Dancing my way through in creating Kontakt Budapest for 10 years – Eszter Gál

 10 years of organizing an international event means many things, but commitment and belief for sure. Since 1991 I have been traveling, touring the world, studying, meeting, exchanging, diving into the field of Improvisation. My intention, on the first place, to organize an international improvisation festival in my country was to bring “the world of improvisation” to my home land. “Going away” shifted into “staying and welcoming”. Reaching out meant gathering in then spreading and sharing – both within me and around me. The name Kontakt Budapest came up by my sister in 2003, who suggested with this name “to come here, get in touch with Budapest and us, to contact Budapest, study / explore / research / experience... etc”. Our thought was to merge the alternative dance practices with the art of improvisation (including CI and music) and contemporary art making, such as performing art and visual art. My personal desire was to introduce the vast improvisation field to the Hungarian practitioners which matched my artistic growth both as a teacher and performer. Another strong motivation of mine was to create an opportunity for myself to further study, play, enrich my knowledge without leaving my country. Throughout the years of taking the role of an organizer, I had to realize that such an event can (and in some respect have to) serve participants (including guests) diverse needs, which at times might not necessarily coincide with my own personal and artistic needs. I had to practice patience, a lot of listening and letting go, but I have never given up on my original thought to spread and deepen the knowledge of the art of improvisation. With the economic downturn I needed to strengthen my view on this event as an independent expression of artistic value and freedom.

But in recalling my intentions I have never wanted to become a producer or an organizer, I just brought people together, created space for being, exploring, learning. I have always done these events the way I have danced. This meant, as my embodied thinking process has shifted, the festival structure has shifted. When an event is annually happening, it gains strength, it creates growing and development. But it also builds expectations from many directions. (financial, production, guests, communication, structure, participants, advertisements etc). In order to continue to bring people together I had to constantly evaluate my intentions, reasons, pathways, communication, and I must admit that for some years the feeling of “have to” was stronger present than a “want to”. It was a fragile balance, but the rewards of dancing, sharing, meeting incredible people (teachers and participants) and the complex learning strengthened my motivations. I am really thankful for the teachers who were always available for dialogue about the event, its structure, its context and content. They always supported my solid but “moving” vision. Gradually I understood what this festival really meant to those who practiced with us year after year after year. The number of participants grow every year and the festival received great interest from abroad and inspired other festivals to open their doors, like Transcontact and Contact Moscow. This short reflection does not allow to list all the guest teachers who had been in Budapest since its beginning, but lets have some of their names listed here: Éva Karczag, Danny Lepkoff, Nita Little, Sara Shelton Mann, Benno Voorham, Carol Swann, Lionel Popkin, Jess Curtis, David Zambrano, Keith Hennessy, Alicia Grayson, Liisa Penti, Malcolm Manning, Mirva Makinen, Lior Ophir, Steven Batts, Arie Bursztyn, Eckhard Müller, Cyrus Chambatta, Nancy Stark Smith, Thomas Kampe, Caroline Waters, Andrew de L. Harwood, Scott Wells, Kurt Koegel, Karen Schaffman, Sybrig Dokter, Oleg Shulimenko and more. I have to mention the fabulous musicians as well: Vígh András, Toshi Makihara, Mike Vargas, Phil Durran, Helge Hinteregger. Rhodri Davies, Nils Bultmann. I would like to write the names of a few Hungarian teachers who have been present with teaching or participating: Kálmán Ferenc, Dóra Attila, Sőrés Zsolt, Kovács Kata, Lipka Péter, Nagy Zoltán, Szilágyi Enikő, Györke Tímea, Farkas Dorka, Kéri Judit, Bakó Tamás, Bóta Ildikó and many more. All these teachers – and those whose names are not mentioned here – have had contributed and invested a lot. Their input was gap filling and have given an incredible momentum to our local improvisation scene.

There is one more person I have not yet mentioned. Peter Pleyer has been my life (learning) artistic partner, a colleague, a friend. Since our first dance at EDDC, Holland in 1992, our partnership has been constantly unique. I admire his solid, clear, involving, eye opening, many times challenging inspirations and support. I am wordlessly thankful for his constant encouragement to continue my work, not to give up on my dreams, to ensure my knowledge, to deepen my understanding. In the fall of 2001 we had a series of duet performances with a big group improvisation performance involving 18 dancers from Budapest on the third night. This performance served as the final inspiration for organizing the first festival in the spring of 2002. Peter has been present in every festival. Seemingly we are in a duet, despite the facts of different global locations. Our duet work as dancers, teachers, thinkers, collaborators keep on unfolding and many more surprises are yet to come!

I am in a state of whirlwind drifting petals opening and closing wings of mind...

To name one or two strong moments out of so many incredible ones is impossible. But here are a few: 2002: I have the clear picture in my mind of the closing night jam in 2002 April. I am sitting at the audience seat in Artus Theater, witnessing the dancing, feeling my breath deepening... “it is happening, all these people dancing here in Budapest...” 2005: a performance at Millenáris Park lead by Keith Hennessy. I am holding my 4 months old baby in my arms, 45 some people dancing in the park wearing T-shirts and underwear’s, meeting at the end of the dance with lying on the ground, arms and legs spread, musicians around them gathering and quieting, I slowly descend to the ground, joining them with my son... something has changed … and ... Yes, 2008 Budapest Satellite was another change! Felt connected, rooted by CI and CI36 USA! The first time we were in one huge space and created 3 studios, we were eating, dancing, resting, jaming, performing together the whole time! The sense of community was tangible. 2009: Nancy lead us into the Underscore and the final jam with Mike's music! Tasty, unique, concentrated and playful! 2010: the highlight was the co-teaching with Peter Pleyer! Incredible richness and ease with transmitting our experience. 2011: the art making with Karen Schaffman and Peter Pleyer during their project. And the pre-weekend teachers dancing session that grounded the celebration and gave its spice!

 So many roles I have been taking during this work, but I have never done it alone. I always had my sister alongside from the beginning and with time a great team of Hungarian dancers, teachers, producers gathered. Now we are ready to move on as a team. Kontakt Budapest will collaborate with SÍN Art Center a non profit Organization on creating the next festival in 2012.

After 10 years of practicing organizing my role became very clear. My inner engine can further fuel the festival and I let the professionals organize it. I have learned what I know the most: creating space for being.