by Ruxanda Renita
Photos: Attila Glazer
“Dust consists of particles in the atmosphere that come from various sources”. (Hess- Kosa, K.) Similar to it; Nelson Reguera from Cuba, Valencia James from Barbados, Attila Glazer and Marton Gothar from Hungary met in Budapest to bring life to the unfinished culture house- “Villa”.
Villa itself is a Babylon of cultures. Having a 500 years old Turkish fortress as its foundation; the building was re-born in the midst of 20th century – the Budapest Golden Age. Its architect was Miklos Ybl, well known for its previous projects: Opera House and St. Stephen’s Basilica in Budapest. In 1921 – Villa served as cultural hub for personalities such as Madame Cartier, Thomas Mann and Bela Bartok. Its owner, Baron Hatvany was a well-known art collector and patron, holder of prestigious art works of Cezanne, Picasso, Manet, Moneta and Renoir. In WWII, Villa suffered a collapse.
In 2009, the building got back to life due to the multicultural crew: the Japanese architect- Tadao Ando, the Hungarian architects – Jozsef Kerenyi and Peter Bordas, the British interior designer- Ilse Crawford, Botond Bognar and others. The shrinking global economy affected the construction of Villa however. The amazing Cuban choreographer- Nelson Reguera and the Barbados dancer- Valencia James got inspired of the unfinished history of Villa. The dust of past and present, history and change defined their performance:
The endless spiral entangles our bodies,
We drop, fall and let go
but most of all we Are.
We are there in that moment.
The moment that never ends .Momentos
(Nelson Reguera)
Usually a building, object or even a piece of art is inspired by people or a person’s/group of people’s emotions and experiences. Paradoxically however, the chorographers and their performance was not inspired by Villa’s architects (or other people), but rather by the building itself. Unlike Frank Gehry who dedicated the building from Prague to the dancing couple of Fred and Ginger, Nelson and Valencia dedicated their dancing performance to a building – Villa. The architecture became dance, not the dance – architecture. The artists created a piece of performance in the dust of building, enhancing its light, shades and unfinished but perfectly smooth walls. They listened and defined its echoes, painful changes, time of glory, time of fail.
The photographer Atilla Glazer and the film editor Marton Gothar caught perfectly the artists’ experience in Villa. Therefore, the short film was awarded with the Special Prize in the Body_Dance_Picture 1 minute dance competition. The cohesion of the artists and cultures ensured the uniqueness of the performance, film and photography. Through them, the building was re-born.
