FLOW4 International Movement Theatre Festival

The FLOW International Movement Theatre Festival was born in 2015 on the occasion of M Studio's 10th anniversary. The festival used to be held once every two years at the end of November, but due to rules and regulations related to the pandemic situation, last year this period proved to be inconvenient. Previous editions have tried to offer a fresh perspective on various trends in contemporary dance and movement theatre, this principle guides the current edition as well. In recent years the festival has invited such unique artists and companies such as FrenÁk Company, Emanuel Gat Dance, Hannes Langolf & Ermira Goro (DV8 Physical Theatre), Fehér Ferenc, Josef Nadj, Horváth Csaba and Forte Company, thus offering the general public a series of productions and artists never seen before in this region.

This year's edition of the festival will open with the premiere of M Studio's performance on 27 June at 19.00, in the Háromszék Dance Studio. The performance romeo@julia.com choreographed by FrenÁk is a reinterpretation of the classic drama of Romeo and Juliet. The choreographer is working for the third time at M Studio (previous productions: Feast, presented in 2017 as part of the FLOW2 Festival, and W_all in 2018). Romeo@julia.com presents the familiar story in a new approach, focusing on the desires, relationships, fulfilled and unfulfilled illusions of the two central characters.

Two performances this year will explore the states of loneliness and isolation, and the possibilities of human connection that have been defining experiences of the past two and a half years for all humankind. The first production is Anton Lachky Company's (BE) performance The Others (Les Autres), which will take place in the Háromszék Dance Studio on June 29. Góbi Dance Company (HU) will present the production Island, a duet of Maurer Milán and Góbi Rita, artists who represent radically different dance languages and explore the intersections between them. Island will take place on June 30, also in the dance studio. The names of Anton Lachky, Góbi Rita and Maurer Milán are already familiar to local audiences: Anton Lachky directed Special Society (presented by Central European Dance Theatre) in 2019, Milán Maurer is a recurring artist of the FrenÁk Company and previous editions of FLOW, and Góbi Rita was present at the third FLOW festival with her solo production Volitant.

Fehér Ferenc is also a familiar face in the local dance scene. He has been working with M Studio since 2011, with Pappa mia (presented last year) being his fifth show at the company. The Budapest-based choreographer has directed KAMPF, Identity, The Good, The Bad and The Son of B**c, as well as the highly successful production LIFT, which has participated in numerous dance festivals abroad. FLOW4 brings Tofu P. Potter on July 1, a return to the choreographer's favorite theme of animal movement. Tofu P. Potter evokes training of dogs, exploring how human movement can be transformed into the animal-like.

The festival thematizes the issue of body shaming through the production Humans | Bodies | Images, a performance inc the concept and choreography of Ioana Marchidan (Linotip - Centru Independent Coregrafic). Humans | Bodies | Images will take place on 2 July at 7pm in the dance studio.

The two major productions of the festival are OMMA, choreographed by Josef Nadj (FR) and Traces, choreographed by Wim Vandekeybus in the performance of Ultima Vez (BE).

OMMA and Traces explore the motifs of returning to roots, to the elemental, to the ancestral: while OMMA attempts to return to a tribal dance language, to the ritual dance language of natural communities through eight African dancers, Traces explores human imprints in nature and how nature as an environment is imprinted on the human body. OMMA can be seen on 28 June at 7pm and Traces will be performed on 3 July at 7pm. Both performances will take place in the Main hall of the Tamási Áron Theatre.

After each performance there will be audience meetings and open discussions in the dance studio and the main hall of the theatre. The program includes afterparties with guest musicians küb_beat, Alexandru Suciu and Mihai Dobre.

The festival is sustained by Sfântu Gheorghe City Hall, Covasna County Council, Bethlen Gábor Fund, National Cultural Fund, Combridge SRL and Communitas Foundation.

Details about the festival can be found on M Studio Facebook, Instagram and Vimeo pages.

Tickets are already available at the Tickets Office in Sfântu Gheorghe and on www.biletmaster.ro: the price of a full ticket is 35 lei, discounted tickets (students, students, pensioners) can be bought for 20 lei. For the premiere of M Studio, the regular price is 20 lei.