Review of the Jarmila Jeřábková Award and the Festival of New Europe 2009
Reviews
The first weekend in December (4th – 7th December 2009) belonged to the tenth choreographic competition Jarmila Jeřábková Award in the Duncan Centre theatre. It was presented as a part of the Festival of New Europe for the second time; it is a festival which supports young artists from Central and Eastern Europe when this festival is often an entrance for their professional career.
Laureates evening
The festival traditionally starts with the evening called The Best of Duncan – the selection of interesting choreographies of the past season (it took place on 3rd December) but the main program begins with presentation of new choreographies of the last year's winners. Two quite long pieces by Marie Koliopoulou (Greece) and Kateřina Stupecká (Czech Republic) appeared on the stage this year.
The Greek choreographer works in the Proxima Dance Company and she staged a piece called (Action) V – Tous Les Deux. Fascination by number two – as it was written in the program brochure – changed in a minimalist long play of some dia-monologue on the stage. "To be one or to be two, this is the question..." can characterize the choreography; the strength was detailed motion, breath, expressive music (Yannis Isidoru was the author of a live music collage) and original artistic form. But this topic was understood in a very philosophical way with a very intimate form that the point of the whole action disappeared.
Kateřina Stupecká let the other dancers to excel – in contrast with the last year when she drew attention to herself. She was inspired by the Ten Amendments in the Prologue and this brought ten thematic images interconnected by a model of a cube. There is definitely a very original vocabulary of motions the author used for both interpreters. Helena Šťávová and Denisa Procházková were outstanding from the character's and dancing point of view. They surprised with harmony, exactness of movements and charisma, they forced a viewer to focus and search for hidden meanings although s/he would not think about it at the beginning. Presence of Alexandr Volný was more or less symbolic and it did not interfere with what was going on; it even did not bring more male contrasts or energy to choreography. The whole choreography was perfectly built until two thirds. It had sharp energy, dynamics, clear structure, functional symbolism but we could feel some empty moments at the end. Despite this fact, the piece left a particularly deep impression from the dance point of view.
Zuzana Smugalová
The evening with choreographies with Martin Smolka's music
Participants from the competition with choreographies created for compulsory music were introduced during the first evening. The tradition of the competition is the annual choice of one Czech music composer – Martin Smolka, the famous author of contemporary music, has been chosen for this year. His pieces usually work with so-called specific music; he uses sounds of instruments that seem to be sounds from common life or effects are often parts of his pieces as well; he also works with micro-intervals. A non-traditional music language waited for choreographic versions of those who wanted to win Jarmila Jeřábková Award 2009.
Zoltán Grecsó (Hungary) caught our attention right at the beginning; the evening took off in a dynamic and juicy way. A couple – a man and a woman – dances in the performance called Conversation Full of Salt on the 1st part of Smolka's composition Oh, My Admired C Minor. They are dressed like the opposites – salt and pepper; the girl is in white, the author is in black. The short duet did not lack hyperbole and quite a witty ending.
Other representatives of Hungary Virág Arany and Ágnes Fülöp showed interesting projects and they tried to use non-traditional music accompaniment for their expression.
The only Czech representative, Duncan Centre graduate Radim Klásek was not very convincing. His solo in the circle of light gave a quite immature impression like his interpretation. Zdenka Brungot Svíteková (Slovakia) naturally has a more mature style but she has chosen the most difficult music – she danced solo on For Woody Allen where mooing and booing of animals are the most frequently used sounds. She tried to fight with it but the result was not very good.
We did not see free choreographies during the first evening but it was clear that Hungarian participants dominate the competition. This needed to be confirmed in the subsequent evening.
Kristina Durczaková
The evening of free choreographiesVirág Arany from Hungary introduced her work called Human Game as the first dancer. She dealt with relationships with parents and its influence on our behaviour. It is very difficult to create a solo on the topic of relationships. Virág Arany decided to symbolize characters that were not present by objects – attributes. These were mostly black male shoes he introduced to the viewer at the very beginning. She was standing on her head and choreography was focused on the movement of the legs so the shoes were really significant. Then the pair of shoes was standing in the front corner of the stage and choreography was oriented in this direction. But there was not climax of this point and the dancer moved to other objects – walnuts. Their shells cracked under the pressure of the body and the choreographer cracked the walnut not only in a metaphoric manner.
Zdenka Brungot Svíteková was inspired by Geir M. Brungot's photographic works for her solo Restar. The viewers could see two photographs – one at the beginning and one at the end of the solo on the screen. The lines of the land twisted on the first one and the subsequent lines of performer's movements had the same nature. The line of the dance often copied a circle and Zdenka Brungot Svíteková bent herself in spirals. A viewer could see anatomically elaborated movement of the dancer. But the message of the performer was also hidden in circles and spirals and it was not easy to get to it.
