▲ With the direction and choreography of László Velekei, this weekend the work premiered in Hungary Nosferatu, based on the gothic horror novel by Irishman Bram Stoker. The Györ Ballet has more than 40 years of history and is one of the most representative groups of the dance scene in that European country.Afp’s photo
The Hungarian Györ Ballet, directed and choreographed by László Velekei, premiered the work this weekend Nosferatu, based on the gothic horror story from the novel by Irishman Bram Stoker. The performers, through the language of dance, evoke the figure of the vampirized nobleman of Transylvania and offer the public scenes of sensuality, life and death.
At the National Theater in Györ, László Velekei takes on the character of Nosferatu to ask the question: why do we fear death so much that we forget to live?
The dance work takes place in the middle of a strange epidemic. Among a dense and ominous darkness, a strange being appears whose presence awakens joy and terror, sensuality and disgust, life and death.
“The stranger craves not just blood, but every little vibration of human existence. His shadow stretches across the walls; his presence raises questions about what it means to be human, to live and exist with the awareness of finitude. In the depths of darkness, he is driven by a quest.
“He carries within him the memory of an ancient and buried love, a longing that penetrates beyond the body. He recognizes the one he lost in a young woman, whose face and movements evoke the trace of another life. His love is not of this world, but fateful, fatal, like a dream that returns again and again to be completed,” the work’s program explains.
With more than 40 years of history, the Györ Ballet is one of the most representative groups on the Hungarian dance scene. It has organized the Hungarian Dance Festival and the Children’s Dance Festival since 1998.
With a repertoire that covers almost all genres from classical ballet, through contemporary dance, to experimental and dance theater projects, the Györ Ballet has transformed the life of that city.
The Hungarian company has performed at notable venues including the Joyce Theater in New York, Queen Elizabeth Hall in London and La Scala in Milan, as well as in Austria, Greece, France, Japan, China, India, Russia, Denmark and Israel.