“impressed and intoxicated, one cannot help asking oneself what power made those sad, pensive eyes flash with such fire? What summoned the blood to those pale, wan cheeks? What bathed with passion those soft features? What set that bosom heaving?”  Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “White Nights”

Cantata-ballet “Damoiselle” is an expression of yearning for lost innocence. Evoked by Picasso’s “Les Damoiselles d’Avignon” and fragments of Dostoyevsky’s “White Nights”, that have been chosen by the composer as reflecting his own tragic experiences. A vivid memory of sorrow, that penetrates the mind and the soul. It is a dream of love. It is a cry over the falling leaves. It is an illusion of order in deep chaos. It is a reflection on the body, torn apart in four ways by the categories of beauty, truth, good and nothingness. It is a combat with eating disorders, with the virtual world. It is a requiem for the beautiful souls, that continue to fight the same battles in another, more distant world. It is a plea for forgiveness.

Production: Włodzimierz Staniewski, Centre for Theatre Practices “Gardzienice” as part of the project: “Gardzienice – Generator of Hope”

Music and direction: Jan Lech

Choreography and dance: Urszula Bernat-Jałocha

Singing: Aleksandra Klimczak

Violin: Volker Biesenbender

Piano: Georges Beriachvili