In 2018, actress Marta Malikowska became interested in Michalska’s story. The yogini’s biography was the starting point for creating Malina, a performance, concert and meditation session in one. In the spectacle, dancer and choreographer Karolina Kraczkowska and singer and tuba player Maniucha Bikont perform alongside Malikowska. The actress wanted to study the relationship between practicing yoga and creating a role for a play, while also asking questions important to her: about the relationship between yoga and feminism, the modern need for ritual as well as… how to lie down, sit and breathe. Malikowska named the space Świątynią Niewidzialnego Różowego Jednorożca (The Sanctuary of the Invisible Pink Unicorn). Art critic Piotr Morawski wrote of the performance under the ‘matronage’ of Malina Michalska as a theatrical work ‘of incredible care and delicacy’.
Dynowska and Michalska had a similar catalyst in their lives; one book, two different paths. Their spiritual journeys took them to different sides of the world, but their shared passion changed lives, on a physical and cultural level. Yoga may have since gone global, but their pioneering efforts are not forgotten. Even now, after the passing of their ‘brilliant yogic bodies’, the bridges and connections these two yoginis forged still hold.
Originally written in Polish, October 2019, translated by AZ, Jan 2020
Sources: Joga – Droga do Transcendencji, A. Świerzowska, Warsaw 2009; Niepokorne Córy II Rzeczpospolitej i PRL, J. Molenda, Warsaw 2016; Hatha-joga dla Wszystkich, M. Michalska, Warsaw 1973; Lektury nadobowiązkowe, W. Szymborska, Warsaw 2002; O Wandzie Dynowskiej (Umadevi – Bogini Światła), K. Tokarski, joga-joga.pl; e-teatr.pl; dwutygodnik.com; focus.pl