Ragnarok

Ragnarok in Norse mythology means „the twilight of the gods”, or simply the end of the old world and the beginning of a new one. However, the title of our performance is the only direct reference that connects it with the mythology. We felt that it might give another layer of interpretation for the audience, but at the same time we liked the fact that this term is so blunt with its meaning.

The performance is about a new world. And here we wanted to dive into the problematics of humanity. Relations between people, connection with oneself, and representation of a society, but without certain roles or hierarchy.

We are wor­king with the con­cept of li­mi­na­li­ty, which is fo­cu­sed on the „in-be­twe­en” pla­ce, that oc­curs in the cen­tral pha­se of the rite of pas­sa­ge. The pla­ce, whe­re the par­ti­ci­pants are no lon­ger the­ir old se­lves, but are not yet any­thing new. It is the am­bi­gu­ous pla­ce of pas­sing by. And we wan­ted the who­le per­for­man­ce to be that pla­ce. A kind of di­stor­ted si­tu­ation, a bit out of or­der or with some kind of ten­sion and un­com­for­ta­ble fe­eling.

Thro­ugh the who­le per­for­man­ce each ac­tress and ac­tor has hers and his own sto­ry and path, and thro­ugh some cros­sings the re­la­tions are hap­pe­ning. We were try­ing to un­der­li­ne this lo­ne­li­ness, even if the­re are some con­nec­tions hap­pe­ning. It is more abo­ut fin­ding this spe­ci­fic per­for­ma­ti­ve sta­te of ca­re­ful­ly li­ste­ning to my­self - and thro­ugh this ten­der and vi­gi­lant li­ste­ning - to tru­ly he­aring the others.

CHOREA Theatre’s performance in collaboration with Carte Blanche – The Norwegian National Company of Contemporary Dance.

Premiere date: 19.08.2022

Venue: Fabryka Sztuki w Łodzi

direction and choreography: Adrian Bartczak

cast: Joanna Chmielecka, Majka Caban, Małgorzata Lipczyńska, Anna Maszewska, Elina Toneva, Janusz Adam Biedrzycki, Michał Jóźwik, Tomasz Rodowicz

music: Tomasz Krzyżanowski

Adrian Bartczak– mover, teacher, choreographer. His education comes from various workshops and coachings. He learned from Krzyszfor Skolimowski, Witold Jurewicz, Ray Chung, Christophe Jeannot, Jozef Frucek. He has worked as a freelancer since 2008. During this time he collaborated with Michał Ratajski, Tomasz Rodowicz, Rob Hayden, Sarah Shelton Mann, Rosana Gamson, Minako Seki, Roberto Olivan, Jacek Owczarek. From 2011 teacher and choreographer in polish dance collective KIJO. Also cooperated with Chorea Theater since 2012. From August 2016 working as a dancer in Carte Blanche, The Norwegian National Company of Contemporary Dance. 

Pre-premiere of "Ragnarok" took place on 19 August 2022. The second showing took place on 23 August 2022 and 22 April 2023 performance was shown in Bergen.