I was invited to collaborate as a performer playing alongside the orchestra under the direction of Justyna Zawiślan for a concert based on a motif from a work by Sergei Prokofiev, interwoven with the conductor’s original compositions.<br />The event opened a space for dialogue between the past and the present—both musically and conceptually.<br /><br />As part of this collaboration, I created an interventionist gesture: a Butoh dance representing crisis, accompanied by a sound simulation of a “typical evening” in Ukraine.<br />The climax of the performance involved setting off real firecrackers on stage—brief, violent explosions that physically and emotionally disrupted the flow of the concert.<br />This deliberate act aimed to introduce a radical jolt, to break the aesthetic continuity of the event, and to convey the reality of life under bombardment—not metaphorically, but literally and without filters.<br /><br />Together, we addressed the themes of artistic responsibility, narrative selection, and cultural canceling.<br />Particularly significant was the juxtaposition of music by a Russian composer—likely chosen for aesthetic, historical reasons or a belief in the autonomy of art—with the brutal context of war.<br /><br />My stage movement, inspired by Butoh, did not provide answers but posed questions—about the limits of expression, our aesthetic habits, and what we truly consider “uncomfortable.”
