04.2010 – We’ve a half an hour break and I call my wife. There are 96 casualties, the former information about 132 victims was wrong. I go in the direction of the Presidential Palace. In the morning there were tables bending under the load of flowers here on the Nowy Świat Street, there are no roses, you can forget white and red roses, there are still some tulips left, the yellow ones, no candles. People are coming back from the Palace, thoughtful and solemn, some of them still crying. Right before me a father answers the question of a small child:

– Who died today?

– He’s someone similar to the king of Poland.

– And now since he lost his life, will we and all these people go look for him?

There is a crowd in front of the Palace. Plenty of candles and flowers next to the fence. Behind the fence, at the entrance there are people dressed in black and some black limousines. I pray and go back to the university. Suddenly a man pushing a handcart full of candles appears in the side street, he stops, people don’t ask for the price, the seller passes the candles, saying 5 złotych, 10, 15, 5…

    I go back with the candle, I don’t need to say that I don’t have matches but it’s enough that I look around and a man next to me gives me some. I place the candle. It’s good that I managed to get it. I go back to the university about 20 minutes late. After the class on History of dance it’s time for a class with professor Wycichowska. During the last class we were glad that the Polish president awarded our teacher with a title of Professor of Music.

We talk about Chopin, about musical Blechacz’s interpretation of the a-moll piece. Someone says, he’s playing that in a kind of schoolish way. How schoolish? Maybe he was looking for Chopin in his interpretation. My notes from the lecture: „Dance is a particular type of music. Dance is when we’re moving rhythmically but these movements can not have anything to do with work. Dance is music to be watched.”. After the class we’re still talking about the Dance Institute which is supposed to be established. When I leave the university it’s nearly 7 pm, the whole of Warsaw is stuck in a traffic jam. At home, when I switch on the TV I see Putin hugging Tusk in his arms… As it was so beautifully defined – dance: Dance is music to be watched.   

    “In this situation his words mean: That God exists, that iss enough. The immortality issue does arise, the question whether God “forgives” the sins is pushed into the background. Man does not kind of count any more, his lawlessness disappears like his concern for salvation and eternal life. But also the world, which as a whole would have a sense complementing itself in it, which in some form would last forever, proves impossible. Because God has created everything out of nothingness and everything is in his hand. Facing the loss of everything, only one thing remains: God exists. When any life in the world suffers a defeat – in spite of his best efforts and faith in God’s leadership – then there is only this one, incredible reality left: God exists. If man renounces himself and his aims wholly, this reality may reveal itself as the only one to him. Though it never reveals itself immediately and in an abstraction, but only after the immersion of a man in the world – and this only on the boundary” (Jaspers 2004, pp. 26-27).

    How should Dance look like then, according to me? According to me it shouldn’t be what it is today. “Life scheduled by a clock, split into meaningless and absorbing activities, in which man finds less and less fulfilment, a life oblivious of itself takes on an extreme form. Man feels like a part of a machine, installed once here, once there. Let out free means nothing and he has no idea what to do with himself. Barely does he start to regain his personality, and the insatiable behemoth of this world drags him again into its everything-devouring gear – gear of meaningless work and meaningless entertainment in free time” (Jaspers 2004, p. 83).  

Dance should constitute an equilibrium between physical Dance of the body and Dance of the soul. This “physical Dance of the body” was developed when we still did not communicate by means of spoken language. When the language joined it and the descriptions of the philosophers’ dances appeared, then it became possible to observe its beauty and this beauty can also be observed even today. The problem of philosophy? “Radical campaigns have been waged against philosophy for a long time, it has been negated as unnecessary and harmful. What is it for, at all? It will not even face up to misery” (Jaspers 2004, p. 9).

The word dance has been devaluated, so maybe philosophy will serve for its revival. Then dance will not be only a movement but it will be a movement built on thought, and philosophy will enrich itself with this movement.

Inner independence is necessary in order to obtain the above mentioned. In philosophy: “…after all, to philosophize is to fight for inner independence under all conditions” (Jaspers 2004, p. 75).

In dance this is also a very difficult task. Under the influence of media we want to dance like the stars from such programmes as “Strictly Come Dancing” or “You Can Dance”. Our coach also tries to seize our dance. If he concentrates on physical movements, lets our inside develop and appropriately matches the character of the dancer and the character of the dance, both the dancer and the coach will win. Otherwise, we’ll get only the “worn out copies” of other dancers and coaches.

