“When you look back on your life in old age, you are like a wayfarer standing on a peak and surveying the land below. You take in everything in one glance, the near and the far. But precisely because everything comes into your view simultaneously, the planes of time do not cohere into some kind of chronological order before you, but are thrust upon one another with blurred outlines. “

(Éva Fahidi: A Dolgok Lelke — The Soul of Things)

The Symptoms have been a decisive and seminal presence in the independent dance theater scene for more than ten years. Repudiating generic boundaries and distinctions, the company accords equal importance to text and movement in their performances. Éva Fahidi, the author of the book of memoirs The Soul of Things, is a sought-after speaker in various forums devoted to the Holocaust, particularly in Germany. Emese Cuhorka, a die-hard transgressor of borders who prides herself on her penchant for bold experimentation, has recently rejoined The Symptoms after a string of internationally recognized productions.

The rehearsal process, interspersed by snapshots of Éva’s life, has been recorded in a community-sponsored documentary film now being edited.

*The Hungarian sea lavender (Limonium gmelinii ssp. hungaricum) is not an agricultural crop but a species of tart-scented flower of the leadwort family native to Hungary that used to thrive for miles and miles on the arid steppes around Debrecen, where it successfully adapted to alkaline soils. (Its Hungarian name of sóvirág literally translates as “salt flower.”)

Performers: Emese Cuhorka, Éva Fahidi. Directed by Réka Szabó. Dialogue: Krisztián Peer, Anna Zsigó. Lighting: Attila Szirtes.