The Palace of Arts, Müpa, kicks off the Budapest Spring Festival with the pioneers of vertical dancing BANDALOOP turning the building's walls into a stage in a daredevil mid-air dance show. Strings was put together by world-famous London-based DJ and music composer Gabriel Prokofiev. Its protagonist is a string itself, physically and metaphorically responsible for connections, unity, breaks and redemption.
The dance ensemble was founded in 1991 by Amelia Rudolph, who gathered wall climbers and dancers looking for a new medium to experiment. The company has since performed for millions of people in more than 20 countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Americas and Asia. “They say what we do is death-defying. I’d say it’s life-affirming,” says Amelia Rudolph. Last year, the group performed on a high-rise Budapest office building, captured in a wonderful video.
The American formation landed in Budapest two days ago, and had the same amount of time to familiarise themselves with the façade of Müpa which, according to dancer and choreographer Melecio Estrella, is the coolest building they've ever performed on. Getting to know the building's decorative elements is essential for being able to dance with it instead of on it.
He told us that although flying feels exactly how it looks, even performers sometimes experience fear. However for them, it is not a negative emotion. They are never anxious; safety measurements are executed extremely carefully, so when the performance begins, they only concentrate on dancing.
Although tickets for both performances are sold out, some elements will be executed outside, free for anyone to watch at 8pm on Saturday and Sunday.