“Independence turns into its opposite when it attributes the absolute character to itself” (Jaspers 2004, p. 76).     

BOUNDARY SITUATIONS

    I don’t know how to treat my boundary cases. It was a different approach in every situation. It was more spontaneous when I was young, it was also different when I was 30, 40, 50 and it is different now, especially after my illness. Everyone is different also, and everyone interprets these situations differently at various ages. I’m 55 now and from a statistical point of view I’m knocking at the door of old age. When my father was dying, during an evening visit he whispered “go home, see you tomorrow”… a few days earlier I found out that he’s going to die and I cried terribly. But then I didn’t cry any more.   

    „…there are situations which do not change their essence even when their temporary expressions change, and their overwhelming power is enveloped in various curtains: I have to die, I have to suffer, I have to fight, I’m subordinate to the power of coincidence, I inevitably entangle myself in a sin. We call these basic situations of our existence boundary situations […]”. Jaspers writes further that we forget that ”we have to die, we forget about our sin and our addiction to coincidence […]. We try to settle concrete situations to our benefit. Our reaction to boundary situations comes down to their camouflage, or we have confronted them really, to despair and revival: we become ourselves by a change in our consciousness of being” (Jaspers 2004, p. 13).   

    It’s been eight years since he died and I keep thinking about him every day. I “ask him” what would he do if he were me, often in a boundary situation. Am I allowed to lie? Is a new car, a loan and more work more important? Is a house, its warmth and love more important? What am I supposed to bequeath to my children except for photos, „a brick house”, “golden cups” – what values? Maybe that’s why it was easier for me to endure physical suffering, because I realised that mental suffering is much more harder.  

    „And therefore we can “recover” not when we are muffling the reflex of the psyche, but when we are rising above that what binds us. We have to be courageous to be people and doing what is in our power, we have to strive for our unfulfilled independence. We’ll suffer without complaints, despair without being drowned by sorrow, experience shocks but not falls – because what we’ll gain as our inner independence will support us” (Jaspers 2004, p. 81).

    The parents’ divorce when you’re 14 and then the terrible lawsuit found accusing an innocent person because of lawyer’s advice! How can you live with that? Thinking that You, my innocent father, signed that verdict which took me away from You… This is a boundary situation!!! Either you will sign that you are „guilty of the breakdown of your marriage, that you are a person who cannot love, who thinks only about himself and does not love his adopted daughter…” and the following two pages full of other accusations. If you’ll sign this verdict, you’ll receive your only son… If not, he’ll stay with your already ex-wife. I found this verdict after Your death and I was never given a chance to thank You. This is a boundary situation!!! You give this lawsuit to your own mother and you hear: “I lied. That was what my lawyer advised”.         

    “When Jeremiah saw the decline of everything he served for all his life, when the country and people seemed lost, and the Jews who survived betrayed the Lord by making an offering to the goddess Isis, when a disciple of Jeremiah, Baruch, lost faith and said: I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest. The Lord told Jeremiah, Tell Baruch, The Lord saith thus: Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land. And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not.” (1)

    Dad, why didn’t you complain to me, never, why didn’t you forbid me to visit my mother, who already had another child with another man? Why? Why? Am I forgetting my guilt? Yes, but very seldom, my guilt is that I can’t forgive my mother!

when I played, as beautifully as I could

on a willow pipe, my first sound

they looked lazily chewing

as He, hunched, walked along the field road

he came to these meadows of beautiful fragrance

- the green passion, spring circle

and not knowing how to say it he filled his eyes

with a sudden… crack of the two hearts

when I came back my mum said, there is another one

I threw her away! From my heart’s love for ever!...?

and with her furiously my pipe mocking

my childish crying… 

at school there was Norwid’s piano

and he too decided to throw it on the street!

I decided… to find this piano

and when I found it he and I understood that

this is when two becomes one

and the first what I wanted to do…

was a line – from a string!

I was just about to put it around my neck

and thunder! - with a felt hammer!

and then He came to me

gave a hug and whispered to the thinnest of strings

now I will also be Her

he became Her! He became Her at once!

because who if not Her, in a mortal disease

suffers, and out of love can take on her body

from a child even death’s pain?...

it was You! - You stood in front of him,

and suddenly said

now I need you…

millions! - of white pianos

I’ll give into your Motherly hands!

you didn’t even have time to say good bye

you took the tuning fork and said

now I’m ready, thank you for your time

but please only explain to him

that it is my time now…

For my Dearest Father – son.

