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Ágens - Gergye Krisztián: Tenebrae

Gábor Papp / Ellenfény (contemporary theatre and dance-art) , July 2002.

'Is there a more subtle and less material art than music? Is there a more material and corporeal way of expression than dance? Tenebrae creates a unique synthesis between these two fields resulting in a special situation: the singer Ágens becomes the 'conscious ego' while the trio of dancers (Krisztián Gergye, Móni Négyesi, Veronika Vámos) represent the 'instincts ruled by daimons" with a constant struggle between them 'full of remorse'. (...)

The scene paints a clear picture: the pure white stage enframed by black walls and Ágens' black dress all refer to the constant struggle. The opening, spider-like pose of the dancers puts an emphasis on the limbs giving you a feeling that you have to put together the pieces of an imaginary human body. (...) This feeling of dissolution is well supported by Ágens' mournful singing. She gives birth to a child (Móni Négyesi) who immediately attacks her starting a fierce fight ending with the child's death. Apart from short, etude-like encounters the dancers mainly represent a corporeal mass: the lighting- creating shadows and artificial darkness- and the forms of movement all represent a loss of individuality. The elemental gestures filled with sexuality create a vision of a subhuman-vegetative existence. The highlights of Krisztián Gergye's choreography are the moments when certain parts of the human body are magnified like in premier plan.

Another characteristic is the covering of the sexual organs with cramped fingers in a drastic, self-torturing rave of asexuality. Gergye sometimes 'undresses himself to his bones'.

The atmosphere created by the dancers is rendered full by the human voice and the musical texture: we are the beholders of a limitless unfolding. A human being is exposed to the silent light in the darkness (Tenebrae). (...)

Ágens 'is an expert in several singing techniques (opera, chanson, song, jazz, sprachgesang). Her approach is somewhat ambivalent to the music: she sometimes identifies herself with a certain musical language while making a counter-point at other times.'