Photo by Gergely Ofner
‘Once upon a time, over the Box Sea, where Small Box is the master, under No. 1 Box Street in Box City there was a vast house. The many inhabitants just rarely saw one another. They largely lived their extremely exciting lives as boxes or in boxes. If you hear this story it means that the tale box has opened up and you will soon every one of them.
PS: Don’t feed the boxes with chocolate!’ (excerpt from the performance) „
Viktória Dányi and Dóra Furulyás the two creator-performers of the interactive performance are dance makers. They animate the inhabitants of No. 1 Box Street, while they guide the children through the story as caretakers. In the beginning of the performance the children see a huge wall of 21 boxes, which magically comes to life triggered by the enchanting music by Ernő Zoltán Rubik. One of the boxes accidentally falls down and the story starts. The children meet Dóra and Vica, who are the caretakers of No. 1 Box Street. We learn that each and every box hides one inhabitant. They are Robobox, The Finger Circus Company, Grumpy Dwarf, BuzzBuzz, Hooney, Booby, Captain and the surprise guest. The characters interact with the children, they ask for their help. During the performance the children feed the hungry boxes, help the lost Box Girl find her way home and actively shape the space: they create a forest, a river and a mountain from the boxes. Dance and puppetry play an important role, the performers use the language and adapt the thinking of children aged 4 to 10. We, adults would like to enter their world through this tale. We believe that it is only possible if we get away from the rational thinking that characterises the thinking of adults and accept that it is our imagination that guides us. Clarity is important for us. The costumes, props and music used in the piece ensure such stimuli that do not overgrow the imagination of children but help it unfolding.
Viktória Dányi and Dóra Furulyás are active players of the Hungarian contemporary dance scene, each of them is a mother of two children. They started the artistic collaboration in 2020 under the name of Mothers Back. The aim of their collective is to plough back all that knowledge, thoughts, experience into their artistic work that they have acquired as artists with children.
No 1 Box Street is one of the projects of Mothers Back, a dance piece for children. It is important for the artists that children get familiar with contemporary dance at an early age, are enriched by high quality cultural experiences. With this mission the artists’ ambition is to start opening the relatively closed contemporary dance scene at the phase when it all starts.
Creator-performers: Viktória Dányi, Dóra Furulyás
Music: Ernő Zoltán Rubik
Costume: Edit Molnár
Special thanks to Luca Borsos
Producer: SÍN Arts Centre
Supporters: Ministry of Human Resources, New Performing Arts Fundation
Duration: 50 minutes
Audience: 25 children