HIR_O

“There are more of us than dewdrops on a tree trunk (...)
We will be white bones by sunset, 
Brushed by the wind of mortality...”
(Masuji Ibuse)

A bamboo grove for a labyrinth. Isolation. Survival.
Pál Frenák’s new choreography looks beyond the laws of physics, into the dimensions of the soul. It is based on his own experiences while in Japan on a Villa Kujoyama Grant, as well as on Alain Resnais’s cultic film, Hiroshima, My Love. Like the film, Frenák looks at social and global problems through the lens of human relations. Are we treating our world responsibly? Is there hope, will humanity learn from the past's mistake, or will it continue to devour itself time after time?

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In HIR-O, Pál Frenák tackles, more directly than ever, a key tragedy of Japanese culture and history – to which he is no stranger –, and offers an unconventional interpretation.

The performance is permeated by the philosophy of Japanese culture: in a simple and empty space, bamboos appear, the most natural material and instrument of daily life in Japan. In its natural quality, the dancers’ organic movement fuses with the crudeness and power of the bamboo: man and instrument become one, each other’s extension, in a continuous spiral motion.