Cold Figures

Synopsis
Hugging burns six calories in only five minutes.
A cup of coffee’s nothing.
I’m weighing my options – and you? What are you doing here?

A woman’s voice emerges from the scenery. From a table laden with delicacies too beautiful to eat. A rich Flemish still life – yet it speaks.
In this intriguing work of video art, a manifesto is born.
Three women dance, attune to their senses and question hunger itself.
What happens when a cold, analytical mind meets the temptation to sense more, to feel more? Can it allow itself to be nourished?
What is the melting point of control? How do the senses react as you reconnect with your own body? As you connect with other, dancing bodies?
We invite you to dive into this six-minute feast for the senses by a group of artists in the fields of contemporary dance, film and music.

 

Director Biography – MALGORZATA SZYMULA, PIOTR TURLEJ

Małgorzata Szymula studied at SEAD Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (2007- 2011). She started her development path in 1999 in Gdańsk, Poland. She studied mainly under the guidance of dancers from Dada von Bzdülöw theater, Wojciech Mochniej and Melissa Monteros from Gdańsk Dance Theater, as well as at Iwona Olszowska’s Experimental Dance Studio in Cracow. She is a scholarship holder of the Alternative Dance Academy 2013 – a program of the Grazyna Kulczyk Foundation (Stary Browar New Dance, Poznań). She has participated in workshops and residency programs in Belgium, France and USA (Tisch School of the Arts, NY). She is the creator of the performances Hours (Klub ŻAK, Gdańsk, coaching – Shangchi Sun), Via PKP (WINDA Artistic Club, Gdańsk), Automatically (Klub ŻAK, Gdańsk) and What’s up with my sister? (Barakah Theater, Kraków). In 2018 and 2019, she performed in the play Beyond as part of the project Akcja WAŻKA presented at the 31st ULICA Street Theatre Festival in Cracow and the FETA festival in Gdańsk. In 2017, she led a series of Body Balance workshops at Movement Factory and Dance Studio – Harmony Garden in Cracow. She has also been associated with Iwona Olszowska’s Dance Area for years. In 2019-2020, she taught contemporary dance classes as part of her original project Phrases with coffee at Bon Ami space. During this period, she began to conduct individual classes Designing Dances. In 2022, she began working with film director Nikodem Wojciechowski, with whom she made the short film Little Stories. Continuing her development in the direction of video dance, in 2023 she initiated the film project Cold Figures.

country

Poland

runtime

05:21

CREDITS

Directors

Malgorzata Szymula
Piotr Turlej