Wobblers

America is the land of the future, America is the land of promise, America is the land of opportunity – a fairy tale, especially in comparison to the penniless existence in the early 20th century Hungary. In the hope of an easier future, hundreds of thousands of poor Hungarian peasants, farm hands, day labourers and servants left their homeland in pursuit of relief from their troubles haunting them in the motherland. They said goodbye to Europe on arrival in the port of Fiume (Rijeka), and after several weeks of travelling, they first encountered the long-hoped fairyland on Ellis Island, where they were immediately labelled as ”hunkies”, and were assigned to the hardest manual labour, given their lack of language skills. These people firmly believed that one day they would return home, buy land and houses with the money earned in the U.S., but only a quarter of the emigrants did return to Hungary eventually.

The dance is about them now: the wobblers, the brave and the insecure who waited hungrily and hesitantly for the agent to take them to the mines of Pennsylvania to work as slaves… It is about them, the wobblers, the hunkies, who came to America before World War I, confused, staggering in a foreign world where they eventually learned to live, but remained outsiders forever. This performance is about them, the hiding Hungarians, who stood on the land of the New World with clear-eyed but a wavering soul.

The Fitos Dezső Dance Company pay tribute to them, presenting the exodus of Hungarian peasants through the fate of four emigrant young men.

Director-choreographer: Dezső Fitos Honorary Young Master of Folk Arts and Haragozó Gyula Prize winner, Hungarian Artist of Merit

Dancers: Boldizsár Balogh, Zénó Fenyvesi, Dezső Fitos, Péter Gellén, Zoltán Gera, Zalán Horváth, Bálint Molnár, Ákos Östör, Zalán Pásztor

Music: Dezső Fitos Young Master of Folk Arts and Haragozó Gyula Prize winner, Hungarian Artist of Merit, Makó Péter Prima Primissima Award winner, Kossuth Prize winner, Pál Lajos Hungarian Artist of Merit

Dramaturge: Rozi Kocsis Blattner Géza Prize winner

Set: Dezső Fitos Honorary Young Master of Folk Arts and Haragozó Gyula Prize winner, Hungarian Artist of Merit

Costumes: Eszter Szűcs, Enikő Kocsis Harangozó Gyula Prize winner

Video technique: Enikő Sárvári, Gábor Vető

Consultant: Dr. Balázs Balogh 

Artistic assistance: Enikő Kocsis Harangozó Gyula Prize winner

Photo: Lola Eördögh