• Black Box teater
  • Oslo Internasjonale Teaterfestival
  • 12–16 March 2024
  • Boglárka Börcsök & Andreas Bolm
  • FIGURING AGE
  • Friday 15, 19.30–20.30 / 21.30–22.30
  • Saturday 16, 16.00–17.00 / 18.00–19.00

Boglárka Börcsök & Andreas Bolm, FIGURING AGE
15–16 March / Store scene



FIGURING AGE
is a transgenerational, immersive and haunting performance and installation set at the liminal space between film, dance and theater. In a fictional ghost séance hosted by Börcsök and Bolm, visitors encounter three elderly dancers: Éva, Irén and Ágnes all aged between 90 and 101 and that were all once part of the development of modern dance in Hungary in the 1930s. Based on recordings of the dancers filmed in their private homes, the artist duo has sculpted a choreography of embodiment that lets their protagonists return on stage through Börcsök’s body and voice.

Retracing how each of the women transformed their life and dance practice to survive the socio-political changes of the 20th century, the artists explore how resilience, silence and trauma are inscribed in the body and in the movement.

The Berlin based performer, artist and choreographer Boglárka Börcsök is interested in how memory and history are embedded into gestures and movement, and how it conditions both the materiality and representations of the body. Her work departs from personal encounters, archival and historical research and the practice of listening and looking. She frequently uses voice, facial expressions and minutely composed embodiments. Filmmaker, sound engineer and producer Andreas Bolm is living and working in Germany, Hungary and France. His films portray people in their social and familial environments, examining the fine line between documentary and fiction.

Concept, choreography & production: Boglárka Börcsök, Andreas Bolm. Elderly dancers: Éva E. Kovács, Irén Preisich, Ágnes Roboz. Performance: Boglárka Börcsök. Light & sound: Andreas Bolm. Costume,  scenography: Boglárka Börcsök, Andreas Bolm. English translation: David Robert Evans. Performance produced by: Boglárka Börcsök & Andreas Bolm. Performance supported by: Die Irritierte Stadt Festival of Arts, Montag Modus Collegium Hungaricum Berlin, PACT Zollverein Atelier No.63 – Experimental Platform for the Arts, Hellerau – Europäisches Zentrum der Künste – Residency Program, Neustart Kultur – an initiative for the Federal Commissioner for Culture and Media as part of the support program DIS-TANZEN, an Umbrella Association for dance in Germany. Part of the work was developed in the frame of the performance exhibition “20 Dancers for the XX Century” by Boris Charmatz/Terrain. Video credits: Andreas Bolm & Boglárka Börcsök (editing), Lisa Rave (camera), Elisa Calosi (production manager). Video commissioned by: Montag Modus/ MMpraxis. Video founded by: Tanzfonds Erbe – an initiative by German Federal Cultural Foundation, La Musée de la Danse, Rennes, Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa, Berlin.

Special thanks: The title of this work is borrowed from the anthology Figuring Age: Women, Bodies, Generations edited by Kathleen Woodward and hereby we would like to express our debt to all the authors of this book.