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.
The event opened a space for dialogue between the past and the present—both musically and conceptually.
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.
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.
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.
Together, we addressed the themes of artistic responsibility, narrative selection, and cultural canceling.
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.
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.”
