Crippled Carnival

The Minsk troupe “InZhest” hosted a tour in Moscow

This year the InZhest team turned twenty-five years old. In the early eighties, it was founded by a group of students from the Minsk Institute of Culture, led by Vyacheslav Inozemtsev. During this time, the former studio theater formed a distinct creative image and took its rightful place among groups involved in the plastic arts. “InZhesta” is welcome at Russian and European festivals, where a combination of genres is encouraged. During the existence of "InZhest" (until 2000 - just "Gesture") he studied almost all movement technologies, from martial arts and classical pantomime to clowning and Butoh dance. Each direction was reflected in the performances, so none is similar to the other.

In the West, “InZhest” could be called physical theatre, that is, a theater of physical actions. All performances are built on the principle “the body comes first”, and the means of expression chosen are very different. The theater does not recognize any plot, stylistic or semantic framework, and therefore what happens on stage can evoke any associations. Even the annotations for InZhest’s performances are very vague. But during the performance, he splashes such an energy wave into the hall that the audience involuntarily opens all six senses. InZhest's performances are not easy to comprehend - you want to absorb them, taste them, catch them on your fingertips.

The design of each performance, and over the years of the theater’s existence there have been about fifteen of them, is extremely complex and requires serious training. The artist must not only have excellent control of his own body, but also justify every movement with meaning. “InZhest” has developed a unique system of psychophysical training “Dances of Animals”, which helps the actor penetrate deeper into his own nature.

Despite the large number of fans, in Belarus InZhest performs at best several times a year: the group does not exist at the official level - there is no license, which costs a lot of money, and its own premises. And this year, the already announced performance “DK Dance” was canceled after a complaint to the Ministry of Culture from a certain teacher who, after watching the performance, felt that showing a naked body on stage was immoral.

Recently, the play, released five years ago, on the occasion of the group’s twentieth anniversary, was performed in Moscow, on the stage of the Meyerhold Center. The program defines “DK Dance” as “the story of a fallen carnival that is trying to rise.” The performance really begins with a carnival: bright colorful creatures on huge stilts dance, throw candy to the audience, and flirt. But the fun will end when the first one suddenly falls. The main character, the Fallen Jester (Vyacheslav Inozemtsev) will take off his smiling mask - with a painful movement, as if it were strangling him. And he will try to regain the height of his own growth. However, getting to the top is more difficult than it seems - Simply the Carpenter (Sergei Masko), a lively gentleman with the sleeves of an office worker and a saw at the ready, is doing his best to prevent this. His own stilts are offensively short, and he does everything to shorten his opponent's wooden legs. This happens in life: the envy of mediocrity towards talent takes on ugly, aggressive forms. And the creatures, twisted, crippled, with erased faces, almost deprived of the ability to move, nevertheless strive back to the top with all their might. And in the finale they will achieve the desired height. And the main character is destined to become himself only when he frees himself from the shreds and debris that bind him. The nudity here is of a ritual nature: a person, preparing to go to heaven, remains as nature created him.

Vyacheslav Inozemtsev uses various techniques: here there is street buffoon theatre, pantomime, and Butoh dance, and in some places the features of kabuki theater are visible. But despite the seeming incompatibility of the elements, they form a single picture. The performance is built on live music, which sets the rhythm of the action: from electronic groans and hums to grandiose drum solos. From this multi-layered nature a real tragedy is born. The tragedy of a dying man who does not want to give up his life. The tragedy of misunderstanding. The only way to avoid suffering is to unite with nature. Then a person gains strength, and he is no longer bothered by pursuers and enemies.

Alisa NIKOLSKAYA