She was born in 1982. Before she started her career in dance criticism, she graduated from Russian philology and Theatre Studies at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków.
Sketches of Polish Dance
In 2011 Anna Królica published the first ever book about the recent history and achievements of Polish contemporary dance, Sztuka do odkrycia. Szkice o polskim tańcu (The Art to be Discovered. Sketches of Polish Dance).
It is an original and courageous work – said Joanna Szymajda, the director of the Institute of Music and Dance – Instead of a linear attempt to describe everything, the reader is offered a precisely designed guide to the most important features. Interviews with artists are the essential part of it. They are concentrated on the historic timeline of their careers and their experiences related to the recent ‘boom’ of contemporary dance in Poland.
Anna Królica is the author of many other texts about dance. She is a columnist for Didaskalia, Teatr and dwutygodnik.com. She gives lectures, organizes workshops of contemporary dance, and implements curatorial projects all around Poland such as Maszyna Choreograficzna (Choreographic Machine), Archiwum Ciała (Body’s Archive) , Kalejdoskop (Kaleidoscope). She is a co-founder of Otwarte Forum Środowisk Sztuki Tańca (Open Forum of the Communities of the Art of the Dance), chair of the Programming Board at the Institute of Music and Dance and a coordinator of the 1st Dance Congress.
Anna Królica, photo: courtesy of author.
Solo Generation
In 2014 Pokolenie solo. Choreografowie w rozmowach z Anną Królicą (Solo Generation. Choreographers talk to Anna Królica) was published. It is a partly scientific and partly poetic portrait of the most significant creators: dancers, choreographers and curators of the young generation, associated with Stary Browar, Nowy Taniec and the project Pokolenie Solo (Generation Solo), produced by Joanna Leśnierowska. Interviews with many residents such as: Anita Wach, Janusz Orlik, Tomasz Bazan and Ramona Nagabczyńska complement portraits of creators who represent other types of dance, including ballet and theatre dance: Mikołaj Mikołajczyk, Paulina Wycichowska or Anna Steller.
I wanted Pokolenie solo to be a testimony of changes. This is why I focused on the new generation of choreographers, which has been working on the Polish scene for a decade now. During the interviews I constantly repeated a few questions, especially concerning education, asking about their motivation to study abroad, about reasons for coming back to Poland. I was also interested in the attitude of youngsters towards older masters, towards their participation in Solo Project or cooperation with Stary Browar or other dance centres. I was interested in their working methods, choice of techniques, creative processes, views on changes taking place in Polish dance (…). Many of them tried to make it to the legendary P.A.R.T.S, a Belgian school directed by the famous Anna Teresa de Keersmaeker. Many of them didn’t feel comfortable with the repertoire of ballet schools but thought very seriously about professional dancing and creating choreography. Nowadays they work on their own, independently from the system. They perform in small formats, creating choreographies for themselves. They are in their twenties or thirties and they fit perfectly into the aesthetic of contemporary dance, leaving theatre dance far behind.
Pokolenie solo was created thanks to scholarships from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage. Anna Królica is currently working on her research concerning memory and body in the Theatre of Death of Tadeusz Kantor and Tanztheater of Pina Bausch.
Sources: "Pokolenie solo", published by Cricoteca, taniecpolska.pl,
Author: AL, March 2014, Translated by W.O., March 2014