UNA – Unknown Negative Activity

The premiere of UNA – Unknown Negative Activity in production of RootlessRoot Company made part of the festival Tanec Praha´s programme on 10th and 11th June 2009 in Archa Theatre. Jozef Fruček and Linda Kapetanea, the core of this company, are well known on the Czech dance scene, especially for their collaboration with DOT504 dance company ((Holdin´fast, 100 Wounded Tears) or for their successful project Sudden Showers of Silence. They both went through famous Ultima Vez and this experience without question influenced their work.

According to the annotation, UNA takes the inspiration from the acts of the American terrorist Theodor Kaczynsky who was active from 1970ies to 1990ies. Nevertheless, it is difficult to find any connections between this topic and what is happening on stage. The piece is far more a presentation of destructive acts which in associations hint at searching for one´s own identity, problems of the society hidden on purpose and maybe also human weaknesses, their primitivism and unexpected conduct. What is definitely controversial in the sense of what you can use on stage, is the character of a little girl, constantly set in the feeling of child´s constraint. She is noone, maybe she is herself and therefore seems even more sad. It is her childhood being acted on stage, it is her as a physical person who witnesses her own story. Without any doubts there is a connection between her and a singer, commentator and desperately excited woman at the same time who is mocking herself, her secret suffering. The dancers are those who give the impulse – both authors and some kind of a „helper“ who is useful when someone is missing somewhere, but doesn´t influence the action.

UNA – Unknown Negative Activity is typical for the recent work of RootlessRoot Company, balancing on the edge of what is possible to perform on stage. It fully reflects its title. In 100 Wounded Tears they draw from human pain, here they draw from human misery, though the content relevant is from the dramaturgical point of view. They are not descriptive, they leave space for your own associations and use good-quality scenic means. Great dance performances including the little girl prove good preparation of the whole project. Musical accompaniment, singing, spoken word surpass the boundaries of usual dance theatre and set the trend towards which the contemporary dance art is nowadays heading to.

There is one question left – how long can we as spectators perceive neverending negative ventilations of one author? As in 100 Wounded Tears Jozef Fruček and Linda Kapetanea don´t find any positive solutions here. It is not wrong, only very sad.

Written from the premiere 10 June 2009 in Archa Theatre.

Translation: Kristina Durczaková