It took me several hours to get to Theatre Square, after meeting up with too many friends and acquaintances on the way, but I still got to the meeting of the Association of Hungarian Dance Artists in time to learn that renowned ballet companies throughout Hungary need to reach an agreement with local councils on eligibility for subsidies. It turns out that local council representatives often tell the heads of art groups that it is not compulsory to be involved in theatre. Still, I learned that theatre company heads who have succeeded did so by convincing the local council representatives that if they got a little more money from the city, more money would come from the central budget. The new law on performing arts is not an obstacle that cannot be overcome, but it gives excessive powers to local councils and requires strong diplomatic skills.
After hearing all the professionals discuss their difficulties, it was quite a relief to see the Slovak National Ballet from Bratislava. They showed well that even based on a classical piece, it is possible to create something progressive and new that also bears a message. The repertoire of their choreographers, who were educated in the Russian tradition, is primarily based on classical ballet, but we were shown etudes that already reflect new directions and have a potential to make classical ballet popular among young audiences.
The entire programme was named after Mário Radacovsky's etude entitled Inspiration which was a love story about a composer and his muse. The duet entitled When to Die Means to Live is based on music by Arvo Part and it is a painful and beautiful dialogue about love and death, with attractive images, contemporary thoughts and dynamic lighting. The last piece before the intermission, Susto, was based on music by Beethoven. It featured four dancers upon whom flour was poured throughout. The ensuing cloud became part of the piece.
Change
The second part started with a piece entitled Change, set to music by Rossini. It was about the relationship between power and society and the fact that the time for lonely heroes has passed. After a great applause, the set changed for a Tchaikovsky etude entitled An Encounter with a Swan. It was a duet performed in nightdress, featuring simple but somewhat rigid movements, which was rather ironic. The last piece was a ballet cabaret, refined but razor sharp, hilarious and startling: Six dances to Mozart's music choreographed by Kylián. It made fun of the times when everybody wore wigs and bravely played around with gender roles. The interesting turn was that traditional ballet was used to make viewers understand something modern and allowed us to enjoy a costumed performance without any pathos.
Yvette Bozsik and the Dansgroep Amsterdam were on the programme for the last day. As they say, all is well that ends well.
