The jubilee International Festival of Modern Choreography IFMC-2012 offers the public new discoveries and meetings with old friends
It seems that the welcoming speeches in honor of the start of the XXV International Festival of Modern Choreography in Vitebsk have just faded, and the audience has only just had time to get acquainted with the participants of the competition program – and it is already time for farewells and summing up the results. But both the verdict of the strict jury, and the final chords, and the sadness of parting – all this will be on Sunday. In the meantime, we still have the opportunity to enjoy the performances of both the masters of dance art and those who are just making a name for themselves.
The IFMC started on November 21. The auditoriums were traditionally full, which confirmed that this festival is loved and anticipated here. This is understandable: this creative forum is one of the most representative and vibrant events not only in our country but also in the CIS and Eastern Europe. Opening it, Deputy Minister of Culture of the Republic of Belarus Tadeusz Strazhevsky emphasized that over the past years, the IFMC has become a launchpad for many young performers and a serious platform for the development of contemporary plastic arts. And the head of the culture department of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee, Larisa Olenskaya, recalled the special creative atmosphere that has always been inherent to the city over the Dvina, and read out a welcome address from the head of the region, Alexander Kosinets, to the guests and participants.
Since the current creative forum is a юбилей, the opening concert was truly "star-studded." It gave the residents of Pridvinye an opportunity to meet many beloved ensembles that performed on the Vitebsk stage in different years. Fans greeted with a storm of applause both the "Street Jazz" ballet of Sergey Mandrik (whom our audience, by the way, remembers from the very first festival), and the "Excentrique Ballet" of Sergey Smirnov, and the "D.O.Z.SK.I." theater of modern choreography, and the Perm State Theater "Ballet of Evgeny Panfilov"... It was noted with great regret that this time the Pridvinye dance art connoisseurs were "unlucky" with the "Kiev Modern-Ballet" theater. The fact is that this year the Ukrainian stars will show a "full-length" program in Grodno, and for the Vitebsk residents, they have prepared only miniatures. It remains to be hoped that this omission will be corrected in the near future, as there are already quite a few true fans of this ensemble in the regional center.
The performance by the "HeadFeedHands" Theatre from Cologne was original. As Florian Patzowski and Tim Beren once studied at the Higher Circus School in Brussels, they included many spectacular acrobatic elements in their act. Such details made the production truly unique, although some in the audience grumbled: there was enough dynamism and uniqueness, but not enough dance. Similar criticisms were also leveled at the French duo "Company La Vouivre", who presented the amusing dance performance "OUPS" to the public on Thursday, about the relationship between men and women. However, the emphasis here was not on tricks, but on gestures that people use in everyday life, and on acting. Indeed, there was almost no dance in the usual sense in these performances. It was, rather, an art of movement and feelings. But isn't one of the main tasks of IFMC to introduce the audience to new trends and directions, to discover the unknown? You must agree that much of what is now universally recognized and beloved in contemporary choreography initially seemed strange, unusual, and not quite right.
The performance "Mandala" by the "old acquaintances" from Estonia – the Fine Five Dance Theatre, was warmly welcomed by the residents of Pridvinye. The play, which tells about the birth of a person, their development and spiritual formation, captivated with its harmony and precise choreography.
One could talk endlessly about the events of the creative forum. Moreover, IFMC is not just about concerts. It also includes master classes and press conferences, which allow us to see the performers from a completely unexpected perspective at times. However, in my opinion, the principle "Better to see once than hear a hundred times" is most appropriate for a choreography festival. So, if you are interested in contemporary art, come, watch, criticize, and enjoy.