Ewelina Cieśla

Master of Arts from the Stanisław Wyspiański Academy of Theatre Arts in Kraków, Dance Theatre Department in Bytom. She also studied at the Beijing Dance Academy in China (on scholarship) and at Codarts Rotterdam Dance Academy in the Netherlands (Erasmus+ scholarship). She holds a degree in Project Management from the Faculty of Organization and Management at the Silesian University of Technology.

She has performed in productions such as Ashes of a Dead Frog and Anamneza by Jacek Łumiński, the drama “Feblik” directed by Maciej Gorczyński, “Tryptyk powstańczy” by Jakub Lewandowski, the performance project bliżejchoreographed by Marta Bury, and “Flying Fish” by Ferenc Fehér. She also created the choreography “WIŁY” for the Lubuski Theatre in Zielona Góra.

Her recent achievements include:

• Artistic Scholarship from the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (2025)
• Residency at the Polish Dance Theatre – “Resident Dancer” program by NIMiT (2025)
• Selection for the One Body One Career program (Anouk van Dijk) in Amsterdam (2024/2025)
• Scholarship from the Minister of Culture and National Heritage for students (2021/2022)
• Participation in the Ballet Stage program (TVP Kultura, 2020)
• Finalist and Wild Card winner (community vote) in the 2019 Young Dancer of the Year competition (TVP)
• Scholarship for the CI Dance Festival Warsaw Flow 10 Performance Project
• Rector’s Scholarship for Top Students (AST Kraków, 2018–2022)

She teaches contemporary dance at the Department of Dance of the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice. She runs regular Contact Improvisation workshops in Katowice, dance jams, and her original classes titled “Odpuść” and “Laboratorium ruchu”. She worked as an artist and teacher in projects realized under the Przestrzeń Sztuki Katowice program (2022/2023). She holds a certificate in Fascial Yoga Teaching from the Institute of Fascial Yoga (Wojciech Karczmarzyk).

Ewelina coordinated events such as the Devised Theatre / Dance Theatre Conference, Silesian Dance Day, and the Bright Future project (1st prize for significant social impact for the project Powiedz mi, kim będę). She developed a solo project as part of the EurAsia – Art Heritage Exchange program (Dance House Studio, Milan).

Katarzyna Niżnik

A graduate of the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (SEAD) in Austria and the PERA – School of Performing Arts (Girne American University) in Cyprus. She has participated in numerous dance programs and workshops, including GagaLab with Ohad Naharin and Batsheva dancers (Orsolina28), Summer Intensive (Portugal), IIDCompany Intensive (Netherlands), Cracow Dance Festival (Poland), and a workshop with Elio Gervasi (Italy). She trained under such artists as Rakesh Sukesh, Iñaki Azpillaga, and Vittoria De Ferrari.

She has performed in productions by Romeo Castellucci (“Tannhäuser”, Festspiele Salzburg), Olivier Dubois (SZENE Salzburg), Israel Aloni (ILDance), Boštjan Antončič (Rosas), Manuel Ronda, Elena Fokina, Livia Balážová, Zebastian Mendez Marin (Ultima Vez), and Nicolas Vladyslav (Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui).

Selected choreographic works:

• “My Migrations” (2021), Central Dance Stage, Warsaw
• “Swimming Flesh in My Liquid Bones” (2023)
• “Trapedy” (2024), Solo Dance Contest, Gdańsk

Selected achievements:

• Artistic residency in the Netherlands in collaboration with Ivgi&Greben (2024), as part of a grant from the Adam Mickiewicz Institute
• Participation in the European artistic project “Meeting Point” (2024)
• Co-organizer of the international contemporary arts festival “Nomadic Roots”, Salzburg (2023)
• Leader of the Erasmus+ project “Dance Art of Freedom” (2018)
• Contemporary dance instructor at SEAD (2021–2023); she regularly conducts dance workshops in Poland
• In 2022, completed a 200-hour yoga teacher training course (RYT), and in 2023 earned certification as a personal traine

Iga Szczepańska-Gieracha

A visual artist and performer working at the intersection of media arts. She studied both in Poland and abroad, taking part in creative workshops focused on sound, space, and the body. In 2022, she created the solo piece “Flow”, which was performed at festivals such as the 16th edition of the Mandala Performance Festival, Krakow Dance Festival, Do Festival, and GFT Dance Festival in Gdańsk, where she won second prize. She completed the Pera Short course at Pera School of Performing Arts – Girne American University.

Her video “Fighting with the Memories of You” was screened at the Multicultural Arts Festival 2023 and Juxtapose Performance Festival 2024. Her video “Blue Horizon” won the “CAM CAM – Dance for Camera 2024” competition organized by Movimento Danza (Italy). In 2025, her video “here ing” became part of the “Kitoki” video dance collection and premiered locally in Brussels through au Jus. She is currently a student at the Magdalena Abakanowicz University of the Arts in Poznań, majoring in Intermedia.

The project “Stories” is the result of the artists’ residency at the Polish Dance Theatre as part of the NIMiT “Dancer-in-Residence” program (edition 2024/2025).