Biography
It’s much harder to write a biography in the first person, so at the risk of sounding incredibly strange (“Jacob just needed some time to get back in touch with myself”), I’m going to drop into third here.
Jacob Niedzwiecki was born in Ottawa, Canada, but wisely moved to Toronto a few weeks later. He began dancing at age five, and playing with technology (specifically, writing his first code) at seven; he still refuses to settle on one or the other.
He trained in ballet at Canada’s National Ballet School and in modern dance at the Etobicoke School of the Arts. While in high school, he toured with the now-defunct Ontario Ballet Theatre. In 2004 he joined the National Ballet of Canada, where he danced for three years in the corps de ballet. In 2007 he left the company to focus on his work as a choreographer and filmmaker.
Jacob has created three short dance films (Superposition, in 2007, Helioscape, in 2008, and Love in Vain, in 2009) and many choreographic works. He has created works for the National Ballet of Canada and Ballet Jörgen, and has worked independently with dancers from Toronto Dance Theatre.
Jacob has worked on several films in both creative and production capacities. In addition to directing and editing his own choreographic work, he has worked on films with directors Veronica Tennant, Martha Burns, and Susan Coyne. He has worked as a freelance video editor since 2007.
Jacob is currently at work on a large-scale live physical theatre work titled Variations on a Theme by Adam Smith and developing several film projects.