Occasionally, perhaps too occasionally, one happens across a modern performance that allows itself to be watched, felt and understood, just as if that’s what it really wants. That is, without positioning itself as the opponent, without putting pressures and demands on its audience and without planting the irritating voice in your head that keeps asking, “What does it all mean?”
T.E.S.T., Central Europe Dance Theatre and Gergye Krisztián Company’s joint performance, is one of these. I’m not saying it’s a simplistic piece – it’s as deep and complex as only seven solos for seven women could be. But its coherent wholeness and its ability to stand firmly on its own fourteen feet is so reassuring, it effortlessly sucks in its audience from the beginning of the first solo until the end of the last. It also shows that a work of art doesn’t have to carry a profound or ingenious message for social provocation or political activism in order to inspire a reaction in its observer. It just has to be done well.
The aim of T.E.S.T. is simple; which is exactly what gives it its special quality. It explores what it is to be inside a woman’s body. The beauty, the horror and everything in between. It’s a unique and touching experience, and praise goes to the choreography, which is as inventive and sophisticated as it is stunning.
No prizes for guessing what T.E.S.T II. is about. A scrutiny of the male body – seven men rummage around in their own identities. I hope you’re tempted to go and see what they’ll find.
T.E.S.T II. February and 25-26
Central Europe Dance Theatre
1071 Budapest, Bethlen Gábor tér 3.
Tel.: +36.1.342.7163
www.cedt.hu