Dominika Knapik – director, choreographer and performer. Since 2016, she has been developing her own directing practice, staging productions in both repertory theatres and the independent theatre scene. In her work, which has a feminist slant, she combines drama, dance and performance. She is interested in creating interdisciplinary stage forms that transcend genre boundaries and freely draw on the tools of choreography, theatre, visual arts and performance. Her theatrical language is characterised by humour, self-irony, work with autobiographical elements and the exploration of new relationships between the body, text and image.
She has directed, among others, “Bang Bang” (Jaracz Theatre in Łódź, 2016), “Babę-Dziwo” (Dramatic Theatre in Wałbrzych, 2019), the choreographic monodrama “Agon” (Łaźnia Nowa Theatre, 2020) and “Tiki i inne zabawy” (Wrocław Pantomime Theatre, 2021). In the following years, she directed the productions “VALESKA VALESKA VALESKA VALESKA” with the Sticky Fingers Club collective and “HOTEL H****”, created in collaboration with the HERTZ HAUS ensemble. Her most recent works include the productions “Very Ibsen” (Teatr Współczesny in Szczecin) and “Very Very Hamlet” (Teatr Polski in Poznań), produced in repertory theatres with acting ensembles.
Since 2023, she has been forming the dramaturgical, choreographic and performative duo “Fat and Dumb” with Patrycja Kowańska. Fat and Dumb combine autobiographical performance, choreography and theatre, creating stage situations in which humour and self-irony serve as tools for critical reflection on reality. Their work consistently blurs the boundaries between the intimate and the public, using their own presence on stage as a medium for artistic and political expression.
Together, they have produced the original trilogy “Very” (“Very Funny”, “Very Sad”, “Very Cheap”), for which they were nominated for the Polityka Passports. The performances in the series have been presented at Poland’s most important theatre festivals, including Boska Komedia, the Warsaw Theatre Meetings and the Open’er Festival.
For “Very Funny”, the creators received the Main Prize and the Journalists’ Prize in the SzekspirOFF category at the 27th Shakespeare Festival in Gdańsk. In October 2023, their next production, “Penthesilea. Reconstruction of the Amazon Body”, premiered, featuring contemporary Amazons – women who have experienced breast cancer – alongside Fat and Dumb.
As a choreographer, she has co-created productions by Poland’s leading theatre directors, and for several years has also been working extensively on German stages. The recipient of numerous individual awards for choreography, in 2015 she was nominated for Polityka’s Passports in the “Theatre” category. Between 2007 and 2015, she co-founded the Harakiri Farmers artistic collective, with whom she realised many interdisciplinary projects.