FRENETIC DANCE
In Brief
Four one-act ballet in three parts
Whirling, The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude, Five Tangos, Sad Case
The newest contemporary show of Hungary’s only classical ballet company proves that the dancers can master even the impossible. The recently produced works of the most significant choreographers of our time require and discharge immense energy while taking the audience on a rollercoaster ride from the inner turmoil, the pushing of the physical boundaries, the unstoppable instincts to fiery Latin-American dances.
WHIRLING
Whirling, a pas de deux by András Lukács, a former soloist with the Hungarian National Ballet is set to the music of Philip Glass, one of the greatest masters of repetitive music. The nearly fluid movement, the infinite harmony among the dancers and the unique style of choreography make the scene both quite exhausting and complicated. In 2010, the Hungarian National Ballet commissioned Lukács to create an expanded version for nine pairs. Tastefully and thrillingly combining elements based on classical techniques with modern devices, Lukács primarily creates plotless choreographies that are highly expressive. In Whirling, along with the music, the spiralling movements of the dancing superbly illustrate a vortex of water: the water into which the suicidal Virginia Woolf casts herself to the music of Philip Glass in the film The Hours.
THE VERTIGINOUS THRILL OF EXACTITUDE
"Agile, ethereal and precise." (Krisztina Horeczky, Tánckritika.hu)
5 TANGOS
This production is part of the Frenetic Dance triple bill which is available at the following link
https://www.opera.hu/en/programme/2023-2024/eszeveszett-tanc-2023/
Five Tangos is one of Hans van Manen’s best known and, deservedly, most popular works: superb music and dance combine to evoke a pulsing metropolis and a world of fiery and passionate instincts. Sometimes sultrily lethargic and other times set to accelerating tempos featuring virtuoso elements, this thrilling work plays with solo and group scenes to reveal the changing games of the individual and the community, the many faces and layers of love and attraction and a portrait of an era.
SAD CASE
This production is part of the Frenetic Dance triple bill which is available at the following link
https://www.opera.hu/en/programme/2023-2024/eszeveszett-tanc-2023/
“Now in hindsight we realise that energy is everything. When we created Sad Case in 1998, so far in to Sol’s pregnancy, the hormones were jumping and emotions were high. It is these hormones of laughter, madness and the trepidation of the unknown ahead that are the umbilical chord of this work,” says the British Paul Lightfoot, thinking back to the origin of the ballet. He and his partner, the Spanish Sol León share credit for the performance’s choreography and set and costume designs. Up until 2020, León worked as artistic consultant and Lightfoot as artistic director for the Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT), where they were responsible for bringing about sixty creations, including Sad Case, which is undoubtedly one of the pillars of their work. In it, surprising movements set to Mexican mambo music reflect the ongoing search for the tension between the satirical and the serious. The Opera has long planned the staging of this irresistible modern piece for Hungarian audiences – and by way of it, the art of the world-famous Lightfoot.
