To be exact: the International MonoDance Biennale will be held for the sixth time between May 7 and 10. The monodance style has been made by the analogy and inspiration of monodrama. These performances present their creators’ personal confessions; however, monodance is not necessarily the same as solo dance. Thus, the presented lectures do not only include solo pieces, but also will be performances where the solo develops itself in the relation to another present figure. In more than the half of this year's productions musicians join the dancers too. As the program's creator, István Énekes stated the essence of the show: "In the thousand year long chaos of values, one of the safest bases has always been Man Himself – with his spiritual and physical achievements and self-revelation. The MonoDance Festival is a colourful bouquet of these spiritual and physical achievements of irrevocable value, a bouquet of the most outstanding contemporary Hungarian dancers’ solo or almost solo performances."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37ZUad6nCrk

During the four-night event 14 dance productions are waiting for the audience, organised by the Central Europe Dance Theatre. Next to the well-known national creative artists the organizers invited foreign dancers as well. The Hungarian performers will be for example Beáta Bajnay, Krisztián Gergye, Mariann Hargitai, Tímea Kinga Maday, László Mádi and Dávid Béla Mikó. The international stars are the Polish Hygin Delimat on the opening day, the Slovakian Tomas Danielis on Thursday, the Lithuanian Vilte Svarplyte on Friday and the highlight of last day will be the Bulgarian Jivko Jeliazkov’s multimedia dance performance. Furthermore, Monomania, Gábor Dusa’s photo exhibition also will open on the first day of the festival in Bethlen Gallery.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0ciw6reyAs

This year's festival program also contains the TranzDanz company’s production, Futuredance in the Bethlen Café. This company founded 25 years ago is an unusual formation of the Hungarian art scene. Their productions consist of fragmented scenes with no narratives, and with the use of associative multi-layered references. These productions are performed by professional artists from different areas of performing arts. The folk music is mixed with elements of free jazz and the authentic folk motives are united with the contemporary dance movements. During the various performances the dancers’ partner is a well-known musician each time: Márta Ladjánszki improvises with Zsolt Varga, Gábor Bora with Tamás Tettemantl and Ádám Zambrzycki with Endre Kertész.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3MvhuNlCNk

For the lovers of contemporary dance, this four-day festival is definitely recommended.

Tickets: Ticket/show: 2000 HUF (for students: 1200 HUF)

Daily ticket: 3000 HUF (first day: 2000 HUF)

FutureDance: free.

Date: 7-10th May 2014

Venue: Bethlen Square Theatre, 1071 Budapest, Bethlen Gábor tér 3.