What does the body have to say about resilience, care, and what it is like to work in the arts? These are the themes of the Dance It Out LAB (17 September 2026), organized by the National Institute of Music and Dance (in collaboration with the Grotowski Institute) as part of Polish Dance Platform, Wrocław 2026.
Care as a part of the arts infrastructure
Practice of Change is a programme run by the Performat Foundation as part of the International Dance Alliance scheme, operated by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. The aim of the programme is to build a long-lasting, international network supporting the growth of choreography and dance.
This scheme is focused on the search for more sustainable, inclusive, and resilient models of creative production and collaboration. One of the main themes is care, envisaged not simply as an individual mindset, but also as an aspect of how an institution operates, how it is structured, and what relationships are possible within it. In this approach, care is included in the arts infrastructure: it encompasses the practices, procedures, and values which influence the creative working environment; the conditions in which artists work, security, trust, and accountability.
Dance It Out: start with the body and end up talking shop
Our Wrocław LAB will be based on Igor Shugaleev’s art practice, and the choreography for his performance Ich heiße Frau Troffea.
The movement section will focus on repetition, movement transformation, weariness, and monotony. The performance takes physical experience as its starting point, exploring ways in which transgressing these conditions can result in new forms of movement and a change in how the body is perceived.
In part two of our LAB, the movement experience will become the starting point for a debate on resilience, carrying on with what we do, and modes of working in the arts.
Who will moderate our LAB?
Julia Asperska and Konrad Kurowski will be our moderators during the debate, and Igor Shugaleev will present his art practice.
Igor Shugaleev – a Warsaw-based Belarusian choreographer, actor, and performer. His practice combines dance, physical theatre, performance, and political activism. His works focus on the body in extreme conditions, making use of endurance, repetition, and intensity as creative tools.
Julia Asperska – an independent curator, arts manager, and certified coach. Her previous roles include art project manager at Key Performance in Sweden, curator at Something Great Collection in Berlin, and associate curator at Internationale Tanzmesse NRW in Düsseldorf.
Konrad Kurowski – an independent dramaturg, curator, and facilitator of creative processes. He takes the body as his focal point, developing his own movement practice based on embodied care.
Where and when?
17 September 2026, 11:00 to 16:00
The LAB will be held in Wrocław in the Laboratory Theatre Space at the Grotowski Institute, Rynek Ratusz 27, Przejście Żelaźnicze, as well as at Barbara, Świdnicka Street 8B.
About the programme
Practice of Change is managed by the producers and curators Karolina Wycisk, Ula Zerek, and Anna Straczyńska-Green, in partnership with the Performat Foundation.
Practice of Change is a part of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute International Dance Alliances programme. The scheme involves organizing labs and creative residencies, as well as staging Polish productions abroad.
Organized by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, in partnership with the Performat Foundation.
National Institute of Music and Dance
Co-funded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage
To learn more about the project, visit International Dance Alliances – Adam Mickiewicz Institute: https://iam.pl/en/international-dance-alliances
