A Performance of Acting Out

Acting Out revolves around the relationship between the artist and his body on stage, inspired by the revolutionary ideas of Esther Magyar-Gonda, a reference name in Romanian dance. Esther's life, characterized by political activism, passion for art, and dedication to education, portrays a complex artist whose existence was closely linked to important historical events and personal challenges.

After being arrested for anti-fascist activities and deported to Transnistria because of her Jewish origin, Esther gave up her career as a dancer and dedicated herself to developing and coordinating the official choreographic scene in Romania. Recognized for her innovative contributions to modern and contemporary dance in Romania, Esther Magyar-Gonda has developed a deep and original appreciation for gesture and expressive movement.

Her personal struggle is mirrored in actress Katia Pascariu's relationship to her own history and her contestation of a certain style of theatricality and typical corporeality. The performance highlights the artist's resilience in the face of difficulties and her connection to performance art and education. Acting Out proposes an in-depth exploration of the connection between dance, the body, local histories, and the sense of alienation, where dance is perceived as an expression of labor and materialism that questions traditional transcendent and visceral concepts of the body.

Acting Out

A performance by Mihai Lukács
Based on interviews and articles with Esther Magyar-Gonda and Katia Pascariu

With Katia Pascariu
Scenography, costume, and video: Miklósi Dénes and Miklós Szilárd
Choreography: Sinkó Ferenc
Music: Oana Hodade
Light design: Török Ákos
Technical: Cristi Iacob and Almasi Attila
Live Subtitles: Seprődi Attila
Producers: Dialectic Centre and Tranzit House

Live video production and streaming: Talo House of Stories
Language: Romanian with English subtitles

This performance ran seventy-five minutes.

This performance was presented and streamed from Tranzit House, Cluj, as part of the Tranzit Days XXVIII Festival. The festival was co-financed by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund in Romania and the Department for Interethnic Relations.

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Tranzit Days XXVIII Festival

The performance was presented in the context of the XXVIII celebration of Tranzit House, one of the oldest independent art spaces of its kind in Romania.

In the fall of 1997, the building of the former Poale Tzedek synagogue, which had fallen into disuse and was badly damaged, was reintroduced into the cultural landscape of the city through the Casa Tranzit project.  It is the first example in Romania where the historical and symbolic value of a former synagogue has been brought back into the local and international public attention through the creation of an independent cultural center.

This year's edition of Tranzit Days starts from the concept of "heterotopia"—understood as a real (not utopian, i.e. non-existent) space, but one that is loaded with symbolic layers and potentialities and reflects the society to which it belongs.

Through this conceptual framework, the festival brought together performances, exhibitions, in-situ interventions, community workshops, and conferences that not only document the space but also return it to the public circuit. Each artistic gesture becomes a way to reconfigure the relationship between memory and the present, between communities and the city. Our aim is to cultivate the living memory of a place emblematic of the city's intercultural history, reaffirming Casa Tranzit as a space for dialogue, reflection, and urban imagination. By symbolically activating the area of the former synagogue, the program emphasizes critical responsibility towards urban development and the active and creative involvement of the community in the city's transformation processes.

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