Premiered in March, 2012, the recent production of Inversedance
Company was inspired by the biblical story of Esther. However, for someone to
be able to enjoy Esther, they do not necessarily have to be
acquainted with the Old Testament narrative. The body langauge of the
performers, the symbol system, the tension within and among the dancers
actualize the underlying patterns of the story through the language of dance
effectively.
The Jewish Esther, the adopted daughter of Mordecai, was
the wife of the Persian Ahasuerus. As a result, from being one of the
subjugated people she became Queen Esther, the spouse of the very king who
ruled over those she belonged to. Her achievement was that she and Mordecai
managed to foil Haman’s (the advisor of King Ahaseurus) plan to massacre the
Jewish who lived in the empire. The day of deliverance has been celebrated and
commemorated ever since as the holiday of Purim.
The choreography was based mainly on the psychological
states and transformations accompanying the plot. This way, the audience can
see how oppression and a struggle for freedom, rebellion and fear, unity and
clannishness is manifested in the certain sections of the dance composition and
in the usage of space. For instance, the dancers playing the Jewish always
moved as one, united almost to the point of appearing to be one breathing
organ. Writhing on the ground, protecting their heads, crawling from the
tyrannical effects of their oppressors, they are gradually trying to use more
parts of their body, to occupy the whole space, but there always seems to be a
limit that they can’t ‘overdance’.
One of the leading motifs referring to their captivity was their handcuffed
hands, through which we could witness Esther becoming Queen (handcuffed hands
turning into a crown), or which were reflected in the terpsichorean patterns of
the Persian soldiers as well, proposing the question how free the military
puppets of a despot are.
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| Photo by Gábor Dusa |
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| Photo by Gábor Dusa |
The character of Esther is especially effective. Becoming
a Queen changes her posture, her inner state. Thereby, the same string of
movements coming back can reveal a different attitude, different identity, different energy.
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| Photo by Gábor Dusa |
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| Photo by Gábor Dusa |
The
ethereal, almost ancient-like music sets forth the atmosphere to grab the viewer
out of the here and now. Emotional tension, symbolic body language, hands
screaming for more space, and flowing dance movements intermingle to convey the
plot. Through the pressure expressed in a tautness in choreography, captivity
and fighting for freedom gain new interpretations. The only part of the
performance that seemed off was the losing section illustrating the Jewish
celebration, Purim. Even though it was an indispensable part of the story, it didn’t have a distinct arrangement of steps, the music was strikingly different
without any transition, so the scene didn’t fit the harmonic fluency that built
up the whole piece before.
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| Photo by Gábor Dusa |
http://nemzetitancszinhaz.hu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=39903%3Ainversedance-fodor-zoltan-tarsulata-eszter&catid=8%3Aprodukciok&lang=hu
http://nemzetitancszinhaz.hu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=39915%3Ainversedance-zoltan-fodor-company-esther&catid=36%3Aprodukciok&lang=hu
http://nemzetitancszinhaz.hu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=39915%3Ainversedance-zoltan-fodor-company-esther&catid=36%3Aprodukciok&lang=hu
P.S. I wrote this review about half a year ago. I loved it and have been a keen fan of Inversedance Company ever since. Now, as it turned out, I might have a chance to talk to the dancers in a less formal way, given the fact that the dancer who played Esther in this piece lives pretty close to me. Isn't that amazing? :)
And, by the way, this critique was published in a magazine I worked as a contributor at, but the edited version turned out to be a bit different from what I originally wrote, and this is my blog, so if I want to post a draft-like writing, then that is exactly what I'll do. So, yeah, this is not the published article, thereby I hope it does not entail any copyright infringement issues.
