German premier

The youths are always searching for new partners, constantly on the move and driven by the craving for new acquaintances. The three girls and two boys satisfy their urges and heed their impressions, often everything is limited to shallowness and sex. One escapes the isolation, yet loneliness is near. A strange touch of coldness and folly embraces the events – strange to the utmost is its strong contradiction to the accompanying sweet tunes.

The song »Ave Maria« – who does not know it? Filled to the brim with salving melodies rings this prayer to the Virgin Mary, the mother of mercy and of help during misfortune. The catchy air »Ave Maria« – a piece of music, a choral, a chanson? At the beginning it was a humble, petty prelude for harpsichord by Johann Sebastian Bach in his »Notenbüchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach« (»Little Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach«), later to be concocted into tender romantic mush or – depending on your point of view – into unspeakable kitsch by Charles Gounod.

Religion – the modern theatre shunts this subject pretty well on a side-track. Lenka Flory took this risk and with it created an amazingly unusual dance evening. There is no Virgin Mary, no Christ Child and no church but nonetheless questions are asked that can be related to religious concepts in the broadest meaning of the word, such as ethics, morals and humanism. The interaction of scene and music illustrates the ambiguity of human behaviour, its lies and hypocrisy, its innermost desires, ranging from personal issues to the yearning for better mutual understanding of people and races.

The Company Fondy was founded in 1993 at Duncan Centre, a conservatory for modern dance in Prague, and it distinguishes itself through its unconventional search or stylistically new ways. Lenka Flory received her dance training in Prague and was a member of Wim Vandekeybus’ company Ultima Vez in Belgium as well as Jutta Czurda’s and Immo Buhl’s German companies. She choreographed since 1988. Lenka Flory manages the Company Fondy and since 1993 she is a lecturer at the Duncan Centre in Prague.