A dance of love, and not
Compagnie Alias: Mr. Winter

The prestigious Swiss dance company Compagnie Alias returns to Budapest this winter with a production that fits the season, entitled Mr. Winter. This latest choreography follows the dramatic line of a South-American soap operas, well known to Hungarian television audiences if nothing else from the endless trailers broadcast on the Hungarian airwaves. Despite the plot’s reflection of this much-debated genre, Mr. Winter, tries to bring to the audience a deeper view of the twist and turns of everyday faith, beliefs and human relationships. And all this embedded into what promises to be a gripping choreography.

Company founder and choreographer Guilherme Botelho settled in Geneva in 1982 from his native Brazil, where he started building a career as leading solo dancer of the Ballet du Grand Theatre. After ten years, Botelho took the decisive step so many dancers dream about and jumped into the world of choreography.

"I had become dissatisfied with the roles that I had to dance," he confessed when taking the leap. He set out to search for a style that best expressed sense and emotion, without the boundaries of a classic dance style or aesthetic framework. Following his conscious break-up with the stylistic restrictions of ballet, Botelho started a research into the nature of human relationships, and the possibilities to interpret and explain them visually on the scene.

The choreographer put his faith into improvisation, which he claims offers more freedom of the imagination to the dancer. By using their own artistic tools, the performer can entice the audience into an imaginary artistic world where dance and dancer form a harmonious unity.

Mr. Winter explores the theme of "being loved by someone", a recurring motif of Botelho’s artistic output. The main character, Mr. Winter, is the owner of an ecclesiastical shop who leads an eventful life, but void of affection or true love. He sells Madonnas and newspapers in a peacefully quiet environment. Mr. Winter’s shop is a sanctuary where goodness rules, where Madonnas are not mere artistic objects, but genuinely cherished tools for practicing faith. While the character leads a high moral life, however, the hopes of enchantment toward Mrs. Walker are not all what they would seem to be.

Among this group of dancers, not only are the performers barred from each other by a linguistic gap (they all speak different languages ranging from English through French, Spanish to Hungarian), but the movements themselves also set the characters apart as they mirror different personalities and postures borrowed from an array of theatrical personas.

This dance is said to be exact and chaotic at the same time, with words only playing a minor role. The harmony of the movements, and the dynamism of the show are set to render the comprehension of the four languages used absolutely unnecessary.

Mr. Winter is a dancing exploration of love and the lack thereof in our lives, a gripping visual tale that stands high above that of the infamous soap opera fare it sets to mimic.

Compagnie Alias: Mr Winter
Trafo
Budapest, Liliom utca 41
December 8,9 and 10 at 8 pm
Tickets available at the door, HUF 800
Tel. : 36.1.215.1600
http://www.trafo.hu

12.06
Edith Balazs