In 2015’s “Creature”, József Trefeli and Gábor Varga analyse and reinvent the traditional Hungarian dance of their childhood. The 35-minute duo starts with equipment such as rods, whips, masks and unusual costumes recycled from refuse. As they are deconstructed and reconstructed, these objects are invested with a new purpose and awakened into simple and dynamic life, as the two choreographers and dancers take folklore and transform it into “faux-klore”. The audience sits around four sides of the square ‘arena’ and listens to dialogues that are rhythmic and energetically witty. The pair’s Hungarian mother tongue comes to the fore in this biographical, ethnographic and aesthetic investigation, confronting the exoticism of folk dance with the language of contemporary dance and at the same time revealing affinities. This is a surprisingly unique work from the current Swiss dance scene that entertains and questions with self-ironic freshness.
“Creature is a warlike, captivating, menacing spectacle. Two men leap around, setting the pace at centre stage, leading the ritual. Soon the sticks are flying and the whips cracking – be sure to keep well clear! The constant power they exude is not brutal, and the coarse pagan costumes that envelop them are not without their comic side. The work’s merit lies in this innovative re-reading of Hungarian folk dance and the way in which, through an epic and quirky universe, it values tenacity. The protagonists are captivating in their all-consuming energy; they leave the audience just as breathless as they are themselves.”
József Trefeli & Gábor Varga
József Trefeli was born in Australia in 1971 with Hungarian roots. He completed a BA in dance at the University of Melbourne. In 1996 he came to Geneva to dance with Alias Compagnie and stayed for eight years, creating major roles in a broad dance style that was very much his own. He also danced with other Swiss companies including Greffe, Drift, Utilité Publique, Philippe Saire and Da Motus!, before setting up his own company in 2005. Together with Gábor Varga, who was born in Ukraine in 1980, also to Hungarian parents, they created their first work “Jinx 103” in 2011.
Gabor Varga began his career as a folk dancer. From 1995 to 2000 he studied at the Talentum International School of Dance and Musical Art in Budapest after which he was accepted to P.A.R.T.S. During his time in Brussels Gábor participated in works of many renowned choreographers including Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, David Zambrano, Michèle Anne De Mey, Mette Ingvartsen, Thomas Hauert, just to name a few. Since moving to Geneva where besides working with Cie Gilles Jobin, Cie Alias and Cie József Trefeli, Gabor has become involved in promotion and production for artistic projects.
