Ballads of the Danube

For the peoples living along the Danube, the Danube is a huge river that means life and brings peace, which by its very nature determines destinies, and is a mandatory guarantee of our survival. As a gigantic witness of the past and present, the Danube forms a bridge between the West and the East. From the Black Forest to the Black Sea, all peoples identify with the great river-topos that tests and shapes people and that has had an impact on their traditional culture from the very beginning. We Hungarians see it as a basic symbol of our national consciousness. The Danube is a symbol of purity and purification, a source of strength and inspiration for many artists. The many poems written about it “could dam the Danube”, as the saying goes.

The title of our performance – Ballads of the Danube – refers to a kind of romantic poetry but also to the original meaning of the word ballad: dance. Immersing ourselves in the dances and music of the peoples along the Danube, we sing and dance the feelings of life of the Danube people and the rites connected to the great river.

Performed by Danube Art Ensemble and Göncöl Ensemble
Participant: Szent Efrém Férfikar, Gábor Gera
Music Editors: Ifj. Sándor Csoóri, Tamás Bubnó, Lőrinc Bubnó Composers: Ifj. Sándor Csoóri, Gábor Gera
Set Designer: Gábor Michac
Costume Designer: Erzsébet Túri
Lighting Designer, Visual projection: Károly Lendvai
Dance Masters: József Csoltói, Márta Csoltóiné Szalai, Máté Farkas, Beatrix Borbély, Balázs Sáfrán, Enikő Szabó-Kenéz, Béla Ónodi
Dance Director: Gyula András Soós, Katalin Bonifert
Choreographers: Dusán Hégli, Zsolt Juhász, Gábor Mihályi
Directed by Zsolt Juhász