Plastique Animée and Sacred Music: A Reflection on Choreography for Henryk Górecki’s "Amen" for Mixed Choir

The immediate impetus for writing this article was my recent choreography of Henryk Mikołaj Górecki’s “Amen” for mixed choir, Op. 35. Nevertheless, the theme of embodying sacred music in movement has been present in my choreographic work for many years. The very question of whether sacred music should be interpreted through body movement is quite controversial, especially in a culture dominated by Judeo-Christian values. This is due to the juxtaposition of the human body and content deeply connected with the spiritual sphere and the definition of holiness present in social consciousness. The article describes the interpretative assumptions and the creative process of selected choreography to music by H. M. Górecki. It also takes into account the composer’s compositional idiom. The author of the article, considering plastique animée as a tool for creating choreography, treats the Eurhythmics method as an interdisciplinary activity located between the art of music and the art of theatre / performance.