Desire and Eroticism on the Stage of Pal Frenak

Abstract

Abstract: Since 2018, I have been a philosophical consultant for the Compagnie Pál Frenák, and recently a dramaturg (Cage[1], Spid_er[2], Fig_Ht[3], Secret_Off Man, Crazy Runners – Parad_IS_e[4]). Simultaneously with my research on somaesthetics, I became familiar with Frenák's unique organic movement system, which developed from the sign system of the deaf and hard of hearing, and became a completely individual means of expression over decades. Since Frenák, the best-known choreographer of Hungarian contemporary dance, thinks of Deleuze's philosophy as a point of alignment, the Abécédaire of Deleuze and the aesthetics of Shusterman both played a role in my 2022 book about him (Horvath 2022). However, Frenák is an autonomous creator who never uses the books he reads as a concrete reference, rather he just extracts the essence of what he reads and takes inspiration from them by placing them in a totally different context.

Anyone familiar with Frenák's works knows that his central theme is the libidinal energy that controls people—he researches how to express erotic radiance, repressed desire or the resonance that exists or never develops between people. Frenák opens something up to audiences, and they are either drawn in or pushed away. Frenák's native language is sign language, due to his deaf mother. In the world of the deaf and hard of hearing, only continuous and intense attention can be natural - perfect knowledge of this medium and communication system adds the most special plus to Frenák's somatic style. Frenák's work is special because since childhood he has been experimenting with a language of movement unique to him, with which generations of dancers have been able to identify in joint productions over the decades. But his art is much more than that. He was able to do what very few people do: he constantly builds and enriches the unique world in which certain themes, motifs, and emotions regularly appear.

It is only the harmony between the body and the soul that is capable of representing the homogenous artistic style that has characterized Frenák’s style for decades. Maybe that is partly why we feel that his pieces are the various manifestations of a homogeneous whole and are not isolated choreographies despite their fragmented nature.

In my study, I examine how Frenák digs into the depths of human nature. How does it touch on the myth of marriage or love triangles? How can such a feeling be realized on stage, when two figures are not even touching, yet we know, we feel in our guts, that they belong together. Frenák is not satisfied with portraying superficial relationships, and he does not care about patterns and norms. He is a diver delving into the depths of the soul frightened of itself, a soul that has to grapple with itself to overcome its fears and its own shadows. During the investigation, the question arises whether it is possible to put into words the erotic experience that art can only partially show? “The philosopher can speak of everything he feels. Erotic experience will commit us to silence” says Bataille in Eroticism (Bataille, 1962, p. 252.). That is the advantage that art has and that is why the feeling that the protracted saying of the word “Silence” in Frenák’s pieces (e.g., in The Hidden Men) may convey. Philosophy is unable to free itself of language and, what Bataille considers the most important, “it uses language in such a way that silence never follows”, the silence of that last moment where consciousness forsakes you (Ibid, p274.). The atmosphere of Frenák's plays can reproduce exactly those states of mind in which awareness fails, where there is nothing left but silence or madness. The question is therefore given, how to grasp passion rendered with artistic corporality from the perspective of somaesthetics.

[1] trailer: https://hu.frenak.hu/cage

[2] trailer: https://hu.frenak.hu/spider

[3] trailer: https://hu.frenak.hu/fight

[4] trailer: https://hu.frenak.hu/crazyrunners