Tradition-exploratory and contemporary dance piece

Concept/Choreography/Dance: Márta Ladjánszki 

Composer/Performer: Oliver Mayne (GB/HU) and Zsolt Varga Zsopin

Lighting design: Tomáš Morávek (CZ)

Dancers: Katalin Bitó, Tímea Györke, Eszter Herold, Bernadett Jobbágy, Emese Kovács, Noémi Anna Kovács, Alex Ádám Miklósy, Eszter Mórocz, Alejandra Rosas Hernández (COL/HU), Zsófia Szász, Helén Tamaskó, Boglárka Varga, Dóra Varga, Flóra Veres

Costume design: Butterfly

Costume: Kriszta Csorba

Make up artist: Balázs Károlyi

Audio recording excerpt from a conversation with Margit Kascsák.

Supported by L1 Independent Artists Association of Public Utility

Studio use support by Trafó KMH – Workshop Foundation

Special thanks to the original team and partners in the creative process Anna Biczók, Tímea Györke, Eszter Herold, Zsolt Koroknai, Kata Kopeczny, Emese Kovács, Noémi Anna Kovács, Edit Kozár, Andrea Lakat, Júlia Lányi, Viktória Makra, András Meszerics, Eszter Monojlovits, Ibolya Nyári-Nagy, Eszter Rácz, Flóra Eszter Sarlós, Ágnes Réka Szabó, Szilvia Széphegyi, Imre Vass, Tímea Vozák

Further thanks to the support given for the original piece to create by Magyar Művészeti Akadémia, NKA, EMMI, Hungarian Dance University, FÜGE, szinhaz.hu, táncélet.hu

A pre-premier of a solo version had its debut in 2012, and later in 2013 extended by a group dance piece the final premiere happened at Bakelit Multi Art Center. 

SZÉKI LUCA is a creative "journey" in (re)search of Hungarian traditions.

"The first half of the production, completed by June [2013], features Márta Ladjánszki's solo, with a break between the ripe fruit, the multi-actor (there are fourteen performers on stage, plus two live musicians) movement...

The "one" and the "crowd" are thrillingly paired in this voluminous dance work, which lasts nearly two hours...

The second part of Széki Luca begins with an elemental, magical circle dance scene. The dancers' ring is barely discernible in the thick, opalescent mist: silhouettes are seen, occasionally a face is glimpsed in the glowing light. Fourteen of them spin in front of us in identical costumes, sometimes subtly changing tempo or direction. The floor crackles, crunches and bangs beneath their feet: the magnificent sound of footsteps, the mysterious sight of figures disappearing into the mist, the shapes and momentum of the ring of people, the drift of movement almost put the viewer into a trance: the sense of time and space is overwhelmed, the noise of footsteps slowly dissolves in the composed musical sound. The figures and faces of the dancers gradually become visible in the dissipating, but not completely disappearing, mist. I am captivated by the diversity of their forms." (Tamás Halász, 2013)

SZÉKI LUCA wishes to accomplish a creative research and creative artistic process in search for certain Hungarian dance traditions. This project has its antecedents in a choreography of Márta Ladjánszki assigned by Design Terminal, Budapest in 2011 for the opening of Hungarian folk-fashion exhibition Button it! Hungarian is trendy!. This work has already started to consciously engage in traditional dance elements such as roundlay, circles, girls, spinning, interlocking, song, rhythm and rhyme, scanning and a short dance etude has been staged by having held these elements together with decent success and positive feedback. A year before another piece By the way (debut October 2010) also touched upon the traditional, authentic cultural roots both on the level of movements (roundlay, spin) and from musical aspects as well by mixing the contemporary live music with traditional folk motives evoking the sound of dulcimer on keyboards. A third antecedent, a performance called Térzuhanás (June 2011) tried to find links between traditional and contemporary on the level of tangible assets by using wildcat-fur and pink plastic flute.

Exceptionally enough and equally vigorously pressing for its own dignity, the start-off of this new project was a piece of garment: a thick puckered cloth skirt with numerous petticoats completed by a richly decorated nonetheless simple pearl necklace. These are the two basic elements of the Széki folkloric costume.

The search for traditions was brought close to the people with unique, technically new effects. Far from mere copying we would rather mirrored these traditions by way of our own interpretation. We didn't want to reproduce rather to put in a new context the almost Hungarikum Széki (Transylvanian) dance, folkloric garment and attachment. We were most interested in the possible linkages, how we can approach tradition and how we can give a clear, understandable pathway for the audience between tradition and contemporary reality.

During the research and the following creative process Zsolt Koroknai who still today is active in the field of video art and experimental music, had a significant role due to his hands-on experience and could greatly contribute to the understanding and processing of the visual and aural documentation (inherited from his mother) and to work out the final synthesis. 

Zsolt Varga, musician, is the other permanent creative member of our collective who in recent years was co-author of all of our contemporary dance pieces.

Nonetheless Oliver Mayne, an English musician, based in Hungary who after having graduated from classical music studies became a very brave experimental musician and inspired performer. His background is culturally different by definition therefore we involved him both in research and in creation thus adding a new layer of interpretation to the evolving material.

Tomáš Morávek, Czech lighting designer and technician who joined the company work in the production called Josha – a portrait continued to contribute the creative teamwork of Széki Luca as well.

Contemporary dance was represented by Márta Ladjánszki dancer, choreographer, probably the most important figure of the research phase and of the creative process who is well-known by her colleagues for the persistent though gentle ability in bringing up answers from the depth of her own and of her dancers' and co-authors' souls to the ultimate questions with maximum attention. These qualities enabled her to lead and to accomplish such an analytical-synthetical project.