The artists of the world-famous American dance company, BANDALOOP have already danced on the mirror-like glass surfaces of hypermodern skyscrapers, ancient castle walls, huge bridge piers, and have presented choreographies on granite walls over 900 metres high in Yosemite National Park, in the Tianmen Mountains in China, on the Indian peaks of the Himalayas, and even in the Italian Dolomites. Said company director Thomas Cavanagh about the beginnings: “It’s all the brainchild of our founder, Amelia Rudolph. Her vision was to fuse climbing and suspension techniques with dance, the beauty of motion. Overcoming your own fears was part and parcel of how the company grew. When someone joined us we taught them how to respect their fear and make good use of their knowledge and experience.” Over the decades, millions of people in 22 countries have watched the company’s impressive performances with bated breath, and Hungarian audiences were able to admire them twice in Budapest a few years ago. They are now turning a well-known building each into a dance floor in Debrecen and Győr as part of the Bartók Spring. “It’s a privilege to be a part of BANDALOOP and dance where other people can never dance. There is always the excitement of new discoveries. All this requires us to be very sensitive, playful, patient and meticulous all the time,” says artistic director Melecio Estrella. “I can no longer look at a wall and not see one of our productions on it. But I think that’s true of anyone who has seen us,” says Thomas Cavanagh, and the Hungarian audience can probably be no exception. On 29 April, Friday and 30 April, Saturday, at 6 and 9 pm, the world-famous group will perform on the facade of the MODEM Centre for Modern and Contemporary Arts in Debrecen, and on 5 and 6 May they will dance on the walls of the office building in Czuczor Gergely Street, across the Győr National Theatre.

 

And that is not all: the Bartók Spring offers a rich fare of events for the lovers of dance across the country. In Győr, the opening performance of the festival, the Ballet Company of Győr’s GisL, received interminable applause, and the following weeks will see other excellent Hungarian ballet and dance companies take turns in performing in the city: the Hungarian National Dance Ensemble will present The Faithless Wife on 3 May, the Szeged Contemporary Dance Company brings three special choreographies on 4 May, and the Ballet Pécs will stage a spectacular total-arts production with the Vasarely Etudes on 9 May at the Győr National Theatre. The latter choreography will also be performed in the company’s native Pécs on 28 May.