RESERVOIRS | performance by Katarzyna Chmielewska | PREMIERA

The performance was based on the author's concept of Katarzyna Chmielewska, selected in an open call for the realization of a large format premiere in the program Przezenie Sztuki-Taniec.

The starting point for the creation of the show was the historical water reservoirs of Gdańsk — their architecture, construction and function related to water retention and flow.

Looking for their traces in the space of the city, we found fragments of architecture, underground passages, walls, lines and closed structures, which became the material for building imaginary reservoirs and the language of choreography.

For us, the reservoir is also an image of the human body — a place where memory, experiences, emotions and strength accumulate.

The five bodies on stage take over, transform and transmit movement, building changing relationships and structures. The video brings to the stage the atmosphere of the places that became the inspiration for the performance — their traces, textures and character.

“RESERVOIRS” is the process of collecting, processing and transmitting experiences. Five people go through the next levels — from level 0 to level 7.

Each subsequent level means a change in space, energy and relationships between bodies. The road leads up — through successive reservoirs, their tensions, obstacles and opportunities to get from one level to the next.

We would like to thank WL4 Mleczny Piotr for sharing your space for recordings.

Katarzyna Chmielewska — choreographer, dancer and pedagogue. She studied dance in Gdansk and Brussels. For many years she was associated with the Dada von Bzdülöw Theater, with which she co-created more than 50 performances presented in Europe, Asia and the USA. He currently works in the Dada Theater Association. From 2022—2024, she lived in Barcelona, where she taught regular choreography classes and master classes and collaborated with local artists on improvised projects and site-specific activities. Since 2025 she has been a resident of Grid Arthub at the 100cznia in Gdańsk, where she develops the project “Skin of the City. Dance in relation to architecture”, which explores the relationship between movement, the body, and urban space. In 2026, she received a scholarship from the Minister of Culture and as part of the series “Visible Practices”, she deepens the research she has begun, sharing with the audience the creative process, showing how choreography is created inspired by the space and rhythm of the city and how movement can enter into dialogue with architecture. The result of this process was the premiere of a site-specific performance entitled “Before Space Responds”.

The project was co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage as part of the Spaces of Art — Dance Programme, implemented by the National Institute of Music and Dance. The operators of the program in Gdańsk in the years 2026-2028 are the Gdańsk Archipelago of Culture and the Institute of Urban Culture.