Willany Leó #kaméleon no.4 - Vavra Júlia - "ripples in silence, The misty waltz"
The #kaméleon project is a materialisation of the Willany Leó collective's constant striving for renewal: with the involvement of an invited artist, they seek to redefine themselves and give the opportunity to add new ideas to the seemingly endless notion of improvisation and contemporary dance, thus enriching the Hungarian contemporary canon.
Schedule
The research phase with the guest choreographer, while ending with a show, is just as important and focused: the members of the collective, currently made up of 23 young dancers and more than 30 musicians, are learning from each other in constantly changing, rotating small groups. In the joint research, the artists also reflect on social and behavioural rules: the aim is to fill the performance with a dynamically changing framework using different improvisational techniques. In order for the creative process to really be able to fight for these values, the collective invites artists who have worked along similar values as Willany Leó.
The invited creator and choreographer of the 4th season of the #kaméleonseries is Júlia Vavra. The performance, which is the result of this research, will be premiered as part of the Willany Leó 15 festival, co-produced with Trafó House of Contemporary Art.
Júlia Vavra is a Budapest-based freelance contemporary dancer, performer and choreographer. She studied at the Budapest Contemporary Dance Academy (2010-2015) and at the School of New Dance Development, Amsterdam University (2017-2021, as a choreographer). She is currently working as a performer and choreographer in productions at home and abroad.
In her previous works, self-reflection, the mood-setting power of movement and the dynamics between audience and performer have played an important role. She uses humour and the engaging power of awkward situations to reflect on the excitement and unspoken etiquette of performance situations. In her other current project (Artists Like Me), she pays particular attention to the struggles, problematics and controversies of being a freelance independent artist. In general, she seeks to find ways to manifest the unspoken, taboo subjects that concern her through performative situations and symbolic images.
By combining and interplaying different media and formal languages (video, sound, character building, text, movement, light, props, costumes...), she tries to create spaces where the borderline between fiction and reality prompts the audience to question: what is part of the performance and what is not? Surprise, unpredictability, topicality and acute reaction to the context are important in her performances and her creative activities. She works with space in a specific way: the stage, the auditorium and the peripheries of the theatre space all serve as a platform. You never know where the performers will turn up.
Performers: Bánk Bagyinszki, Eszter Bartók, Vera Bundschuh, András Engelmann, Tímea Laza, Réka Oberfrank, Noémi Kata Pataki, Zsófia Temesvári, Zita Thury, Máté Váth
Music: András Molnár
Light: Virág Rovó
Production manager: Sára Pallag
Choreographer, creator: Júlia Vavra
Artistic leader: Zoltán Grecsó
Staff of Willany Leó: Réka Oberfrank, Emese Szilágyi-Pallag
Supporters: Trafó House of Contemporary Arts, Workshop Foundation, National Cultural Management Office, National Cultural Fund of Hungary
NOTE: Complete darkness, flash, smoke and loud sound effects are happening during the piece.
Trafó House of Contemporary Arts
The Trafó House of Contemporary Arts in Budapest is a unique venue in Hungary, embedded in the international contemporary scene, where different genres - theatre, dance, new circus, music and visual arts - are presented in a unique and authentic way.