Tributes to Glasgow dancer killed in tram tragedy

One of Scotland's leading dance choreographers and performers has died after being struck by a tram in Brussels.
Anna Krzystek was representing Scotland at a performing arts summit in Brussels last weekend.Anna Krzystek was representing Scotland at a performing arts summit in Brussels last weekend.
Anna Krzystek was representing Scotland at a performing arts summit in Brussels last weekend.

One of Scotland’s leading dance choreographers and performers has died after being struck by a tram in Brussels.

Anna Krzystek was in the city to represent Scotland at a performing arts conference when tragedy struck as she was crossing a road on Friday night.

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The Glasgow-based performer had been working with arts agency Creative Scotland for the last year.

Born in London, Ms Krzystek had lived in Glasgow for more than 20 years.

She was a founding artist and board member of The Work Room, an artist-led organisation for dance in Glasgow, which was chaired by Creative Scotland chief executive Janet Archer before she took up the role with the arts agency four years ago.

Creative Scotland said Ms Krzystek, who was working as an Interdisciplinary Performance Officer, had been “an inspiring and passionate colleague applying her fierce intellect and curiosity and an extraordinary capacity for empathy and kindness to her work in representing and supporting other artists.”

Laura Cameron-Lewis, head of dance at Creative Scotland, who was also in Brussels for the event, said: “Anna’s artistic work cut a singular path which won plaudits all over the world for its uniqueness and uncompromising clarity.

“Anna herself was not difficult to work with, it was her work that resisted efforts to brush over it or squeeze it into other frames. It challenged you on its own terms and insistence of itself - this singularity which for me was synonymous with the singularity of her, of a unique soul within a universal continuum of humanity.”

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A tribute from Creative Scotland posted on its website said: “Creative Scotland benefited greatly from the experience, knowledge, and insight that Anna brought to our organisation both in the years she spent as a practising artist, and in the all-too-short time that she worked with us.

“Anna was hugely respected in the dance and live art sector, by fellow artists and colleagues, but more than that, was loved by anyone who was fortunate enough to have become her friend.

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“She will be missed for her great capacity for warmth, for her mischievous sense of humour, for her infectious laugh, and for her love of friends and family, whom she was deeply committed to, especially her mum, Grazia.”

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