(Inspiration: Polish Dance Theater – “Carpe diem”)

to be continued (Bardziński 2009, pp. 7-8).

    „…boundary situations […] if we have confronted them really, to despair and revival: we become ourselves by a change in our consciousness of being […]. And when the danger passes and we have managed to survive it, we forget ourselves again, immersing into the experience of happiness. But thanks to such experiences man grows wise” (Jaspers 2004, p. 13). “The way how man experiences failures decides who he becomes” (Jaspers 2004, s. 15).

    Am I not experiencing happiness, thus? I experience happiness and I constantly strive for it, it’s one of my most important aims. I think, however, that experiencing happiness will probably be greater if it grows out of experiencing unhappiness. A man, even young, becomes more careful when unhappy, he fights and wants to get rid of it as fast as possible. That’s why he can enjoy every second of happiness then, every little thing and can even share it with the others. 

    „There comes a fundamental impulse from the source constituted by boundary situations, which in the case of failure makes us look for a way to being” (Jaspers 2004, p. 15).

DANCE AND BOUNDARY SITUATIONS – FREE THOUGHTS

    In my opinion there are no boundary situations in dance. There is a confrontation, a realisation of one’s own ambitions and a desire to impress others. This is how it was with me. We were totally broken when we lost the dance competition – we were fed up with dance. And when we won, again, we started to worry when will they take this victory away from us.

But nobody ever died of that. I think we are dealing with a boundary situation when we are made to take a very important decision – which saves the life, your life or someone else’s life. Sometimes such decision need to be taken instantaneously, we seldom have time for that.

So, considering the above mentioned, can the following story be regarded as a boundary situation connected with dance?

Let’s assume that a boy comes from a family, where his mother left his father for another man. This boy gets to know a girl, whose family isn’t getting on well with each other either. The boy and his girl are very much in love with each other and they understand each other’s problems. After five years they get married and after some more time they have two children.

They’re fulfilling each other’s wishes in almost every regard. They don’t want to expose neither their children nor their marriage to the situation that happened to them once. 

After more than twenty years of marriage, the wife wishes to dance and they both choose the appropriate course, which they attend diligently twice a week. They’re so preoccupied with dance that after a year they practice every day with the instructor. He sees this, and they even become friends. After some time the situation takes a turn for the worse. The instructor has nothing more to impress the couple. They notice also that people dance differently, that some couples are really enjoying their dance. They see in their dance a story and above all they see love!   

Four years pass and after an all-day training the instructor not only shouts but also raises his hand to strike the man, and his wife sees that. The man’s pride is hurt and on the next day he practices as if nothing happened. But when after some days the instructor “laughs” at his wife and she cries in seclusion, the man decides to end this situation. No, he doesn’t punch the instructor in the kisser, neither does he persuade his wife to give up something that she adores so much – Dance.

He thinks – „This instructor is not the only one in the world, are all of them that bad? During the competition they noticed the beautiful dance of Jan Kliment and Petra Kostovičkova, and this couple won the competition. They deserved it, they really enjoy their dance. I have to go to his dance studio in Ostrava, it’s not very far away and may be worth trying. Soon they are practicing Latin dances in Ostrava in Jaroslav Kunes’ dance studio Akcent. They also start to practice regular dances in Siemianowice with Maciek Zakliczyński.

Some time passes and the couple starts attending dance studies at a Higher Education Institution. They’re inseparable but they’re also the oldest in their group and maybe that’s why it’s difficult for them to adjust to young people. The man also has problems with dancing, his wife is doing pretty well despite being a generation older. Most teachers see their enthusiasm and their love, and they respect that a lot. A day before completing the classes, a sharp squabble outbreaks between one teacher and a student facing not being allowed to pass the final exams. The man takes sides with him and says: “If Michał has to leave the school, then I’ll leave too.”. The whole group joins him in opposition to the teacher and Michał is admitted to the exams. This exam is a dance performance, where at first the couple are meant to play the most part of its role behind the scenes. But one of the most respected persons in Polish dance disagrees, saying: “We’ll never have such a couple in this school again…” 

The diploma performance: The curtain „goes” up. It’s dark. The stage slowly becomes illuminated with a light showing two figures, the man says:

continuation (Bardziński 2009, s. cover, p. 66).

…

Thus I Beg you, my Tuners,

please tune the last string of mine…

which is the chord,

of the piano’s body…

I Beg you! Although I know that this is very hard,

rush as fast as you can!

