Under the title Bittersweet Comedies, the Hungarian National Ballet will present three contemporary classical choreographies spiced with humour or sensuality in a single evening. Johan Inger’s Walking Mad, Alexander Ekman’s Cacti, and Hans van Manen’s 5 Tangos can be seen four times between 11 and 19 October 2025, on the stages of the Eiffel Art Studios and the Opera House.
The Swedish Johan Inger – a former dancer of the Royal Swedish Ballet and the Netherlands Dance Theatre (NDT) – created Walking Mad in 2001 to Ravel’s Bolero: a sweeping sequence of scenes built around a movable wall full of doors, exploring the volatility of male–female relationships. The choreography, made for NDT, won the prestigious Lucas Hoving Production Award in the Netherlands, while in Italy it was recognized by the dance magazine Danza & Danza. It has been a great success in the repertoire of the Hungarian State Opera’s ballet company since 2015, with rehearsals once again led personally by the choreographer’s brother, Carl Inger. In the double cast, company soloists Soobin Lee, Claudia García Carriera, Maria Yakovleva, Lea Földi, Jessica Carulla Leon, as well as Louis Scrivener, Dmitry Timofeev, Iurii Kekalo, and András Rónai will appear alongside members of the corps de ballet as their partners.
Fellow Swede Alexander Ekman is one of the most successful Scandinavian choreographers of the past decade and a half. In 2010, for NDT 2, the youth company of the Netherlands Dance Theatre, he created Cacti – a witty self-reflection that places sixteen dancers on white square platforms, each accompanied by a cactus, while playfully holding up a distorted mirror to the lofty artistic analyses of contemporary dance. The work marked an international breakthrough for its creator and was even nominated for the Zwaan Award, which replaced the Lucas Hoving Production Award in the Netherlands. The Hungarian National Ballet has kept the piece in its repertoire since 2020. In the autumn performances, solos will be danced by Aglaja Sawatzki and Auguste Marmus, as well as Adrienn Pap and Yago Guerra, while Kamill Kökény-Hámori and Alberto Ortega de Pablos Alberto will present improvisations. Excerpts from works by Haydn, Beethoven, and Schubert – including Death and the Maiden string quartet – will be performed by musicians of the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra: Elina Harsányi (first violin, concertmaster), Géza Szajkó (second violin), Jenő Sörös (viola), and Endre Balog (cello).
Dutch choreographer Hans van Manen’s 5 Tangos, premiered in 1977, is one of the most frequently performed pieces in his rich career spanning more than half a century. It pays tribute to Astor Piazzolla’s nuevo tango. In these duets, the discipline of classical ballet meets the restrained passion of tango, creating quintessential “van Manen snapshots.” Premiered by Dutch National Ballet, the piece remains a staple worldwide. In the repertoire of the OPERA's ballet company, it became firmly established after its 1999 debut and especially from 2017 onward. In the October performances, solos will be danced by Maria Beck and Gergő Ármin Balázsi, as well as Yuki Wakabayshi and Motomi Kiyota.
The ballet show Bittersweet Comedies, uniting Walking Mad, Cacti, and 5 Tangos, will be presented a total of four times this season: first on 11 October 2025, at the Eiffel Art Studios, and then on 17, 18, and 19 October at the Opera House on Andrássy Avenue.
Photo by Péter Rákossy
