When I was invited to see X&Y by Compagnie Pál Frenák in
Budapest last April, I didn´t know that the company´s new artistic manager
would be one of my new colleagues at the Kennedy Center fellowship in the summer.
So, the first time I saw Dóra Juhász in Washington it was like meeting an old
friend. Dóra is a young woman full of energy, ideas and ambition. I asked her
to write for this blog, not only because I loved the company´s work, but also
because of their special connection to deaf audiences. mv
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| InTimE, Compagnie Pál Frenák. |
Choreographer Pál Frenák has a special French expression for explaining
to his dancers what he wants to see and what he wants to reach during the
creation process: the fragile balance of “juste”. When the movement, the presence and the
emotional content on stage is “just right”; not more, not less; enough and precise; not created by routine, not
shy or forgettable, nor over-expressive or exaggerated. “Juste” the intensity
that is needed in that moment, created after deep research in the dancers’ body and soul, after weeks of
improvisation and experimentation. When you reach this moment, you have to
recognize, catch it and keep it, because it is exactly what we need. “Juste.”
After working in a big contemporary arts institution for 6 years, with
clear and defined frames and ready-made structures, it was really inspiring to
arrive to the French-Hungarian contemporary dance company, Compagnie Pál Frenák
(here and here), an internationally
acclaimed, independent company, that has existed for 15 years and has got a
rather small management team. I arrived at a moment when the Hungarian cultural
politics is changing, when the contemporary dance and theatre scene is losing a
huge percentage of its annual budget and government funding, while there is no tradition in private
funding in the country for contemporary performing arts at all. Step by step, I
had to realize how crucial it is to find a fragile balance, in this case, to
create a management strategy which is exactly right and suitable for my
organization in this specific moment, appropriate, adequate, understandable for
my own artists, but innovative, brave and adapted for the needs and context. A
management strategy which is… just right. “Juste.”
How can we do this? How can all our management knowledge be transformed into
something which may be new, provocatively new, and at the same time sustainable,
because it is breathing together with your company? Going deeper, exploring the
patterns in the way your artists work and use them as a source of inspiration
to create a strategy, a certain campaign or project.
LEAVING THE COMFORT ZONE, CREATING DISBALANCE
Pál Frenák’s childhood was marked by the fact that his parents were severely hearing and speech impaired, making sign language his first means of expression. This rendered him especially receptive towards mimicry and gestures and all other ways of expressing content with the help of the human body. For Pál Frenák, the great technique is just the minimum. He tries to, literally and physically, unbalance his dancers and motivate them to step out from their comfort zone and totally forget their learned technique.
Sign language, leaving the comfort zone, creating physical and mental circumstances where the moments of (self)reflection necessary happen (of course working together with people with hearing disabilities is an important part of the company’s mission from the very beginning), but how could these components and way of thinking influence the strategy-building of our audience engagement projects and long-term education strategy?
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| The team in Kunstahalle. |
We created an education package for our Twins performance, where
we invited teenagers with and without hearing disabilities; during the
preparation workshop of the performance in schools, we worked intesively with
them in separate small groups – playing associative games, movement exercises based on the choreography
of the performance and the main theme of the piece - and all the groups worked
together with a drama peadagogy expert with hearing disabilities communicating
with sign language, a translator and a dancer of the company. Finally, all the
groups met at the show and there was a post-show workshop as well, where
everybody participated, combining sign language and verbal-vocal expressions and
using the scenario of the show. After this, our dancers visited them again is
their schools for a follow-up.
We regularly organize post-show discussions, where groups of people with
hearing disabilities also take part, communicating directly with the
choreographer in sign language – there is an interpreter for the rest of the
audience. Why is it so important? Because, just like in the rehearsal room, we
are physically creating a thought-provoking disbalance for the majority of the people
in the audience, when they need to face a situation where they organically
become the minority. This is the logic and framework for building our audience
engagement and audience development projects at different levels, based on what
is happening in the rehearsal room with the artists, always focusing on finding
a strong link between the artistic part and the structural part of our
projects.
IDENTITY AND FOCUS OF STRATEGY THAT FITS
In our marketing strategy, we involve our own dancers and invite
photographers and filmmakers to create personal and unique backstage materials
as promotional content – one one hand, it is an exciting way of involving our audience and bring
them closer to the everyday life of Compagnie Pál Frenák; on the other hand, it
organically fits the team: as in the creation process, the choreographer
composes the elements of the piece based on the dancers’ personality, and they become more
emotionally attached, involving them in the marketing strategy opens up the
possibility of a very honest and unique way of communicating our art product as
well, and it is more than inspiring to figure out together how deep we can go
together.
The same thing happens in the
development and membership strategy. Our company doesn’t have a venue of
its own, so we collaborate with different venues. This means that we can mainly
offer our sponsors an insight of the life of the company, rather than, let’s
say, discounts for parking. But, in order to have a sustainable structure, when
we choose a form and event to involve our future donors we need to see clearly
who we are as a company, to keep ourselves true, honest and free. If the
company never wanted to organize a new year’s eve party, but there is a nice
tradition of a 2nd of January get-together event, it is important to use
that as a development event. In some cases, we go for open-air picnics with
site-specific choreographies in the park, instead of formal dinners, because
that’s what and who we are; a fashion designer’s tote bag collection about a
piece, instead of pencils or magnets with logos as a merchandising; because
this is our way.
We are, of course, in the very middle of this process, but exploring the
identity of the company together and finding management tools for these
elements is a long-term team-building activity in a way, and also a fantastic
challenge. In this case, strategy building in management is a real creative
process – parallel with the artistic one. And when it comes together, when the
management strategy is synchronized with the artistic field and the two become
inspired by each other, when it is just right.. not more, not less than what we
need... That’s what we call… you know… “juste”.
Dóra Juhász is Artistic
Manager for Compagnie Pál Frenák in Budapest, Hungary. She oversees strategic
planning, international networking, branding, tour management, artistic
coaching, audience development, sponsorship and fundraising. From 2006 to 2012,
she was Press and Communications Manager for the Trafó House of Contemporary
Arts (Budapest). She is a member of the Hungarian Theatre Critics´Association and
regularly gives lectures and participates in conferences around the world.
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