Pupa

Ballet in one act
Music: Stanisław Syrewicz
Libretto: Klara Syrewicz based on the novel Ferdydurke by Witold Gombrowicz
World premiere: 14 February 2015 

'A good, tame tushie (in Polish: pupa) is the base; from the tushie usually springs the action. From the tushie, as if from the main trunk, branch out individual parts, such as the toe, arms, eyes, teeth, ears, whereas some parts devolve into others subtly thanks to elusive and elaborate transformations,' wrote Witold Gombrowicz in Ferdydurke. The body is one of the main themes in the novel. Stanisław Syrewicz, the composer of music to Pupa, recalls that he once had a conversation with the director Maciej Wojtyszko that inspired him to considering a ballet reworking of Ferdydurke. Syrewicz is a film music composer and a songwriter, he has worked, for instance, with Andrzej Żuławski, Marianne Faithfull and Edyta Górniak (the song To nie ja). He worked on Ferdydurke as early as in 1991, when he wrote music for Jerzy Skolimowski’s film 30 Door Key. Anna Hop choreographed the show – a young, extremely talented, hardworking and versatile dancer and choreographer. 'I would rather call my shows dance theatre, expressive dance, it’s a form on the border between genres,' says the artist. The theme of the alienation of the body and attempts at taming it is very much topical. The body – of which dancers are particularly conscious – is what all of us experience, and thanks to the artistry of the performers we are watching a story about each of us, a story about 'people in the theatre of everyday life'.

Polish National Ballet
Music from a recording (electronic music, additional arrangements: Dariusz Kaliński; mastering: Marcin Bociński; the sections Form, Maturity and Słowacki feature recordings of music orchestrated and conducted by Krzesimir Dębski)