MU Theatre
“When you look into my eyes, what you can see is the reflection of yourself” /Gyula CSEREPES/
SELFY is an artistic space created for self-reflection. In this open-source performance, where spectator and performer share the same “stage” in close proximity, the experience wins over “narrative”. Gyula is dancing on the thin line between trance and representation.
SELFY is a constant journey between in and out, between the internal universe and the external world – reality. While jumping continuously from one to the other, Gyula aims to become so thin, so transparent that his identity could almost evaporate, allowing the spectators to see their own reflections. The performer becomes an abstract mirror and having a look into it, one might ask oneself: who am I really? Is my identity what I thought it was?
SELFY is an interactive, participatory, contemporary dance performance. By bringing the audience on stage and improvising, jumping between them, Gyula questions the conventions of watching dance and those of dance performances themselves. In such close proximity, where spectators could be both metaphorically and literally touched by the performance, the question of freedom and our relation to it is being challenged. How do we react in such a situation? How do we handle the responsibility that comes with “total” freedom? Some choose to stay in the safe, well-known position of being a passive observer – while others allow themselves to be carried away on a journey into the unknown: to reveal the hidden potential that lies inside each and every one of us, liberating our own body and soul.
SELFY deliberately puts the audience and the performer, dance and theatre, in the middle of uncertainty, among question marks. It breaks down our habit of consuming the ready-made (art, food, etc.) and gives us a chance to build a fresh and personal identity. SELFY takes spectators on a personal journey from their traditionally passive position into a place where they have to be constantly active. A place where all the participants actively contribute to the outcome of the performance, through their reactions, choices and personalities. Without initially being aware of it, they create a new community and enter a world of symbols and metaphors, where every moment is aimed at each one of us, personally. When Gyula says “I am a human being”, everyone can identify themselves with his words, but what happens when he continues by saying “I am a man”, “I am skinny” and so on?
SELFY is yourself among themselves when we are ourselves – together.
CREDITS
Author & performer: Gyula CSEREPES
Light design: Ints PLAVNIEKS
Original music: László MÁDI
REVIEWS
“Gyula Cserepes “energizes” the space around him – acting as a kind of a ritualistic guide or a modern-day Native American magic man, he takes the audience on a journey that is both external and internal. He gives an impression of intoxication and improvisation, yet he remains firmly in control of the situation as he incessantly moves around, conjuring up attitudes and provoking thoughts. Sometimes we have no idea what we are doing there or why we are behaving the way we do. Once we are there, we can choose to either stand as observers, nodding our heads to the rhythm, or totally lose ourselves – the question is whether or not we are acting on our own free will.” Artner Sisso, szinhaz.net
“Of course the purpose of the performance is not to get the crowd bouncing as though at a real rave, but once he [the dancer] whizzes up to you, it’s hard to stop your body responding instinctively to the ‘invitation’ from the other body.” Csaba Králl, Revizoronline.com
“…It could also be that what we are seeing and experiencing here is the true, living reality, and that ideas such as ‘I can see everything’ and ‘I am observing something’ are just the audience’s illusions. Gyula Cserepes plays with this possibility…” Gábor Csatádi, Potszekfgolalo.hu
TOURS & FESTIVALS ABROAD
Španski Borci, Ljubljana (SI), 2016.
Stanica, Žilina-Zarečie (SK), 2016.
Gyula CSEREPES
Gyula Cserepes is a dancer, performer and choreographer, originating from Bečej, Voivodina (RS). He studied at the High School of Folk Arts in Fót (HU) and at the Budapest Contemporary Dance Academy. Gyula began his professional career in 2007 at the Central European Dance Theater, Budapest, after which he joined the En-Knap Group, Ljubljana, in 2008. During these years, he had the chance to work with such choreographers, directors and teachers as Iztok Kovač, David Zambrano, Anton Lachky, Milan Tomašik, Simone Sandroni and Superamas, to name just a few. In recent years Gyula has been actively collaborating with the Geneva-based Cie Jozsef Trefeli and with the Cie Philippe Saire from Lausanne. With their performances he has toured in Africa, America, Asia and Europe.
Gyula’s work as an author includes Revive the Castle, a site-specific performance, and New Age Gypsies, a dance-theatre performance. His first independent performance, The Bridge, premiered in Volksroom, Brussels in November 2013. Since then The Bridge has been on tour from Mexico through Vienna, to Paris and Budapest. Gyula’s new production, SELFY, premiered in Španski Borci, Ljubljana in January 2016.
The company ATELIER 21220 was established in February 2017 as the foundation for the artistic and pedagogic work of Gyula Cserepes. Through the constant and continuous re-evaluation of the role of dance in society, the company’s work aims to redefine the contemporary performance of dance and the way we watch it. Apart from distributing existing works, ATELIER 21220 is currently preparing a new contemporary dance performance, which will debut in Budapest in the spring of 2018.
COPRODUCERS
Zavod En-Knap (SI); OFF Foundation (HU)
SUPPORTERS
Workshop Foundation (HU); National Cultural Fund (HU); Stanica (SK); Garage 29 (BE)