artć + societate / arts + society #38, 2011 20 lei / 11 €, 14 USD - idea

Spectacolul reia, recicleazæ, reøapeazæ øi deturneazæ ultima coregrafie a lui Mihai
Mihalcea, Surfing Twisted (E)motions, a cærei extrem de scurtæ viaflæ s-a consumat
în cadrul Platformei Dansului Contemporan din septembrie 2009 – „logoul“ Platformei
fiind „Bæi efemerule!“. „Distribuflia“ respecta aceeaøi formulæ femininæ de cinci
(dar cu Cætælina Gubandru øi færæ Iuliana Stoianescu) øi pornea de la o versiune intens
prelucratæ a partiturii lui Stravinski din Le Sacre du printemps (Ritualul primæverii),
consideratæ un fel de probæ de foc a dansului contemporan, pentru care are acelaøi
statut sacru ca Lacul Lebedelor sau Giselle în dansul clasic (trebuie spus cæ, aøa
cum suna în varianta din Surfing... (E)motions, sursa originalæ era greu de recunoscut).
Prima creaflie a lui Mihalcea în România de la înfiinflarea CNDB încoace (care
avea sæ fie øi ultima) a fost væzutæ, dat fiind contextul, de foarte puflinæ lume; înainte,
fuseseræ Vii la spectacol øi primeøti un extraburger (un performance cu alcætuire variabilæ,
realizat împreunæ cu actrifla Mihaela Sîrbu), în 2002, øi Stars High in Amnesia
Sky, în 2003, despre moøtenirea comunismului ca experienflæ corporalæ øi corporalizatæ,
iar în 2009 a lucrat la Teatrul Silezian al Dansului din Bytom (Polonia), pentru
spectacolul My Song, Best Shoes, the Cake, First Flight, My Friends, the Passport,
and the Work I Do... (în care revine asupra temei corporalizærii trecutului personal,
care amprenteazæ prezentul).
În Bun-ræmas!..., Farid Fairuz renunflæ la proba clasicæ a baletului lui Stravinski, la care
se autosupusese Mihalcea, în favoarea unui melanj de kitsch, grotesc øi sublimare
a unei stæri sociale-limitæ. E un fel de trecere la etapa „scuturærii podoabelor“. Le
Sacre du printemps e „povestea“ unui ritual pægîn, în care o tînæræ este sacrificatæ
zeilor noului anotimp de cercul bætrînilor înflelepfli ai comunitæflii, dinaintea cærora
fata danseazæ pentru ultima datæ, iar Surfing... (E)motions construia o lume profund
sælbaticæ, îngropînd în corpurile dansatoarelor instincte magice primare, o plasæ deasæ
de gesturi obscure, fals profetice, din magma cærora se ridica nu speranfla unei veri
bogate, ci o mlaøtinæ færæ speranflæ. În spectacolul lui ulterior, Farid renunflæ la metaforæ
øi le oferæ, în schimb, celor cinci performere identitæfli similificflionale concrete
de ghicitoare-descîntætoare, cu trimitere directæ cætre parazitarea cu atitudini obscurantiste
a spafliului public autohton: Sybilla, Carmen Hara, Vanga Dimitrovna, Mama
Shipton, Mi-Fei. (Ca teaser pentru Bun-ræmas!..., cu puflin înainte de premieræ, lumea
virtualæ a fost agitatæ de scandalul unui conflict între Farid Fairuz øi directorul CNDB,
Mihai Mihalcea, care l-ar fi dat afaræ pe Farid pentru cæ ar fi încercat sæ populeze
Centrul cu ghicitoare øi alte fiinfle cu orientæri ezoterice. Farid însuøi a trimis, pe Facebook
sau e-mail, mesaje cætre un numær impresionant de oameni din artele spectacolului,
cerîndu-le sæ ræspundæ la un chestionar despre tentaflia spre supranatural
øi parapsihologic a societæflii româneøti.) Cu o apariflie fizicæ pe care o pæstreazæ la
toate participærile sale în carne øi oase (pærul øi barba, lungi, negre, zburlite, eventual
øi trena aurie, øi vocea transformatæ, vorbind cu accent, între arab øi idiø), Farid
Fairuz e stæpîn peste aceste spirite invocate, în a cæror costumaflie, de astæ datæ, se
amestecæ kitsch-ul, sclipiciul, blænurile, tocurile øi resturi de obiceiuri naflionale (fota),
plus invariabilele peruci. Spectacolul e în mod calculat ilogic (cæci pune în acfliune
comportamente inconøtiente generate de impulsuri ale sistemului limbic, nu are
o coregrafie precisæ, ci una marcat performativæ), dînd o senzaflie puternicæ de transæ
colectivæ. De fapt, Farid pune în scenæ un coømar social, o abulie în grup, punctatæ
de reminiscenfle ale unor traume la fel de colective („Cine-a tras în noi/dupæ
22?“, „Jos Iliescu!“, „Moldova nu-i a mea øi nici a voastræ...“, scandeazæ ghicitoarele;
reciclarea în sens contemporan a tradifliei cultural-istorice naflionale îl preocupæ intens
pe Farid Fairuz), într-un fel de divertisment-hemoragie de-o schizoidie absolutæ.
