Hungarian National Folk Ensemble – Bittersweet

The Hungarian National Folk Ensemble will perform in four Transylvanian cities this June.
 Their production, BITTERSWEET – Dance to Transylvanian Music, will be presented to the Târgu Mureș audience on June 21 at the National Theatre.

With this performance, the Ensemble embarks on a noble mission: reviving their Transylvanian anthology. Bittersweet is the natural continuation of a years-long creative journey that reinterprets folklore through a modern lens and boldly uses theatrical tools to draw attention, time and again, to the importance of our roots and cultural traditions.

The performance showcases the rich and diverse heritage of dance and music that traces back to the Middle Ages and has survived nearly unchanged to the present day. It is not a catalogue or a scientific summary, but a testament to cultural continuity – proof that the accumulated values of our fading traditional communities can be passed on through new communal forms.

Some of the creators have personally experienced the struggles of minority life and the loss of homeland—either by force or by choice. Still, the performance is not a cry of despair or bitter self-pity, but rather a search for answers to the timeless question: does leaving our homeland mean losing it? What can remain of our past? What can we preserve from what we’ve left behind?

As the title suggests, this dance poem explores eternal opposing forces—joy and sorrow, life and death, comedy and tragedy—reflecting the artists’ unique vision. It stands as an artistic credo echoing the words of poet László Nagy:
 "In folklore, I sought not the sweet and easy patterns, but the more complex, dynamic rhythm of text and melody, the full image brought to absurdity, the desecration, the somber but free spirit."

Duration: 70 minutes, no intermission
 Music director and editor: László Kelemen
 Choreographers: Zoltán Farkas "Batyu", Gábor Mihályi, Călin Orza
 Costume designer: Rita Furik
 Light and set designer: Gerzson Péter Kovács
 Director-choreographer: Gábor Mihályi
 Performed by the dancers and musicians of the Hungarian National Folk Ensemble
 Guest performer: Márton Fekete
 Solo singers: Eszter Pál, Júlia Kubinyi, Milán Hetényi
 Musical direction: Ferenc Radics
 Orchestra leader: Gyula Karacs
 Dance leader: György Ágfalvi
 Assistant choreographers: Beatrix Borbély, Péter Darabos, Klára Hetényi-Kulcsár, Katalin Jávor, Máté Farkas
 Artistic director: István "Szalonna" Pál
 Ensemble director: Gábor Mihályi

 Tickets: 50 RON (full price), 25 RON (discounted – students and pensioners), available at the theatre box office or online:
 https://teatrunational.biletmaster.ro/.../4400.../Edeskeseru