What instructions would you give to spectators in Budapest about your piece? We have heard that the performance, Entity, is part of an experiment. To what extent are viewers going to realise that what they see is the result of psychological and neurological research?
It does not matter if viewers do not understand everything or do not understand what I had in mind when creating the piece. They do not need to understand my concept, but it is a fact that if my concept had been different, the piece would have been different, too. There would have been different movements and different happenings on stage. The key to the piece is perhaps an exploration of the relationship between premeditated and instinctive movement. Not in contrast but in combination. I have also been inspired by series of images about the movement of animals - nature itself and physics.
Are you interested in science?
Interest in science is a general trend today. People are interested in the forces that control their lives and how they work. There are more and more books and media products about this. The fact that this performance is part of a scientific project obviously shows that we currently live in a project-oriented world. Regardless of this, ever since I was a child I have been interested in the natural sciences, chemistry, physics and biology.
And what about dance?
I was about eight or ten when I saw films like Grease and Saturday Night Fever, which got me really excited and later I discovered techno. So I started dancing along these lines. But it does not matter what dance form you start with if you just want to dance. I could never stop, I was running and exercising all the time.
And how did you manage to achieve without classical training that the leading ballet companies in the world invite you to make choreographies for them?
With my own company, Random, I have been continually experimenting since I was 22, which was 16 years ago. I got involved with ballet about 8 years ago because its possibilities inspired me - it offers so many different ideas. And classically trained dancers have been attracted to my approach to movement: they could see an opportunity to push their own limits.
Not every classical ballet company is characterised by such openness. And how about audiences? How did the audiences in Covent Garden react to your daring works?
They really liked them. They saw something they had never seen before. Something that went further than what they thought was the limit of movement. Viewers like to be impressed and see something attractive. Not just Swan Lake can be beautiful. And it seems that the audiences in Paris, San Francisco and London, where the operas have large ballet companies, are open to this. I have become a leading choreographer in London for two years and I have even directed an opera in La Scala. I have just returned from the Dutch National Dance Theatre, a classically trained company that can excellently use the most progressive contemporary languages of dance on stage. I am looking forward to reactions to my piece by the Trafó audience.
Interviewer: Katalin Lőrinc / Photo: Nick Mead