Aspectul hilar a ceea ce se întîmplæ pe scenæ e total (una dintre vræjitoare caræ fum:
cu geanta, cu punga, cu ce-o fi, toate se tævælesc pe jos, întind cabluri, se dezbracæ
– erotismul ieftin cu care e asociatæ ideea de „spectacol“ în România e øi el de un
scena
My Friends, the Passport, and the Work I Do..., in which he also
comes back to the subject of the bodily experience of personal past,
leaving its trace on the present).
In Farewell!..., Farid Fairuz gives up to the classical test of Stravinsky’s
ballet, which Mihalcea submitted himself to, favoring instead a mélange
of kitsch, grotesque and sublimation of a social status on the
edge. It is a sort of passage to the stage of “shaking the adornments”.
Le Sacre du printemps is the “story” of pagan ritual, in
which a young girl is sacrificed to the gods of the new season by
the circle of the wise old men of the community, in front of whom
the girl dances for the last time, and Surfing... (E)motions had built
a profoundly savage world, implanting in the bodies of the dancers
basic magical instincts, a dense net of obscure gestures, faking
prophecy, from the magma of which not the hope of rich summer
was raising, but a hopeless swamp. In his later show, Farid gives up
the metaphor and instead offers to the five feminine performers
semi-fictional and concrete identities, turning them into fortunetellers
and witches, thus directly hinting at the parasite obscurantist
attitudes from the local public space: Sybilla, Carmen Hara, Vanga
Dimitrovna, Mama [Mother] Shipton, Mi-Fei. (As a teaser for
Farewell!..., a little before the premiere, the virtual world was agitated
by the scandal raised by a conflict between Farid Fairuz and the
NCDB director, Mihai Mihalcea, who had presumably kicked out
Farid for trying to populate the Centre with fortunetellers and other
esoterically-inclined creatures. Farid himself sent, on Facebook and
e-mail, messages to an impressive number of people from the
performance arts, asking them to answer a questionnaire about
Romanian society’s temptation towards the occult and the parapsychological.)
With a physical apparition that he keeps for all the
occurrences he takes part to (his black, long, hirsute hair and beard,
sometimes his golden cape, as well as his transformed voice with
the accent between Arab and Yiddish), Farid Fairuz is a master over
these invoked spirits, in which costumes, in their turn, are mixed the
kitsch, the glitter, the furs, high-heels and remnants from national
traditions (the folk costume skirt), as well as the constant wigs.
The show is premeditatedly illogic, as it enacts unconscious behaviours
generated by impulses of the limbic system, it does not have a
precise choreography, being marked by performative improvisation
and eventually conveying a strong feeling of collective trance.
In fact, Farid stages a social nightmare, a group abulia, pointed by
reminiscences of traumas just as collective (“Who shot at us/after
22 2 ?”, “Down with Iliescu!”, “Moldavia is not mine and neither is it
yours...”, the fortunetellers are chanting; the contemporary recycling
of the cultural-historic national tradition is what Farid Fairuz is
intensely concerned with), in a sort of hemorrhagic-entertainment
which is absolutely schizoid. The hilarious aspect of what happens on
the stage is total, extremely familiar and scary at the same time –
one of the witches is carrying smoke with a purse, with a plastic bag,
with no matter what, they all titubate on the floor, they are spreading
cables, they undress, as an insinuation to the cheap eroticism
with which the idea of “performance” is associated in Romania.
These are the limits of Romanian public space’s expectations from
the spectacle – Farid insists. The fact that the homage brought to
him by Alexandra Pirici was a karaoke-played song of Amy Winehouse
was not a playful addition to the series of performances taking
place at Occupied NCDB: Farid Fairuz is artistically inhabiting the
universe of a popular culture which requires to be approached and
attacked with its own weapons, pushed to the extreme, left without
the make-up of respectability and turned upside-down as the only
possible form of social critique.
Notes:
1. Rahova is a neighbourhood at the outskirts of Bucharest, mainly with
dormitory-blocks and known for its poverty.
2. 22 December 1989.
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