MORNINGS IN MOTION Movement in Flow – Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art

This August series of morning sessions, organised by the Burdąg Foundation as a guest programme at the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, is an invitation to experience dance as a process of movement and somatic exploration. We will develop flexibility, adaptability, strength, efficient body organisation, speed, clarity, precision and economy of movement.

• Through work with the imagination and visualisation, the sessions will become a space for independent exploration. We will focus on the breath, the multidirectional and multidimensional nature of movement, and on finding support within the body’s structure rather than relying solely on muscular tension. We will seek freedom, fluidity and expressiveness, discovering how movement flows through the body and how the body can find greater lightness, agility and ease. The technical and creative dimensions of dance will be developed in tandem, each supporting the other. The sessions will provide a space for exploring embodiment, expression, creativity and awareness through immersion in the process of discovering movement.

Karolina Kraczkowska

• dancer, performer and choreographer. She graduated from the Institute of Applied Linguistics at the University of Warsaw, the Faculty of Photography at the Łódź Film School, and the Dance in Performance programme at the Laban Centre in London. From 2004 to 2007 she was a member of the Polish Dance Theatre. As a freelance performer, she took part in productions by Jasmin Vardimon, Fin Walker, Ula Sickle, Mårten Spångberg and Tino Sehgal. She is a DanceWEB scholarship recipient. She is currently associated with Warsaw’s experimental choreography and theatre scene and has worked, among others, with Ramona Nagabczyńska (Czyste, Kocham Balet, Anonimowi Performerzy, Silenzio!), Marta Ziółek (Wolne Ciała, 122 słowa o muzyce i tańcu), Paweł Sakowicz (Masakra, Drama), Anna Smolar (Halka, Melodramat), Renata Piotrowska (Wycieka ze mnie samo złoto) and Magda Ptasznik. At the same time, she continues to develop her own choreographic practice through original solo works, including projects created during a residency at Chez Bushwick, New York (2016); as part of the performance programme at Zachęta (SPA, 2017; Plac Małachowskiego, 2018); within Solo Projekt Plus at Stary Browar (2018); during a City of Lublin cultural scholarship (2019, with a work-in-progress showing at the Wawer Cultural Centre); at the Kraków Choreographic Centre (The Vessel, 2021); during a residency at Movement Research, New York (2022); as part of a City of Warsaw scholarship (Unconsumed, 2024); and following an open call at Komuna Warszawa (Sublime, 2025). In these works, she deepens her movement and choreographic practice, exploring the possibilities of bodily transformation and shifts in personal identity. Her practice is grounded in a perception of the body as metaphor, instrument and tool, as well as the embodiment of the subject that animates it and communicates inner thought, emotions and affects. She regards the body as productive and creative, continually seeking to expand its potential – not so much a fixed entity as an ongoing series of processes of becoming, constitution, integration and multiplication.

MORNINGS IN MOTION

• These are regular movement-awareness sessions drawing on contemporary dance, improvisation and related approaches centred on mindfulness and bodily perception. They are open to anyone aged 16 and over, regardless of previous experience. The sessions combine individual exercises with work in pairs and groups. They are intended to broaden participants’ movement experience, deepen self-awareness and develop knowledge of contemporary dance and new choreography. The workshops take the form of open classes.

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Accessibility

• The Laboratory is a separate building located a few steps south of Ujazdowski Castle, in the former historic Arsenal building.
  • The Wojciech Krukowski Hall is located on Level +1. The building has a lift.
• Women’s, men’s and accessible toilets are located on Level 0.
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The project is funded by the City of Warsaw. The event is organised as part of the project Educational Innovations at the Centre in Motion (No. 2025-1-PL01-KA122-ADU-000341104), co-funded by the European Union.