Tomas Danielis’ new choreography is titled The Game – referring back to Eric Berne’s successful book, “Games People Play”. Berne’s transactional analysis created has spread worldwide: not only effected on the theory of psychotherapy, psychology and communication, but it has also given rise to an effective new tool for analyzing organizations. The artist has began to deal with power games through this book, which has become one of the main area of his art research for years.
“The Game” is based on the game theory and social research that the choreographer has conducted in recent years, during his residency in Budapest in September 2017 for instance. This is Tomas Danielis’ fourth work, which deals with the systems and relationships of power – not only in social groups and structures, but also in relation to the individual. The concept of the performance is based on scientific basis, while using visual art compositions in order to present our relationship to power in human behavior and relationships to the audience in a comprehensible and tangible way.
During the performance, the dancers place themselves and each other in various game theory situations and strategies. The purpose of these situations is to gain power and influence over each other and the group. The situations are based on scientific, game theory and social research, which the participating creators also got to know during the creative process. The group, which sometimes turns into duets, provides an opportunity to present two-player versions of the most basic known strategies and game theory methods.
The performance builds heavily on Tomas Danielis’ previous work, which he created for the Moscow Ballet, titled Equilibrium.
Petrányi Barna, Huszár Zsófia, Péter Benjámin
2018 –
Österreichishes Kulturforum (AT)
The Slovak Institute in Budapest (SK)
Tomas Danielis & FEYNMEN (SK/AT)