Anita Konarska 1978 - 2021
Anita trained as an independent movement artist working in collaboration with other dancers, choreographers, visual artists, theatre-, film- and live art-makers, and sound artists. Often creating site specific works, using elements of improvisation for composition, from short dance pieces to full-length theatre productions and durational performances, solo work and work with/for others has been presented in conventional theatres, galleries and a variety of non-conventional settings in the UK, Germany, Hungary, France, Italy, Sweden and Poland.
Training as a dancer at an early age, then moving focus to theatre, studying acting at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Wroclaw, Poland. Anita learnt Butoh with dancer/choreographer Yumiko Yoshioka and was also a resident at Shloss Broellin-International Art Research Location, working both as an artist in Company TEN PEN CHII Art Labor (founded by Yumiko Yoshioka and Joachim Manger) and as a facilitator of various events, workshops and festivals there.
Anita's work explores the transformative potential of the body, the idea of kinaesthetic empathy and our relation to the body/mind phenomenon. Using different methods to enter questions of interconnection, memory, intimacy, personal and social, cultural and political, strength and vulnerability, performer and spectator, and our relation to nature. Antia is interested in the intersection of science and art, and the notion of community and sustainability as a solution to contemporary issues. For some years Anitas work has been informed by the practice and art of meditation, walking, Body Weather, improvisation and instant composition.
Most recent collaborations: Yuko Kaseki (SUBLIMINAL AFFAIR - a visual installation performance created by Sarane Lecompte, Justin Palermo, Arata Mori and Yuko Kaseki at POST-Ausdruckstanz Festival in Berlin); Neil Callaghan and Simone Kenyon ('Permutations in the City' at Fierce Festival in Birmingham); and Karolina Raczynski (for a performance of 'Body Scan' ).
Recent projects: solo performance 'Raw Pieces’.
