Fuchs Lívia: A tánc forradalmárai. Vendégszereplők 1898 és 1948 között. Bajor Gizi Színészmúzeum, Budapest 2004. március 19 - május 2. (Budapest, 2004)
Kísérlet a szintézisre
object was to bring out translations of articles by the luminaries of modern dance — such as Lábán or Wigman —, as well as to present an overview of developments in contemporary ballet. The first wave of the forerunners of modern dance began arriving in Hungary in the late 19^ century. Their recitals took place in musical theatres and in the music halls. These guests performed their own pieces either after the feature play, or during intermissions. One of the famous - and at the same time infamous - vaudeville dancers, Saharet, started her performing in the Hungarian Theatre in 1901. Saharet’s cancan, radiating a wild and rampant joy of life, was branded “immoral” by the press, Brody, however, was enthralled by the dancer, and in one of his writings called her “anything but clichéd”. He believed that she could stand out of the regimented chorus because “her legs had individuality”. Loie Fuller’s fame preceded her recital by two years, since one of the attractions of the exhibition celebrating the Hungarian millennium in 1896 was Fuller’s Serpentine Dance in between moving pictures. Fuller’s 1898 performances in the spectacular musical plays of the Hungarian Theatre did not achieve success. The press feared that pageants employing such modern techniques would undermine the seriousness of the theatre. There were also debates upon whether what Fuller did was art or dance at all. According to one literary historian “this is the most modern trend of Terpsichore - here it is not the person but colours and draperies that dance. It is not art in the classical sense, it is beautiful, nevertheless; an amazing triumph of today’s mechanized world of technology.” Maud Allan’s performances in 1907 in the King Theatre were heavily censured by the press, since it was rumoured that she was dancing naked on stage — whereas she only rid herself of the obligatory tights. Those who were captivated by Allan’s statuesque “nakedness” claimed that “this dance gave the impression that, compared to it, the feats of ballerinas
