Rollercoaster is a dance presentation program organized by Cricoteka and Krakow Dance Theatre. This year, curators Paweł Łyskawa and Eryk Makohon will invite audiences to experience dance performances by both Polish and international artists. We have premieres, special meetings, and unique shows ahead—events that, we hope, will give us all a much-needed boost of positive energy in these challenging times.
The events of recent years have brought widespread exhaustion and sadness. The lingering effects of COVID isolation, the economic crisis, war at our borders, the migration crisis, and societal polarization are just a few of the difficulties we face. That’s why this year’s program focuses on the positive. We aim to create a space for shared experiences of joy, affirmation, and celebration. While we won’t shy away from difficult topics—often hidden behind humor, satire, and irony—we will always seek hope within them.
We are thrilled to announce the theme of this year’s Rollercoaster edition: Fiesta!
Program
27–29 August
Dance Communication Lab
Workshops
29 August, 18:30 – post-workshop showcase
A three-day meeting of professional dancers from Hungary, Sweden, Slovenia, Romania, Croatia, and Poland, who will exchange creative tools through improvisation. The theme of the meeting will be FIESTA, led by Aleksandra Bożek–Muszyńska, a charismatic performer known for her irony and wit.
31 August, 10:00 and 13:00
My Tail and I
Family performance
Holobiont
The dance performance My Tail and I is a production by the Polish pioneers of experimental choreography for families — the acclaimed independent collective Holobiont. Addressed to families with children aged 3–6, it humorously and aptly tells young audiences about evolution, of which the human tailbone is a remnant. During the event, the creators will invite families to join in movement-based play with the performers, releasing creative energy that often lies dormant, hidden in our tails.
Concept: Hanna Bylka-Kanecka
Choreography: Holobiont collective in collaboration with Heike Kuhlmann, Adalisa Menghini, and Ka Rustler
Creation and performance: Aleksandra Bożek-Muszyńska / Magdalena Górnicka-Jottard, Hanna Bylka-Kanecka, Dana Chmielewska / Wojciech Furman
Scenographic collaboration: Mr. Tail
Music: Józef Buchnajzer
Production: Performat Foundation
Co-production: Polish Theatre in Poznań, Ochota Theatre in Warsaw
Distribution: Performat Production – Karolina Wycisk
The premiere of the performance was co-organised by the National Institute of Music and Dance within the PolandDances / Choreographic Residencies project, co-financed by the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport.
28 September, 18:30
Breaking Bread
Performance
Cie. Kata Juhasz
Breaking Bread (The Penultimate Supper) refers to the biblical theme of the Last Supper — the final time the disciples could meet, talk, and share their understanding of the world. The feast proposed by the artists is a step back, inviting the audience to reflect on the finite possibilities of sharing. This musical feast is a six-course menu — each dish is meaningful in all its elements, served by dancers and acrobats in unconventional ways. The performance takes the place of the familiar restaurant ritual, transforming into a sometimes surreal yet consistently engaging and spectacular ceremony, unfolding almost at the plate’s edge. Food becomes the starting point for humorous interludes. Participating in this choreographic delicacy, the huge festive table becomes the stage, with the audience seated at it.
Performers: Eszti Kudlák, Fruzsina Markó, Marcell Hován, Kata Juhász, András Déri, Máté Asbót
Choreography: Juhász Kata
Concept: Tamás Lóky
Chef: Gábor Kereszty
Support: Hungarian National Cultural Fund, Ministry of Culture and Innovation of Hungary
After the performance, there will be a discussion with the artists, moderated by Alicja Müller.
15 November, 18:30
Checkmate
Performance
Krakow Dance Theatre
Fiesta means celebration, and celebration also means games. CHECKMATE is a dance story about the game of chess. Six performers, connected by costume, create a dense choreography reflecting both cooperation and the tensions arising from sharing space. Checkmate is an attempt to break free from an oppressive structure and an unfulfilled dream of freedom.
