Progress in Poland

Yesterday the rehearsal went much better. Agata unleashed her fury and everyone got into line. It is difficult without a couple of extra "rehearsal directors" to keep everyone organized, working, and engaged! But today the dancers had more movement to work with, as we have finally developed the basic structure of the piece. We tried the crocheted masks for the first time as well, to give them a chance to know what it feels like to have their faces covered. It looked amazing. We also found out we have a 15-piece teen band who will be playing for us. It is going to be an adventure. . .

We have been spending a lot of time with the performers from Sudan. They are very interested in Agata's crocheting, saying that it is also a traditional African art. Yesterday one woman braided Agata's hair as Agata crocheted, and pretty soon everyone was involved. (The pictures are not uploading propersly so when there is more time I will redo them . . .)

Creating the piece

We've started working with the dancers. The festival has "given" us 14 dancers to work with who are students attending the festival. In return for working with us (thus missing a few classes) they get a discounted rate. Doesn't speak much to the value of what we're offering! But it's helpful to us, so . . .

It is a big group to work with and because we are trying something new (as usual) it is a bit chaotic and the dancers don't really trust us. If you show uncertainty people think you just don't know what you are doing. Which to a certain extent is true, but they don't know that we eventually will get somewhere. We are rehearsing in a different place than where the final show will be, which is one complication; we are just figuring out how the unraveling will work, which is another; and the movements, as usual are not "dance-y" in a way that the students expect, so they think it is not interesting. We have one dancer who is a bit older than the others (29) and has her own company, so she tends to make up a lot of movement for everyone. We told them that their suggestions are welcome, but she has desided that means she can rechoreograph the bits she isn't happy with. We had a brief talk with her yesterday, but I had forgotten that in the middle of trying to figure out what the piece is going to be and how to deal with the fabric and yarn, we have to negotiate with all the dancers personalities as well! That is always an important part of the whole process, of course - we just have such a short time to create something interesting, that we are somewhat dependent on the good will of the participants. It is going to be a challenge for everyone.

Auschwitz

Yesterday we drove to Auschwitz. The entire town was taken over by Germans during WWII and an old Polish army barracks was made into, first, a prison camp for Polish political prisoners, and later, an extermination camp. I can't really figure out what to write.

Krakow

We took the train to Krakow on Thursday. Krakow is beautiful, there was not as much bombing there during WWII as the other cities. Although Agata told me that Warsaw was rebuilt by looking at old documents and photographs, quite an amazing feat.

We walked to the old Jewish quarter and back to the ventrqal marketplace, where most of the action is. It's very lively, surrounded by bars and restaurants with chairs outdoors, and you get offers to tour the city by horse and carriage, bicycle, tram, go-cart, or Segue. Young people thrust flyers in your hand every five meters. Agata bought us a delicious mountain cheese being hawked on the street that has a smoky, salty taste and crumbly texture and comes in a small mottled brown lump with intricate designs in the outside.

We saw the dragon outside the Wawel, I think the castle/palace during thle long period that Krakow was the capital of Poland. Legend is that a terrible dragon lived in the palace that demanded 12 youg girls (i.e. , virgins) each year from the villagers. A heroic shoemaker developed a plan to poison the dragon by somehow wrapping a sheep carcass around poisoned meat. The dragon ate it and his mouth burned so much as a result of the poison that before he died he drank most of teh surrounding waterways, so only one river remains.

The city is an odd mixture of old and new. A modern statue of the dragon sits at the base of the palace hill; a small bronze plaque tells you that if you send a text message to a certain address, the dragon will breathe fire for you (for PLN1). We decide it is worth the price and text the dragon. The dragon replies in a text, and we wait. We wait, and wait, and wait - and give up. Later, when we are up at the top of the palace grounds, we look down and see a tour group of cyclists looking expectantly at the dragon. We expect they, too, have been robbed of PLN1.

While Agata went to visit her great aunt, I went to the local Museum of Archaeology to learn something about prehistoric Poland - they have an exhibit about Poland from prehistory through 1200. It's quite interesting, expecially as I seem to know and think about Poland only from World War II onwards. Salt, amber, and flint were the main exports from Krakow through the 13th century. Now, Agata says, I have to fill the gap between 1200 and 1940.

Fabric

Today we measured out the fabric that I brought to Poland from Materials for the Arts - all 25+ kilos of it. I brought very few actual clothes; most of my luggage was fabric and yarn for the installation.

We measured the marketplace - from one side to another, lamppost to lamppost, was 170 of my shoes. (We needed this measurement because we will be stretching fabric from one side to the other.) So we took the suitcase out to the grass in front of Agata's apartment building and laid out all the fabric, then found a broomstick, which measured 4.5 of my shoes, and used the broomstick to measure the fabric. We found that we had quite a bit - 80 times the broomstick. But we still needed more, so Agata's brother Jacek drove us to a shopping area where there were several fabric wholesalers. Agata struck a deal with the first; he offered PLN2.5 per meter if we didn;t need a receipt. The second place had black lining for PLN1.70 per meter, but we wanted grey, not black. The third place, where Agata had spoken to the manager on the phone the day before, took a few tries to find. But it was worth it- they had several grey fabrics, one for PLN1 per meter, anthe others for PLN2 per meter. We bought about 150 meters, for a total of PLN200. Art is so glamorous.

Racoco in Poland

Visual artist Olek and I are in Kochowice, Poland, staying at her parents' house in Kochowice (see photo; sorry it's sideways, it looks right after 7 shots of Luksosawa). We have eaten several home-cooked meals and drunk several beers and bottles of vodka in the 36 hours I have been here -- all research.

Today when we looked on the internet to find the hours Auschwitz was open and in searching for means of transportation the name of Agata's grandfather's name, Zygmund Pyzik, popped up on the screen, with his date of birth, and date of his death at the camp. It was a solemn moment - I think Agata was surprised to see the name and information there. She knew the story, but it was a shock to have it in front of her. She told the story to me:

It seems her mother's father had a twin brother, who was caught by police selling black market food and supplies. They took his identification away. Because he had to continue working, he took his brother's identification. He was caught a second time, and this time sent to Auschwitz. Her grandfather had a very difficult time getting a job for a while after the war - he was officially dead.

The area where she lives has an interesting history, many of the men who lived here were soldiers in the German army during the war, which has led to some tensions, but also to many leaving for jobs in Germany. The main source of employment here is the coal mines, but jobs are difficult to get. Both of Agata's parents work there, although now her father is retired.

We spent the afternoon in Katowice, the big town nearby, and partly wandered, partly looked for musicians who would perform with us (on July 1, at the central Bytom marketplace, see r.h. photo). We spoke to a bartender at one of Agata's favorite bars, who makes delicious hot beer - a concoction a bit like mulled wine with spices and other alcohols mixed in. He gave us the numbers of several possible musicians and also suggested we go to the local music academy. So we wandered over to find it to post a notice on the bulletin board. It has been difficult to find musicians who do not want to be paid, and paid quite a lot - especially if one is coming from the USA, one is expected to have money. Sadly, this is not always the case. . .

However, we finally were able to get in touch by phone with one of Agata's favorite bands, Koalaband, a group that sings blues and African-based melodies and rhythms but singing in the Silesian dialect. We are meeting them for drinks tomorrow in a nearby town. They seem very bizarre, so we have high hopes that they might be interested in what we are doing. . .