Beautiful Encounter

Ágens-Attila Csabai: Átjárók/Passages

How can you find the passages through time and space , through four separate ways of existence?-asks this concert-theater piece performed by three dancers and a singer .

The dance-order on the L-shaped stage is defined by Ágens' twelve songs in this improvisational piece.Ágens-dressed up in a dark green,floor-length crinoline gown and a feather tuft-is an earthly and unearthly woman at the same time.Her voice embraces everything ,swoops and soars changing in every moment.She's one of the few real instinctive artists bearing a refined technique to master all the tones of her voice in an absolutely superb, sensitive way.Not only her organs of speech do the singing but the whole person -everything sounds that's body and soul.

Whoopings,sighs,groanings, and screams are all mixed into her singing evoking a perplexed dreamworld as you may experience it right on your arrival to Szkéné Theater.The painful voice-clusters call birth and death to one's mind. And the magic happens: three dancers covered in white textile are born to life .Bodies begin to pulsate , membranes are ruptured and following the soul the body is being born.A beautiful encounter:Ágens' musical world-sometimes accompanied by instruments and special effects-and the Company KompMánia were made for each other.It's a shocking and mysteriously fearsome world with desires,fears,distress, anger and frustration ,want and quest inside .

There's a well- dressed man sitting by the table facing an empty chair, waiting- for someone who never arrives- during the entire performance.He keeps himself busy looking for something and places his shoes to their proper place with utmost care.He seems to be getting prepared to some kind of ceremony: the bitter celebration of ordinary life.From urns he pours barley and flour to the 'kitchentable'.He's very accurate and mean-Attila Csabai's gestures are extremely expressive-weighing plastic bags filled with some kind of liquid hanging above the table.He arranges the grains over and over again until his 'property' is lost along with his last chance.He is unable to do anything with his life and feels that he will eventually lose what he has.He has no courage to break out of his wretched situation. He hides under the table and lights a lamp probably looking for memories but this doesn't take him anywhere either.Placing two urns on his feet he desperately walks about treading on what's left for him: his past.His hair and dress gets rumpled as he sprinkles himself with mud in his desperate attempts.By the end of the performance he "grows nails" and pierces the plastic bags jumping on the table.Although the water cleans his dirty clothes we have a feeling that the whole ceremony will start again tomorrow.

Water is also an important feature of Marta Ladjanszki's solo.After long ,intensifying pulsations under the cloth a blonde, curly angel is born and we catch the first glimpse of her watching herself in the surface of the water in the basin in front of her.She reveals her innermost world in a trance-like state . She tells a story of someone looking for emotions and possible worlds.She also works with her organs of sense: she listens,observes, touches, tastes and sniffs the air.She collects information.Her body follows her sensual impressions -you can never tell her next move . Finding a thin red burning ray of light she hides under it caressing it with her whole body like someone warming herself by the fire.She moves in a faltering way and keeps falling into the arms of some members of the audience .She wants to say or give something but she just mutters some inarticulate grunts. She gave three automatic kisses on my face as she laid her head upon my shoulder.This is the way she connects the innocent and helpless 'spectator' to her own world-this is the real catharsis.

Krisztian Gergye starts his part by standing in front of the mirror watching himself.The mirror -as a symbol of unveiled reality, soul and omniscience-is merciless.The dancer plays with a veil, wrapping up his head and legs . Red paint-blood- on his body soon to be followed by flour .He puts on a masque to get rid of the chains of conventions.The delicate movements of the white-coloured body , the meaningful gestures and the dignified purity of Indonesian dance lead to a strange metamorphosis balancing between two worlds.

The three dancers seem to think in images, feelings and moods rather than in a common plot.Still they all reach the same state: the point where mythical reality starts.

The music, the atmosphere and the pure expressivity of the dancers all make 'Passages' an intense and exciting experience .

KompMánia
Songs: Ágens
Music: Boudny
Dancers: Márta Ladjánszki, Attila Csabai, Krisztián Gergye
Costumes and scenery: Xabay, Balázs Károlyi