?Dream Time is a paean of praise to human dancing. The dreams of its creators ? or their inferred memories ? come to life from a world experienced, or believe to have been experienced, demonstrating their relationship to traditions, the secrets of the past, to the diversity of the present,? the troupe says of the performance.
MUPA deputy director András Csonka said the events venue and the dance troupe had worked together before on productions such as Labyrinth, but the contractual construction for Dream Time was a novelty for MUPA.
Asked why the troupe was performing Dream Time at MUPA and not at the Hungarian Heritage House, its usual home on the other side of the Danube, Hungarian Heritage House director László Kelemen answered: ?Because it is impossible.? The troupe?s home lacks the technical conditions for such a type of production, he explained.
Preparations for the production go back a dozen years, around the time it became clear that Hungarian folk dance productions were becoming monotonous and audiences began losing interest in this form of heritage preservation, said Dream Time choreographer Gábor Mihályi. The troupe has found success by ?breaking through the professional wall?, following up Legend of the Sun with similar works, he said. With the involvement of Nikola Parov, the troupe has ?nationalised? the culture of other regions and enjoyed their fruit, he added.
Parov, who is in charge of music for the production, said the songs and dances of Dream Time are brought to the stage like a conversation and slowly become one. Ágnes Herczku?s voice like no other does not disappoint, he added.
?Hungarian and in the wider sense, Carpathian Basin and Balkan folk music, as well as putting special emphasis on the musical cultures of Eastern peoples related to the Hungarians (Hanti, Mansi etc.). The music of Dream Time is purposefully eclectic, and besides tradition incorporates the characteristics of jazz, as well as the post modernity of today?s world music,? the troupe says of the production.
Photo: Bence Kovács
