Dance Marathon Workshop and Theatre Festival in Budapest

At the last weekend I attended the Dance Marathon workshop in Trafó and took several types of lessons, such as Pilates technique, Feldenkrais technique, Graham technique, jazz dance and contemporary training.

The workshop took place in Trafó House of Contamporary Arts and it was in fact a promotion for dance schools. Trafó, which used to be a transformer house, has been a performing venue for avant-garde, independent artists since 1998.

I tried several techniques during the day, now I’ll write about some of them.

Feldenkrais method

As I dance, I need to pay special attention to my body, the good posture so as not to get injured. So far I have put the emphasis on improving my techniques and have not really bother about my health. Feldenkrais method and a lot of other similar methods such as Egoscue, which is a posture alignment technique, help you to restore the body’s alignment.

Feldenkreis is a mind-body method. You don’t have to make great physical efforts during the lesson, you make only small moves. You get into a meditative state which makes easier to look deeper inside yourself. You feel your joints and muscles and how they connect to each other, how they move. Like you could scan through your body. Using incorrect techniques may cause strain in different parts of your body in general. With the repetitive, small moves doing during a Feldenkrais lesson you try to find the easiest way you can move your muscles. It’s similar to the way how babies discover their body parts and how they should use them. It was a very special experience. I myself realized that my back had become more flatten by the end of the lesson.

Pilates technique

I’m doing yoga and I thought that Pilates was sort of yoga. Well, it’s not the case. Yes, you do need strength to perform exercises and this technique is also about correcting the body’s alignment, but Pilates is especially designed for dancers, for ones who want to attain the dancer’s body. In Pilates, the deeper layers of back muscles and abdomen muscles are trained to provide strength and flexibility for the spine, which is essential to make any kind of movements. Breathing is also important part of this workout, it gives a support throughout the exercises. When I concentrate on something, sometimes I hold my breath, which makes more difficult to isolate my muscles. So this technique might help me to get out of this bad habit.

Graham technique

Graham technique is very difficult, so I think one needs much time to acquire this technique. Katalin Lőrinc, the Graham instructor, is genius and she has a nice personality. It’s a pity that she doesn’t give public lessons, she teaches only in art schools.

Graham technique, which is the oldest modern technique, is full of passion and strength. I don’t think that you can become a good dancer without Graham technique. It’s sort of basic knowledge.

TheARTrum FESTIVAL

After the workshop went to the TheARTrum Festival last night. The Theatre Prom along the Andrássy Avenue has become a tradition in the last couple of years. The theatre- and dance-loving audience had a chance to meet mostly independent theatre and dance groups (and had fine meals and drinks at the stalls along the street). The passer-by could enjoy various theatre performances on the stages all day long. I myself saw 2 or three of them. I think, Eva Duda Dance Company was the best one. This is a newly found dance company consisting of young talents. They usually use a mix of contemporary and modern techniques, street dances, authentic folk dances or martial arts. Their special lightning plans are also indispensable elements of their performances.

Rumble is a male focused piece. It was interesting to see children staring fascinated at the dancers and how they had recognized, "Hey there are human conflicts here", ok fight (I don't think, they use words like human conflicts at that age) and "Let's see, how these guys will settle them." Of course, children also liked the acrobatic and street dance elements used by the dancers. The choreography was ironic and intelligent and the dancers’ technique was outstanding.

It was a lovely day. I devoted my time to my favourite hobby and the warm Saturday evening recalled the memories of past summer days.