Ryszard Kalinowski has always been tied to Lublin. In the 1990s, under Hanna Strzemicka’s supervision, he polished his dancing skills in the Lublin University of Technology’s Contemporary Dance Group. In 2001, a professional dance group grew out of this student initiative – Lublin Dance Theatre, which quickly became recognisable not only in Poland but also abroad. Since 2006, Kalinowski has been its artistic director.
Kalinowski is the author of acclaimed choreographies, such as Towards the Good Silence, awarded at the Łódź Theatre Meetings and Bellissimo, a performance which won the 2nd prize at the international Das Beste Deutsche Tanzsolo competition in Leipzig. He also created the pieces Again, and Once Again, 48/4, and NN.Wacławowi Niżyńskiemu.
Critics have always emphasised Kalinowski’s physical capabilities, strength and his pursuit of minimalism. As a choreographer, he often avoids scenography and uses sound and lights sparingly. He underlines that what he seeks in dance and on the stage is first and foremost physicality and organicism. As the dancer himself says:
I don’t run away from myself, I’m not on the lookout for masks. I try to present myself to the spectators as I am. What I talk about is also always important to me. I don’t reach far into abstraction or to unusually rich histories. I try to say something using the simplest means so that I can always be on equal terms with the spectator. I’m not trying to take them away from it all, but to talk about it in a way that they can feel that we belong to the same world, unlike in, for example, ballet or fairy tales. Hanna Strzemiecka always told us not to tell fictional stories, not to impose on ourselves things that are alien.
