Macras will bring Open for Everything ? ?a travel through the life of Roma communities in Europe where itinerant traditions have been replaced by sedentary confined life in ghettos and the actual expulsions from many European societies? ? to the Trafó.
The production is a collaboration between the five-member DorkyPark and 17 Roma musicians, dancers and amateurs of different ages from Slovakia, Hungary and the Czech Republic
Speaking during an open rehearsal for the production that will show in Vienna on Thursday, Macras said the performance aims to combine Roma folklore with the scope of contemporary expression. She added that this shared dictionary of expression was the result of improvisation among youth from different backgrounds.
The performers in the piece were chosen in Budapest, Miskolc, Kosice and Prague. The youth include some amateurs whose only experience is in folk dancing as well as dancers who are practiced in contemporary dance, street dance or hip-hop, Macras said.
Marcas said that even today the Roma are seen as a wandering people, although this is far from true. She noted that the performers in Open for Everything had lived in the same place for at least four generations.
?As I became more immersed in the Roma question, I saw how rich this culture is and how different the paths, styles and problems are from country to country. I think the hate directed against them originates, in part, because many people don?t know how to define Roma expression and start to hate the unknown,? she said.
Macras said there were political elements in the production, but she added that the intention of Open for Everything was not to answer the question ?What happens to the Roma??.
She said audiences who come to the performance could expect to see ?composed chaos?.
The project that resulted in Open for Everything started in February. The dancers rehearsed in Budapest for the first five weeks, then traveled to Macras?s studio in Berlin before finally going to Vienna.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI)
