Masterwork for Six Dancers

Contemporary dance performance

Premiere En–Knap Productions, 2023

The performance lasts 55 minutes without intermission.

Authors Emese Cuhorka, Csaba Molnár
Original cast En–Knap Group (Núria Capella, Mattia Cason, Tina Habun, Davide Lafabiana, Tamás Tuza, Carolina Alessandra Valentini)
Cast En–Knap Group (Matija Franješ, Mattia Cason, Tina Habun, Fiona Macbride, Carolina Alessandra Valentini, Nika Zidar)
Music Ábris Gryllus
Costumes Emese Cuhorka, Csaba Molnár, Katarina Markov (Atelje d.o.o.)
Light design Leon Curk (based on the original design of Kata Dézsi), Aljaž Zaletel 
Rehearsal director Ana Štefanec Knez
Photography and video Sara Rman, Sašo Podgoršek
Print Tiskarna Januš
Technical coordination Jaka Šimenc
Technical support Omar Ismail, Leon Curk, Hotimir Knific, Gal Škrjanec Skaberne, Špela Škulj
Executive production Karmen Keržar
Post-production Nataša Ramovš
Communication and creation strategy Dražen Dragojević
Communication and creation execution Valerija Intihar
Design Marko Damiš
Head of finance Julija Travančić
Programme organisation and coordination Katja Gabrijelčič
The programme of En–Knap Productions, administrator of Španski Borci, is financially supported by the City of Ljubljana – Department of Culture, which also supports Španski Borci activities, and the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia.
With the support of the Liszt Institute Ljubljana.

Unfolding through a series of vignettes – borrowing inspiration from the philosophy of Bauhaus and the Triadic Ballet – Masterwork for Six Dancers (2023) explores the ways in which the body sheds cultural symbols and societal meanings projected upon it over time. By using objects as costumes that impede movement and give it a mechanical tinge, the body reshapes its autonomy in a flurry of functional obstacles. Its functions slip between the concrete and the abstract into choreography. Each and every body is a masterpiece in its own right, emerging from the entanglement of the self and the environment. By modifying the body, by "objectifying" it and extending it into space and surroundings, by submitting and submerging the body, a paradoxical freedom and autonomy emerge – that of art and artifice.

Dancer, teacher and choreographer, Emese Cuhorka graduated from the Budapest Contemporary Dance Academy. She has worked with Adrienn Hód since 2007 and has been a member of Hodworks since 2009. Together with Csaba Molnár, she develops artistic recontextualisations of subcultures. She is interested in experimenting with forms and performance formats. As performer and co-creator, she has participated in six Rudolf Lábán Award–winning works. Sea Lavender earned her the Hungarian Theatre Critics’ Award, and the documentary Euphoria of Being won the Main Prize at the Locarno Film Festival and the Human Rights Prize at the Sarajevo Film Festival.

Dancer and choreographer, Csaba Molnár began his professional training at the Budapest Contemporary Dance Academy, and completed his dance education at P.A.R.T.S in Brussels. In 2010, he became a member of Hodworks. He strives for reconciling radical extremes, and is interested in exploring how different ways of expression, when juxtaposed, may transform the most private phenomena of human life into a universal and liberating theatrical experience. He is the co-creator of eight pieces which have received the Rudolf Lábán Award.