Becoming Allies Workshop with Filip Kijowski

Über die Veranstaltung

We invite you to three meetings in movement, dance, and conversation for queer, transgender, intersex, and detransitioned individuals. Together, we want to reflect, based on your expert knowledge, on the alliance practices we need today in the Polish, local context. We practice alliance as action, through the body, improvisation, and shared presence. Without pressure for results, with mindfulness for ourselves and others. How do you practice allyship or support within your community on a daily basis? What forms of support are most helpful, and which turn out to be ineffective? What works well in allyship relationships, and what doesn't? Generation Change is a program aimed at strengthening organizations, informal groups, and social movements of the younger generation active in areas such as human rights, combating discrimination and social inequalities, environmental protection, and other fields contributing to social well-being. The Becoming Allies workshop explores practical, theoretical, creative registers as well as the imagination and experiences of queer ally individuals. The movement-focused practice emphasizes the development of soft skills and the body's readiness to take a stand when needed. During three cyclical meetings, the group will delve into body work. We will meet in movement, dance, and conversation. We will explore our individual and collective potential to offer and receive support. Together, we will reflect on the alliance practices queer, transgender, and nonbinary individuals need today in our local context in Poland. Through improvisation, choreographic exercises, and open dialogue, we will seek ways in which the body can find and propose survival strategies in uncertain times. We will practice alliance as a verb, as an action in movement, in a shared space with others. In the process, we will focus on what emerges in the moment, shaping the direction of actions together, without pressure for specific results. The workshop cycle is planned as a gradual process, starting with individual work, moving through pair relationships, and culminating in group experiences. In the first meeting, we will focus on connecting with ourselves through exercises and activities that help ground us in the present moment and feel free. In the second workshop, we will shift attention to building bonds with another person. Through contact improvisation, we will explore touch, energy, and relationship dynamics, learning mindfulness, co-responsibility, and mutual listening. During the third meeting, we will expand this perspective to the entire group. We will examine how we make decisions as a group and the potential strength we can find in collaboration. The workshops are intended for adults who are transgender (binary and nonbinary), queer, intersex, and detransitioned individuals. We invite those interested or already active at the intersection of broadly understood activist or socially engaged activities. Therefore, the basis for discussions will be the knowledge and experiences of the workshop participants. This practical perspective will be complemented by a theoretical foundation based on the essay Developing a Liberatory Consciousness by Barbara J. Love. In it, the author emphasizes the importance of cultivating ways of perceiving justice and injustice, referring to anti-racist theories. Love identifies four key elements of becoming an ally: awareness, analysis, action, and responsibility. During the workshop, we will also draw on perspectives from other creators such as bell hooks, Kae Tempest, Ocean Vuong, and adrienne maree brown. No prior experience with movement practices or dance is required to participate in the project. It is mandatory to attend all three meetings. The sessions will be conducted in Polish. * The event is not a substitute for psychotherapy. The facilitators do not have psychological training. Our goal is to build community and safer spaces for queer individuals to participate in culture. 📅 When: - 10.09.2025, (Wednesday), 17:30-20:00 - 24.09.2025, (Wednesday), 17:30-20:00 - 1.10.2025, (Wednesday), 17:30-20:00 📍 Where: Jasna 10, Social Cultural Institution of Krytyka Polityczna, ul. Jasna 10 lok. 3, 00-013 Warsaw 📋 Registration required: https://forms.gle/yS7wbnmnTX7dpsL36 Accessibility: Not sure if the event is accessible to you? Please review the accessibility declaration and report your needs at least 5 business days before the event: https://warszawa.krytykapolityczna.pl/deklaracja The Warsaw House Foundation works to protect LGBTQ+ youth in Poland from homelessness and displacement, social and economic exclusion, and supports them in acquiring tools needed for a safe and independent future. Filip Kijowski (he/him) - socially engaged artist, performer, activist, and choreographer. Depending on the context, he explores factors contributing to the creation of embodied community. Using theory, movement practices, and improvisation, he facilitates group workshop processes. Founder and creator of the Asylum Library at the Lublin Labyrinth Gallery. He has conducted original workshops internationally at institutions such as Central Saint Martins, Roehampton University, Canterbury University, University of Dhaka, European Cultural Foundation, Galeria Promocyjna, and Dom Utopii. Graduate of Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts (2009-2011), Roehampton University, BA: Dance Studies (2015-18), which he completed with the Andy Hardy Award. Currently studying MA Dance: Participation, Communities, Activism at The Place – London Contemporary Dance School. Recipient of the Young Poland 2025 scholarship in the Dance category. The event is organized by Jasna 10: Social Cultural Institution of Krytyka Polityczna as part of the “Generation Change” program, in partnership with the Warsaw House Foundation.