Association of Creative Initiatives
MOMENTUM
About
The MOMENTUM Creative Initiatives Association is a non-governmental organization registered in 2000 under the number KRS: 0000367176. The association conducts paid and unpaid activities for statutory purposes. It has 15 members who work for the statutory activity of the association free of charge and numerous volunteers, whose number varies depending on the implemented tasks and the length of the project. The Association conducts activities in cooperation with central and local government administration, as well as other non-governmental organizations, legal entities, who want to support or cooperate in the scope of statutory objectives set by the Association.
The MOMENTUM Association unites educators, theoreticians and dance practitioners for whom movement is a passion and the most important means of artistic expression. The main goal of the Association’s activity is to initiate events popularizing the movement and to promote an active, creative and healthy lifestyle. Besides, we aim to educate adults, mainly people professionally involved in art (any field), so that in the future they can educate children and young people in a creative and innovative way, and transfer knowledge, skills and good practices to future generations. The association brings together people with experience and qualifications in the field of dance, movement and education. Members of the association are people working in the fields of choreography, contact improvisation, martial arts, various forms of massage and body work. We have culture experts, educators, sociologists and culture managers in our ranks, as well as theater artists, vocalists and musicians, circus and street artists, as well as many other unique and interesting people who have a lot to offer, and at the same time they have a constant need for continuous education and searching.
The MOMENTUM Creative Initiatives Association is a non-governmental organization. We develop activities in the field of artistic education and cooperate with many institutions – the Institute of Music and Dance, the Grotowski Institute, the City of Wrocław, ECITE and others. We always invite leading Polish and foreign teachers and artists, focused mainly on releasing creative inspirations and discovering their own potentials in their adult students. Coaches, artists and teachers participating in our projects are creative people, full of commitment, who keep seeking new solutions.
We have several local, nationwide and international projects. For 10 years we have been organizing a festival which enjoys a great reputation in the country, which every year attracts a growing group of foreign participants (all our materials are translated into English, and at each lesson during the festival there is a translator into and from English). We are involved in ECITE – European teacher exchange Contact Improvisation and together with a school from Israel we run body work training – Ilan Lev method. We also have a 3-year school of Contact Improvisation NEW DANCE ACADEMY with Milan Kozanek and cyclical training WORKSHOP CREATIVE DANCE IN PSYCHOEDCATIVE WORK WITH CHILDREN AND YOUTH with Beata Zehetbauer, in which participant are mainly teachers and educators. We also created the PLANET KIDS PLATFORM! addressed to the youngest recipients and aiming on popularizing dance and development through movement and expanding access to various fields of art. In addition, we organize the CIRCULATION ACADEMY, i.e. cyclical workshops with staff focused on continuous training and meetings with outstanding personalities from specific fields (GaGa, BMC, Contact Improvisation and others). In cooperation with the Czech Republic, the performance 'Birth’ was created and international dance workshops took place.
MEMBERS AND PRODUCER OF THE FESTIVAL
Aga Rybak
She teaches, moves and performs. For over 20 years she has been dealing with broadly understood work with people by recognizing the body as a medium of communication with the world. She practices and combines rich ways of work: breath, massage, dance and movement. For her, these are methods that naturally release vitality potential and free expression. They contribute to making contact with oneself and the environment, giving a deep experience of life and health. She is a graduate of instructor programs in the field of body therapy, dance and movement. She constantly practices and develops in Poland and abroad. She collaborates with the Grotowski Institute as part of the BodyConstitution research program. Partner in the original program of Jakub Gontarski – „Body String” and „Combat Partnering” Member of ECITE (European Teacher Exchange Contact Improvisation). Initiator of the Wrocław contact improvisation community. She conducts regular classes and workshops. Scholarship holder of the Alternative Dance Academy in Poznań. A graduate of the Academy of New Dance and Improvisation and instructor programs in the field of therapy, dance and movement. She co-created, among others performances „Animan – I Am That”, „House of Crazy” and „Idiot.” Co-creator of the Circulations Festival, Kobietnik and Planet Kids project.
She is a therapist and teacher of Lomi Lomi Nui – the Hawaiian method of working with the body in the Aloha International system – and Life Impressions Bodywork (Ayurweda & Life Impressions Institute). In many years of work, she also studied Thai massage, myofascial methods, craniosacral therapy, basics of osteopathy and BMC. Recently she discovered the ILAN LEV Method (ilanlev.org), which she is also a co-founder of a school branch in Poland.
Jakub Gontarski
Dorota Kamecka
Baśka Gwóźdź
Dancer, choreographer. A graduate of Vocal and Ballet Studies at the Musical Theater in Gliwice and cultural studies, major in Culture Management (University of Lower Silesia). She also studied at the PWST in Kraków at the Dance Theater Department in Bytom. Scholarship holder of the Alternative Dance Academy and a SOLO Projekt resident in 2013 at the Art Stations Foundation in Poznań. She was an intern at the ZAR Theater at the Grotowski Institute in Wrocław, as well as a student at the Open University at the Grotowski Institute in the years 2010-2012. In the past, she was professionally associated with the Dance Stage at the Capitol Music Theater in Wrocław. She cooperated with Art Color Ballet in Krakow and the Historic Coal Mine GUIDO in Zabrze as part of the „Theater on the level” project. For several years, she has been cooperating with theatre directors, dealing with movement directing, and in the 2013/2014 season, she created two solo performances. In addition, she is a co-organizer of the CIRCULATIONS Festival in Wrocław (2010-2015) and a former assistant to the producer Deltebre Dansa Festival in Spain in 2012.
ACTION PLAN FOR 2018-2020
CONTINUATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE FESTIVAL. CIRCULATIONS BY
Implementation and development of the Association’s projects:
- popularizing the most important global searches in the field of movement and activities revolving around contemporary art
- promotion of the achievements of Polish dance art on an international forum
- developing the educational and social offer of the festival
- increasing the range of recipients by the international environment
CIRCULATION ACADEMY
- To organize 1, 2 and 3-day workshops during the year to create opportunities to dance and to meet, and to build a dance community in Wroclaw.
- To invite teachers of technique who are currently enjoying the greatest interest and representatives of techniques completely innovative on our dance market.
Planned new projects and direction of the development of the Association:
- Developing social and educational activity in the field of movement and dance.
- Strengthening cooperation with the institutions with which we have been operating so far, including the Grotowski Institute, IMPART, Center for Artistic Initiatives.
- Cooperation with the Institute of Music and Dance (conferences, training sessions).
- Developing international contacts, artistic exchange, joint projects,
trips of the Association’s members to international festivals and training in order to establish contacts with foreign institutions
. - Supporting artists in creating and organizing cultural enterprises.
- Preparation of dance performances of SIT „Momentum” members.