The characters, inspired by chess pieces and brought to life through movement, refer to important social themes. The Queen symbolises power and its costs. The King becomes a metaphor for the struggle for dominance, political divisions, and cultural conflicts. The Knight embodies movement, racing, and competition, mirroring the pace of the modern world, which constantly runs forward, sometimes forgetting its destination. The Pawn is the everyman, entangled in globalisation, uniformity, and rigid systems — seemingly equal, yet in reality limited in access to resources and personal growth, holding the weakest cards in the theatre of the world.
Concept: Eryk Makohon
Choreography: Eryk Makohon and the company
Dramaturgy: Daria Kubisiak
Costumes: Joanna Jaśko–Sroka, Elżbieta Kwasek–Stefańska
Music: collage
Music arrangement: Krzysztof Skalski
Cast: Agnieszka Bednarz–Tyran, Agnieszka Kramarz, Paweł Łyskawa, Patrycja Marszałek, Jakub Müller, Yelyzaveta Tereshonok
Coordination and production: Izabela Zawadzka, Paweł Łyskawa
Graphic design: Weronika Wawryk
Project funded by the European Union NextGenerationEU as part of the National Recovery Plan for Culture.
After the performance, there will be a discussion with the artists, moderated by Alicja Müller.
30 November
Layers
Performance
Katarzyna Żeglicka, Alicja Czyczel
The performance will be based on a radical imagination of an anti-capitalist and anti-patriarchal reality. According to Alex Khasnabish and Max Haiven, radical imagination draws on the past and the histories of others, forming the basis of solidarity and resistance to oppression. It is the ability to imagine the world and life as they could be.
The artists will create and perform choreography based on anarchist contemporary dance, which they define as the rejection of bodily and movement norms within dance. The choreography will be accompanied by a multimedia presentation prepared by Volha. The performance draws inspiration from the lives of the protagonists of Cristina Morales’ novel Easy Reading and the painter Frida Kahlo — women connected by the experience of disability but above all by their refusal to accept the existing reality. The creators will explore the possibilities of change that our imagination can build. Combining individual feminisms, bodily practices, lived experiences, and definitions of utopia, they will create a stage narrative woven from dreams of an anarchist world — but first, they will ask themselves whether it is possible, and if not, what must be done to make it so.
The premiere is realised as part of the European project Europe Beyond Access, with production support from Krakow Dance Theatre.
14 December, 18:30
Daddy
Performance
Joel Bray
Daddy is a participatory dance work created by Indigenous Australian choreographer Joel Bray. From the sugar-coated idyll of childhood memories to the frosted excesses of queer adulthood, Daddy is Joel Bray’s search for belonging. In one moment he presents childlike innocence; in the next, he exudes muscular gay-masculine bravado, only to collapse to the floor in agony moments later.
The audience gradually learns the true story of lost innocence, colonisation, and sexual assault that led to his familial and cultural displacement. Daddy also reveals that Joel Bray, a proud Aboriginal man, seems to feel more at home in European dance forms and imagery than in his own traditional dance. He twists and contorts, trying to recall his Aboriginal father and the fragments of culture he learned from him.
Creation, choreography, performance: Joel Bray
Music: Naretha Williams
Lighting: Katie Sfetkidis
Set and costumes: James Lew
Directorial collaboration: Stephen Nicolazzo
Choreographic collaboration: Niharika Senapati
Dramaturgy: SJ Norman
Technical support: Daniel Nixon
Lighting realisation: Nicholas Moloney
Piano: Niv Marinberg
Voices: Josh Price, Jason Tamiru
Technical director: Cecily Rabey
Producer: Josh Wright
After the performance, there will be a discussion with the artist, moderated by Alicja Müller.
Kuratorzy programu / Curators: Paweł Łyskawa, Eryk Makohon
Organizatorzy / Organizers: Cricoteka, Krakowski Teatr Tańca
Zespół realizujący projekt / Project Team: Mariusz Gąsior, Valentyna Khomenko, Małgorzata Kmita – Fugiel, Magdalena Link-Lenczowska, Zofia Mikołajska, Aldona Mikulska, Andrea Nikolov, Agnieszka Oprządek, Anna Rejowska, Aleksandra Treder, Michał Warmusz, Weronika Wawryk, Natalia Zarzecka, Izabela Zawadzka