You must!!!... - you must be on time before I’ll go to Him,

- this is when two becomes one,

And then HE returns to these meadows of beautiful fragrance,

proudly holding his head up high,

- the green passion, spring circle, 

And I, for HIM and for EVERYONE,

to say that I thank you for everything,

I’ll play… - I’ll play as beautifully as I can…

- such dance, when everyone is dancing in a circle.

Now she’s repeating:

such dance, when everyone is dancing in a circle…

such dance, when everyone is dancing in a circle…

And then the whole group speaks:

such dance, when everyone is dancing in a circle…

such dance, when everyone is dancing in a circle…

Now the lighting illuminates the group of dancers standing in the background. The dance begins.

    Success comes, the smile is back, the dance becomes a play, and then – let’s cut a long story short: Jarda Kunes dances and judges i.a. Jan Kliment in the Czech version of “Strictly Come Dancing”. Maciek Zakliczyński is one of the main choreographers in the Polish edition of both “Strictly Come Dancing” and “You can dance”. 

    Was there any boundary situation connected to dance in this story?

    You may find the answer in the book ”To the tuners of white pianos” (“Do stroicieli białych fortepianów”) by Witold Bardziński, supposedly published using the money from a grant that he obtained for his good marks… Therefore it’s not for sale, it’s handed out to people, as he calls them… People of Dance.  

    21.04.2010 – PSA result = 0,09 ng/m

PHILEOCHOREOSOPHY AND BOUNDARY SITUATIONS

    I suggest that those looking for equilibrium in a combination of the physical movement of the body and soul call phileochoreosophy the art they’re going in for, and such people should be called phileochoreosophers. In order to avoid the devaluation of these words it is necessary to give a scientific definition:

    „Phileochoreosophy is an art which cannot be learned. It can be found.”

    “The process of searching for the steps and not the fact that we know them is the essence of phileochoreosophy. Phileochoreosophy means to be on the way. The questions are included in the body and soul of man, in the movement and stillness, where the questions are more important than answers, and every answer is in the body and soul of man, converting into a new question in the movement and stillness.” (2) 

    In December 2007 I participated in the university class of prof. Ewa Wycichowska (3):

    The first day:

…I’ll help you with the technique and the technique of expression in Your performance, but at the same time I ask you to think about your “Carpe diem”. You’ll watch “my children of dance” (the Dancers of the Polish Dance Theatre) in the evening performance in order to make it easier for you and to stimulate your strings a little. I will seat you so close that you’ll not only see everything but also feel the breath of My Dancers… Next a flower, an energy transfer and – let’s fight. I can honestly admit that I was tired after this evening performance (the performance of the students from the University of Arts and Sciences in Kielce), but I was also slightly stimulated. This resulted in writing down my two reflections after returning home from the theatre, one of which is my ”Carpe diem”.

    My „Carpe diem”.

My „Carpe diem” is a quotation of Yuri Andrukhovych (“51 text 3… “chuju-muju”). I can’t dance neither classics nor modern dance or expressionist dance, I can’t dance anything correctly. Because how can one, by cutting oneself off from the past and from the future, dance Czesław Niemen’s “Memory”?

I danced that more than 30 years ago… I couldn’t dance, but I danced! I felt (“265 the Eleventh circle – when two becomes one”). “Here and now” I would like to dance not that, what I feel now, because that’s impossible to dance. Or how can I dance the anger at computers, today’s debauchery, when not only in our everyday life, but also on TV our heroes are “broken marriages”, “men on steroids in their bulky BMWs” and women with “silicone bosom”,…

    I would like to dance the picture of my past – Marunowo village with a windmill and a five kilometre long Sunday walk to the church – a footpath among the fields, the smell of corn and even shorts (“188 the Fifth – the green passion, spring circle”)…

    That’s why I learn to dance for the future, because some day I would like to dance Niemen’s “Memory” in such a way to do it again (“265 the Eleventh circle – when two becomes one”).

    I have only one question – will I have enough time before me (because I’ve been “dancing” for nine years now and I feel like being nine years further away).

    I ask for help „CARPE DIEM”!

Kielce, 1 December 2007

    […] The second day – it’s “a warm-up of body and mind”, and an attempt to get an answer from us for the question, what is theatrical expression, carried out by dance? My work, as I would say– my “Carpe diem”, is to some extent in conformity with my thoughts, but the performance itself is exhausting for me. I can’t feel the dancers beside me, I can’t show what I would like to show.

