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Reviews about Volitant and Freestyle at Gdansk Dance Festival 2019.
The penultimate day of the presentation of the 11th Gdańsk Dance Festival was dominated by artists from Hungary. The unquestionable star of the evening was Rita Góbi, a choreographer and dancer in two of the three Saturday presentations.
Audience of Gdansk festival should remember Rita Góbi from the excellent duo "Counterpoint", performed together with Andrea Miltnerova, inspired by the movement of insects. This time, the dancer from Hungary came to the Polish sea with another duo and a solo project.
The evening opened with the solo "Volitant". The artist appears on the stage in a black costume, the space of the stage is limited with the letter "v" glued on the black floor with a white tape. The movement is initially extremely minimalist, vibrating, analytical; small hand gestures, precise and sharp, are repeated many times. Over time, there are steps, also unhurried and broken, the choreography remains subtle, precise, even mathematically planned; the artist freezes in the studied poses, enriched with dynamic movements of arms, head, and leg compulsions.
An important element building the spectacle is the artful light of Pavla Beranova. Spot lighting from the top changes smoothly into spotlights igniting the white horizon (by which we can see only the black silhouette of the dancer), after a while a glow at the front, casting a distinctive shadow of the artist. In one of the scenes the fan placed in front of the headlamp begins to spin, which creates an interesting strobe effect. An important role in the performance is also played by electronic music of Dávid Szegő, simple, full of "filth" - squeaks and knocks, sometimes even deliberately annoying.
Movement in solo is extremely consistent, sometimes makes a dehumanized, unnatural impression. The artist plays with a detail; in the moments of stillness, small gestures become key: the movement of the hand, the big toe of the foot, or the protrusion of the tongue - which, thanks to the appropriate lighting, creates a new shadow on the horizon. All this is done with surgical precision and impressive discipline.
The "Freestyle" duo Góbi prepared together with the Japanese Ruri Mitoh, the winner of the Solo Dance Contest in 2017. The performance refers to the sport competition: dancers are dressed in gymnastic costumes and bathing caps; on the move we find references to swimming, running, martial arts or figure skating. Many of the elements from "Volitant" are repeated in "Freestyle" - such as characteristic, sharp and torn movement or creative use of light. However, the duo is spiced up with a large dose of humor, especially visible in some choreographies or in the "soundtrack" of the performance, composed mainly of dancers' squeaks, reminding cartoon voices. In slow and forceful performance, extremely precise synchronous systems break up into parallel performances to return to the common movement.
Two performances of Góbi on Saturday evening were divided by the duo "The Station" of Hungarians Ferenc Fehér and Dávid Mikó, with Fehér's choreography and music. A single point spotlight illuminates the scene in the smoke. Dancers are circling on the edge of light and darkness. Their movement is seemingly awkward, messy, with freely moving hands or head. Quickly witty synchronous systems emerge from it, with small tiny steps or interesting figures on the ground floor. In the following fragments, even with an evenly illuminated scene, the movement takes on dynamics, and many times the effective strikes of the artists' fight return. The performance ends with a daring idea - Mikó "animates" Fehér's body, who pretends to be dead.
The dancers created an original and consistent movement in "The Station", sparkling with humor, precisely made and effective. All three Saturday performances prove that Hungarian dance is worth a closer look.
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