Journey of a Movement Maestro: A Candid Chat with Pat Boguslawski

• Upbringing: Born in Poland, Boguslawski spent his childhood developing his imagination by watching music videos and movies and keeping up with pop culture through MTV, VH1, and FashionTV.
• A new way of expression: Though he was sure he would be a painter or designer, he came to dance at a friend’s urging and found it to be a more expressive and social artistic practice.
• An international move: Boguslawski moved to London into an “extreme” situation, without a job or a solid plan except to pursue his dream of dance.
• Balance between serendipitous luck and willpower: Boguslawski came to London intending to be a dancer and was scouted as a model and then championed by Alexander McQueen Creative Director Sarah Burton.
• “Strong attitude”: He had a breakthrough moment as a movement director in 2020 at the Margiela show when Leon Dame walked in a particular way and went viral. “I realized that we probably broke some rules.”
• “Weird energy”: Boguslawski realized he was meant to be a movement director while working as a creative assistant for a choreographer.
• “Magic and presence and drama”: He expresses a feeling of privilege that he’s part of Galliano’s creative vision, which was part of his childhood dream.
• Unrepeatable: Boguslawski notes that if he’s watching a fashion show, he wants it to feel singular and to be something he couldn’t experience or re-create in his daily life.
• Creating confidence: The greatest challenge is being confronted with models who have low confidence or little experience, and in that way, creating confidence for movement is “like therapy.”
• Burnout: Speaking to creatives’ need for time to sit around and do nothing, Boguslawski reflects on times when the more jobs he did, the less creative he could be.
• Loving the job: The constant fluidity and change of clients and the interdisciplinary nature of the work keep him loving his line of work, which merges modeling, dancing, directing, and acting.
• Sobriety: Because his body is so closely tied to his work, sobriety helps Boguslawski bring “the best energy” to his job. “I’m not cracking,” he says of aging.
• What’s contemporary now? It’s “being a good human.”

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Notable Quotes:

• “[Dance] was something completely amazing to me because, for the first time, I realized that I can express myself in a different way. I don’t have to be sitting in front of my desk drawing and painting. I can literally be in the same room with other people and expressing myself through my body, and that was just something incredible.” —Pat
• “I was so desperate to do something to leave my country and to chase my dreams, and I don’t think a lot of young people now would do anything like it.” —Pat
• “I’m always joking with my friends that I have good karma, that I probably did something very good in my past life. Because my family or friends from my hometown would never guess that I would be doing so [well] right now. I get to work with the best people, and I just feel very privileged; I worked very hard to be where I am. And I moved to London when I was about 24, and my first three years were so difficult.” —Pat
• “He got asked by the production to do a job as a movement director, and he couldn’t do it because he was away. And he asked me if I knew anyone good to replace him. And I said, as a joke, sure, I know the guy he’s called Pat Bogusławski. And I swear in that moment, I heard my own words and this weird energy went through my body and I had this massive awakening that I actually wasn’t joking, that I should be doing this job, and this is something that is meant for me.” —Pat
• “John Galliano, he’s a genius, he is incredible, and he’s really the best. He’s the greatest designer. You have no idea how privileged I feel to be part of his creative vision. The fact that he trusts me and he lets me also bring something interesting into his world means so much to me.” —Pat
• “I love working on shows, the adrenaline that comes with that, and the fact that anything cannot be replaced, repeated once it’s done. It’s just so exciting, and I value a lot of real human connection. To me, shows are part of that; people get together and create something special. I love watching the audience reactions and analyzing if they like it or they don’t like it; it’s just exciting.” —Pat
• “Being a movement director, for someone like me, I need to stay open. I need to always be focused because I can find any inspiration anywhere, like anywhere. I’m not trying to watch too much stuff on my computer on TV. I think life is the best life is the best inspiration.” —Pat
• “It’s very important for movement directors to really understand another human and read their energy.” —Pat
• “What’s amazing for me is if the talent or an artist or model comes to me after the day and they say, ‘Thank you. Like I learned so much and also had so much fun.’ For me, my job is about having fun. I don’t want to get ever so serious about it. I take it seriously, but at the same time. I don’t because I want to enjoy it. I feel like if I’m going to start taking my job too seriously, that will be the moment when I will stop enjoying myself and what I do.” —Pat
• “This job is always very fluid and changing all the time. And that’s why I’m really enjoying it.” —Pat
• “I knew I can’t be that person, to produce the work on the level that I can. Being sober really makes me feel grounded, and I just feel so good about myself because I really love going out with only a bottle of water in my hand and I feel as someone who uses my own body for my work, I need to give the right example.” —Pat
• “To me, it’s the moment. It’s having the right attitude for life, being true to yourself, enjoying the moment, expressing yourself as much as you can. And just being a good human, cause at the end of the day, people will only remember how you were treating them. They’re not going to remember you because of your work or what you’ve done. They’re going to remember just how good you were to them. So I think for me it’s this sort of energy and movement—just to be very conscious and stay in the moment.” —Pat