    The third day – a film and incomprehensible words, a message – „Tina (Bausch), how do you see the future?... – I don’t know, because there are so many problems in the World. I’d like to have a lot of power and love”. I thought, what do you need power for? – Surely not for conquering the world, after all! It’s a nice warm-up again, but in my head there are still Tina’s words asking me – “What do you want, Witek?”. You know what’s the matter, professor – think and present your “Carpe diem” to yourselves or in your group. I see Piotr! Looking for an inspiration behind the window glass… Yes, it fits into place, there is my childhood and my school – a short path to the rubbish bin and throwing away a linen shirt, my fate made me grow up fast, to work abroad, for money, there is only one life, thinking on a chair, it’s high time to go back to the family, to the country, it’s hard to walk (pulling a chair, taking off the shoes, parts of clothing), with accumulated experiences and good clothes, it all has to be thrown away to the rubbish bin and the linen shirt needs to be taken out again.  

    I LIE! – (Yes, because I don’t feel that I’m standing in front of the Creator),

DON’T YOU LIE? – (With complaint – that it was You who promised everyone is going to receive two talents).

    I leave everything, but behind the closed door I already know that I was given one talent, so go back and ask for “Carpe diem”. How nicely did Robert ask all the World’s Gods… But he doesn’t see my God, therefore he turns away… Whereas, I apologize to HIM for using HIM for such a poor actor… I go with Karolina and Piotr to Michał and Renia – with pleasure. They’re happy, they drink vodka and I drink too, I drink for Tina’s health – I know now how much power you need to choose the dancers with their problems, their happiness and sorrow, so that the art of dancing could repair – the World with its many problems… After this short, let me call it – dance, I am exhausted both physically and mentally, a million times more as after my Saturday performance on the stage. Something stepped into me and it probably won’t go out, and no matter what it is, I thank you, Professor and I thank “Your dancing children”, with all my heart I thank you for that. “Carpe diem”.

    Therefore, in my humble opinion, we cannot talk about dance and boundary situations. Boundary situations will appear only in combination with phileochoreosophy. I return to Pina Bausch. She, being in a boundary situation herself, knowing that death is a matter of hours, she decided to sacrifice these hours for the things to which she submitted all her life:

“love – dance – wisdom”.

*

dance…

dance has devaluated

flowers…

they don’t smell like a meadow

man…

it’s so hard to meet one

philosophy…

is not in fashion any more

sun…

obscured by globalization

god…

behind a golden chart

let’s get back to Choreia

let’s add the Philospher’s thought

let’s smell the Primulas

let’s kiss the ear of Corn

let’s go and meet

the Light of destiny

Phileochoreosophy

love-dance-wisdom

it’s here where

Man meets Man

together they’ll find God

and then Nature

the Sun will shine.

Gliwice, Warsaw 08.02.2010 – 18.05.2010 

NOTES

(1) Quotation after Jaspers 2004, p. 26 – Quotations from the Book of Jeremiah (Jr 45, 3-5) according to the Millennium Bible, III edition as revised, Poznań-Warsaw 1980, p. 956. English translation: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/k/kjv/

(2) Adaptation of part of a text – Japsers 2004, p. 8: „The essence of philosophy is to look for the truth, not to possess the truth. […] Philosophy means being on the way. Its questions are more important than answers and every answer converts into a new question”.

(3) A selection from Witold Bardziński’s semester assignment, University of Arts and Sciences in Kielce, lecture – Dance composition, lecturer prof. Ewa Wycichowska.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bardziński W. (2009), “Do stroicieli białych fortepianów”, Gliwice, pp. 7-8

Dąbrowska G. (2005/2006), “Leksykon”, ”Taniec w polskiej tradycji”, Warszawa

Dubisz S. (2003), “Taniec”, in: “Uniwersalny Słownik Języka Polskiego PWN”, Warszawa

“The Hippocratic Oath”, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/doctors/oath_classical.html, 24 May 2010

Jaspers K. (2004), “Wprowadzenie do filozofii”, Wrocław

Kubinowski D. (2000), “Taniec choreologia humanistyka”, Poznań

Lange R. (2009), “O istocie tańca i jego przejawach w kulturze”, Poznań

Wojnowski J., (2005), “Taniec”, in: “Wielka Encyklopedia PWN”, Warszawa

[The Fryderyk Chopin University of Music, Postgraduate Studies, II semester, Theory of Dance, Lecture – Philosophy, Lecturer – prof. dr hab. Tadeusz Kobierzycki]