Black Swan, Szeged Contemporary Dance Company’s ballet-thriller, premiered this weekend
Szeged Contemporary Dance Company's latest production, the ballet-thriller Black Swan premiered this weekend in Szeged.
Black Swan is based on Tchaikovsky's classic, Swan Lake, building on the original story but presenting it from a different angle.
The performance takes the audience back to the second half of the nineteenth century, inside the walls of a psychiatric institution. This period was characterized by the proliferation of mental institutions, patients assumed to be possessed by animal spirits, and the inhumane treatment of mental illnesses.
The characters, on the one hand, represent the characters of Swan Lake (Odette, Odile, Siegfried, the Prince's mother, Rothbart, Alexander, swan girls). On the other hand, they are residents or employees of the psychiatric institution.
Promo image via Szeged Contemporary Dance Company
Originally in Swan Lake, the two competing roles, the white and the black swan are danced by the same dancer. In the ballet-thriller Black Swan, however, the two figures of one person are played by two separate artists, thereby strengthening the idea that the piece tries to present a split personality, a type of schizophrenia.
In Tamás Juronics' play, the characters of the classical ballet appear in a new form: the prince's mother is a nun, and Alexander is a fellow doctor. Siegfried is a young doctor who emphasizes kindness and patience instead of chains, violence, and physical abuse. Rothbart is the head of the institution, who tries to exorcise the evil from his patients with a handful of medicines, bed tying, and cold water head washing.
Gallery photos were taken at the dress rehearsal open to the media. Szilvia Molnar / Szegedify
Black Swan premiered with three performances — on April 12, 13, and 14 in Szeged — all of which were sold out weeks before the premiere. Right after the premiere in Szeged, the Dance Company travels to Belgium where starting April 18, they give eight performances in seven cities. The world premiere of Black Swan will be held in Szeged's twin city, Liège, on April 19. In October, they will appear as guests in France and Finland, before returning to Brussels in the fall.
The Budapest premiere of the production will be held on May 2 at the National Dance Theatre, then the performance will be shown again in Szeged, and on May 16 it will also be shown in Balatonfüred.
Due to all the tickets being sold out for this season's performances in Szeged, the management of the Szeged Contemporary Dance Company has made a promise to try and include a season-break performance in the program to meet the demands of the local audience.
Gallery photos were taken at the dress rehearsal open to the media. Szilvia Molnar / Szegedify
Cast:
Odette - Miriam Munno / Diletta Savini
Odilia - Diletta Ranuzzi / Letizia Melchiorre
Siegfried - Francesco Totaro / Lotár Vincze
Rothbart - Gergely Czár / Csongor Füzesi
Nun - Petra Bocsi / Adrienn Nyeste
Alexander - Róbert Kiss
Assistants - Csongor Füzesi/ Gergely Czár, Lotár Vincze / Francesco Totaro
Girls, swans - Janka Nier, Giordana Marzocchi, Desireé Bazzani, Diletta Savini/Miriam Munno, Letizia Melchiorre/Diletta Ranuzzi, Adrienn Nyeste/Petra Bocsi, Chiara Gionti
Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Lighting: Dániel Szabó
Costume: Bianca Imelda Jeremias
Set concept: Tamás Juronics
Set design, scenery: Kázmér Tóth
Animation: János Madarász, Gergő Madarász
Set design: Scabello
Playwright: Brigitta Szokolai
Assistant: Gergely Czár
Choreography: Tamás Juronics, Gergely Czár and the Company
Director: Tamás Juronics