Zoltán Grecsó decided to meet the viewer halfway. The piece Bachelor Day was interpreted dynamically and with humour. Passages full of manly dance demonstrations where Zoltán Grecsó showed his interpretation qualities (his dance performance belonged to the best in the evening) altered with calmer and a bit pantomimic scenes where the dancer successfully established contact with viewers.
Other Hungarian choreographer Ágnes Fülöp worked with the image of an angel and its usual feature – wings. The name Angelwings… That Was foreshadows that the choreographer expressed their loss. The author developed the motion of her naked back and arms very clearly. She changed these passages with those which were more danced in space where she gave a very tender impression but the idea expressed by smaller movements did not really remain there.
The only Czech representative in the competition was already mentioned Radim Klásek. He told a story of a pilgrim in his Urobos. He drew from specific walk he gradually developed and changed. He created an emotional character of a man with his own breath and clamping as accompaniment; the journey is the goal for him.
Sadiye Cansu Ergin from Turkey introduced the only duet of the evening even though this choreography for two performers was not a real dance duet. Whereas the author raved in crazy movements in the back part of the stage, her colleague Pedro Prazeres was comfortably sitting in the armchair with a glass of wine and he was telling something in his native tongue to the audience. An original contrast of rhythm and mood of speech and movement originated on the stage. Choreography called The Never-ending Story developed and changed this idea. Its climax was Pedro Prazeres' speech gradated in an unbelievable rhythm.
The evening ended quite pessimistically by self-destructive piece by Ilyas Odman called Nothing Today... The author told the story of a couple separated by death with great intensity. The piece would be more understandable if interesting ideas and moments were not absorbed by cruel naturalness. The viewers left the evening with goose-bumps and some of them with the question where is the limit of art.
Although all competitors (except for Sadiye Cansu Ergin) showed author solos in free choreographies, they differed in the choice of topics and their versions and the evening of young authors did not lack variety.
Jana Bitterová
The final gala
The expected moment of announcing the winners of choreographic competition came after the weekend full of dance. The jury Nina Vangeli (chairperson), Eva Blažíčková, John Ashford (Great Britain), Michel Vincenot (France) and Toméo Vergès (Spain) chose the first and second place; there was no third place.
As we could expect, both awards went to Hungary – both authors had the possibility to present their works once again during the gala which was enriched by a live concert from the works of the competition composer, i.e. Martin Smolka. The viewers had the possibility to listen four pieces with the presence of the composer and performed by saxophone Bohemia Quartet; (Adelheid – solo for saxophone; Surface, fog, damp, heron, distance; During the Night Down, During the Day Up that was written especially for this concert). The artwork called Haiku for piano and CD player by Monika Knoblochová was performed.
The scene belonged to the winners from 2009 after the break. The first prize went to Zoltán Grecsó who performed the duet Conversation Full of Salt for the first part of Smolka's Oh, My Admired C Minor and free solo choreography called Bachelor Day. The jury appreciated links with music and the ability to change its dynamic stimuli for body tectonics in sensitive partner work. The jury also liked mature and exact dance performance in the solo as well as humour and communicability. We must agree Zóltán Grecsó is an exceptionally charismatic dancer who clearly works with motion material that sticks to means of contemporary dance and is not afraid to risk. His dance vocabulary is witty but is not biased and it expresses everything he wants to say.
The second place went to Ágnes Fülöp for Instant on Smolka's Ringing and for free choreography Angelwing… That Was. The jury was exceptionally satisfied with the original creation of this choreographer on music she metaphorically mediated by the motion of sand where she drew ornaments and threw them in the air. These movements corresponded with movements of the second dancer on the scene. She performed fragile and clear dance drawing that expressed mourning for lost angel wings. It is difficult to argue with the jury but choreographic performance in young woman's artist did not have a stunning impression. In the context of what we saw with Zóltán Grecsó, the piece by younger Ágnes Fülöp had an obsolete and straightforward effect. Of course, the motion of sand corresponded with the motion of the dancer but almost everything was literal without surprise. The angel dance was definitely a heart-felt piece but the motion vocabulary was not very convincing. But the decision of the jury is unimpeachable.
Zuzana Smugalová
Choreographic competition Jarmila Jeřábková Award has become a natural Central European platform for the exchange of artistic experience and creative attitudes of young choreographers and dancers from the field of contemporary dance and dance theatre. There are many participants and the international festival has already won its appreciation. The composer for 2010 is Jiří Teml so we can look forward to new projects that will be presented within the Festival of New Europe 2010.
Translation: Eliška Hulcová
Josef Bartos
Thank you for your thoughts. One got stuck in my mind – that passion makes us different from AI. Just yesterday I read…I am a dance critic. I am a member of an endangered species