I am a performer, choreographer, theatre director and rape survivor of Polish-Japanese heritage, currently based in Berlin. My movement practice is driven by 18 years of classical Japanese Jiutamai dance, in which I reached a professional level in 2020 and was symbolically adopted into the Hanasaki-ryu family of Jiutamai by the iemoto (headmaster) of this school, Hanasaki Tokijyo, who gave me a new name: Sada Hanasaki. I tend to work within a documentary and autobiographical format to comment on socio-political issues by introducing my own experiences. I base my creative process on theoretical and embodied research. In 2025 I graduated with distinction from the SODA MA programme at the HZT Berlin. Before that I was enrolled in the PHD programme at the Institute of Polish Culture at the University of Warsaw.
Between 2021 and 2023 I was a member of the collective “Centrum w Ruchu” [Centre in Movement]. In 2018 I was a fellow of the “Młoda Polska” programme of the National Centre for Culture, thanks to which I made my debut as a theatre director with the performance “SadaYakko” in Komuna Warszawa, in which I commented on the orientalising gaze. In 2022 I won the first edition of the New Situations Scene Artistic Residency at the Współczesny Theatre in Szczecin, during which I created “Faithless”, an onstage ritual of apostasy. In 2023 my VR performance „Close” was nominated in the IDFA DocLab competition for Immersive NonFiction, IDFA DocLab: Phenomenal Friction, Amsterdam. With this work I began my ongoing research into the intergenerational traces of sexual violence, which I continued in my most recent solo performance “Rapeflower” (Komuna Warszawa, 2024).
education:
2025, Graduated with distinction SODA MA: Solo/Dance/Authorship Master of Arts program in Inter-University Centre for Dance (HZT), Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) and the Ernst Busch University of Theatre Arts Berlin;
2020, Natori-master title in Hanasaki School of Jiutamai under the name of Sada Hanasaki;
2016-2022, (unfinished ) PhD studies in Cultural Science, Institute of Polish Culture, University of Warsaw;
2016, MA on Cultural Science, Institute of Polish Culture, University of Warsaw;
2012, BA on Cultural Science, Institute of Polish Culture, University of Warsaw;
choreographer/director:
2024, Rapeflower, Komuna/Warszawa, Warsaw, PL
2023, Close, Virtual Reality Experience, International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam
(IDFA), NL
2022, Faithless, The Contemporary Theatre in Szczecin, PL
2022, Endless Box, Pandymińska & Zachęta National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, PL
2019, SadaYakko, Komuna/Warszawa, Warsaw, PL
performer:
2021, Salvage, choreographic cooperation with Katarzyna Wolińska, Nowy Teatr, Warsaw, PL
2021, We call wonder, dir. Christiane Huber, Schwere Reiter NEU, SPIELART Festival, DE
2020, Kiku no tsuyu, 11th Hanasaki Tokijyo Gathering — Continuation and Rebirth, Celurean Tower Noh Gakudo, Tokyo, JP
2019, Jiutamai, The Classical dance of Japan, Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera, Warsaw, PL
2019, Forefather’s Eve/Soreisai, dir. Jadwiga Rodowicz-Czechowska, Theatre Institute, Warsaw, PL, Theatre X-Cai and Saitokuji, Tokyo, Tokushoji, Kyoto, JP
2018, Małpeczki (Maria Kozłowska, Marysia Toboła), Project Room Award Gala, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, PL
2017, A Seance with Pamela, chor. Marta Ziółek, Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art & Zachęta – National Gallery of Art, Warsaw, PL
2017, Jiutamai. The Classical dance and Music of Japan, Manggha (Kraków), Impart (Wrocław), Theatre Institute (Warsaw) PL
2013, Obsession, dir. Katarzyna Kazimierczuk, Remus Theatre, Warsaw, PL
residencies & scholarships:
2024, Residency in HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts, Dresden
2024, Residency “Thinking Through the Museum” – Museum of the History of Polish Jews POLIN, Warsaw
2022, Residency program „Scena Nowe Sytuacje”, The Contemporary Theatre in Szczecin
2018, „Young Poland” Scholarship from the National Center of Culture, Polish Ministry of Culture
awards & nominations:
2023, nominated in IDFA DocLab competition for Immersive NonFiction, IDFA DocLab: Phenomenal Friction, Amsterdam for „Close”
2022, nominated in Theatre Plebiscite Amber Ring in Szczecin, Poland for „Wiarołomna”