CHOREA Łódź 2011, Oratorium Dance Project

CHOREA Łódź 2011, Oratorium Dance Project is an international artistic and educational project addressed to young people aged 13-24 as well as children and mature adults over 50 years of age from Łódź and the Łódź region. Additionally, the recruited youth will include people from disadvantaged environments and those threatened with social exclusion.

The main aim of the project is integration through art of different social and age groups from multicultural Łódź and activation of children and young people from disadvantaged environments. These are usually young people from poverished or pathological families, orphanages, community centres and educational care facilities who have very limited access to art education. Participation in the project may be the first opportunity in their life to do something creative in art and work with professional artists.

In autumn 2011, a common artwork – an unusual dance and music performance – will be accomplished by a group of 120 participants led by the eminent American choreographer Robert Hayden, the British group Earthfall Dance Limited and the CHOREA Theatre Association, featuring the orchestra and choir of the Łódź Philharmonic Orchestra.

Oratorium Antyk/Trans/Orchestra, a work composed for a symphony orchestra and a choir of over 100 people, came to being for the sake of the project. It exploits specially arranged songs of ancient Greece reconstructed from rescued music heritage which is 2.5 thousand years old. It will be performed by 60 young people from the Łódź region and the Łódź Philharmonic Orchestra Choir. Stage movement of the Oratorium choir will be elaborated by choreographers from the British group Erthfall.

In the dance part of the show, choreography by Robert Hayden, we will see a group of 60 people who have never danced before. In his work with the youth, Hayden will be assisted by choreographers and dancers of Pracownia Fizyczna run in Lodz by Jacek Owczarek as well as actors and dancers from the CHOREA Theatre and also independent Łódź artists.

The first stage of the project, run in the first half year of 2011 by the CHOREA Theatre, involved recruitment of a group of 120 young people from community centres, local cultural centres, orphanages, Voluntary Labour Corps, secondary schools, junior high schools and non-governmental organizations. Since March 2011, the CHOREA team has conducted several dozen theatre and music workshops which will allow to select a group of the most gifted and involved young people for the second stage of the project in October and November 2011.

The second stage of the project conducted by Oratorium composers, Tomasz Krzyżanowski and Maciej Maciaszek, as well as musicians and actors of the CHOREA Theatre and in the dance part by Robert Hayden, Polish choreographers and dance instructors will involve a period of eight weeks (October – December 2011) and will also comprise learning of the choreography and mastering the music material of Oratorium by all project participants.

The third stage of the project will include full rehearsals of the whole performance team of the Oratorium Dance Project:

The Łódź Philharmonic Orchestra (approx. 50 people)

The Philharmonic Orchestra Choir (up to 50 people)

Jazz band (5 people)

Youth Choir – the Great Choir of Young CHOREA (60 people)

Young Łódź dancers (60 people)

The finale of the project comprises two full-size professional performances at Wytwórnia Club, Łąkowa street, with a group of 120 performers and the Łódź Philharmonic Orchestra and the Choir on 8 and 9 December 2011.

Thanks to co-operation with choreographer and teacher Robert Hayden, the Earthfall group and members of the CHOREA Theatre Association, young participants of the project will have an opportunity not only to stand up to a great challenge, i.e. work on a professional dancing and music performance, but also, above all, will be able to discover their own creative potential as well as strength and joy coming from teamwork. Taking part in CHOREA Łódź 2011 Oratorium Dance Project may become the beginning of artistic quest of young people, in the area of singing, theatre or dance.

Many cultural and educational institutions from Łódź, including the Łódź Philharmonic Orchestra, Fabryka Sztuki, Wytwórnia Club, Voluntary Labour Corps, Ballet School and the Academy of Art, have already confirmed their support for the project.

The project is co-financed by:

The Ministry of Culture and National Heritage

The City of Łódź Office

Marshal’s Office

The Institute of Music and Dance (Instytut Muzyki i Tańca)

National Centre for Culture (Narodowe Centrum Kultury)

British Council

PGE Energetyka

The project is held under the patronage of:

The Marshal of Łódź voivodeship, Mr Witold Stępień

The Mayor of Łódź, Mrs Hanna Zdanowska

Poland’s chairmanship in the Council of the European Union – Polish Presidency