As far as its dance program goes, the 4 + 4 Days in Motion Festival presented seven dance projects from seven countries. The Czech Republic was represented by the internationally recognized company Farm in the Cave with their site-specific project Intervention, which was situated in the space of the bar of the former Casino.

Their “assault” began completely inconspicuously. There was no announcement for the official beginning of the performance and the audience had to find the actors themselves. The audience weren’t their typical role, they were more observing what was going on around them, which pulled them out of the context of any expressive elements, an unusual situation.

The crowd of people sitting around the bar were initially divided by Jun Wan Kim and Ti Nguyen, who seemed to be suffering a sleeping sickness which was preventing them from calmly finishing their Asian noodles. They moved through the space languidly, slowly, over benches and tables, as if in a dream, noodles hanging from their mouths. The audience were torn out of the tranquility of this image by the frantically bouncing Hana Varadzinová, who in her glitzy disco outfit à la Iveta Bartošová was trying to rouse the public and entice them to come and watch her intentionally bad karaoke show. Once we were there, she wore us down, constantly missing the rhythms of her own unceasing electronic keyboard accompaniment - to which she is able to sing absolutely anything form Finnish polkas, to 99 Luftballons.

Director Viliam Dočolomanský saved the true intervention for the end, when a small number of men in elegant suits, black sunglasses and stony expressions spread out among the audience standing near the bar. At that moment the concept, which is based on disrupting the space between stage and auditorium came to the fore. The security guards were everywhere. If you were watching what they were doing to the people standing in front you, then you wouldn’t notice that there was another one standing right next to you. The audience were suddenly drawn into the action all the more because for a while they became the victims of the guards’ cold-blooded attentions - like for example when they aimed their banana-pistols at people. Their intervention was dynamic, full of adrenaline, but also full of funny situations. The group of performers gradually moved around in the space, so each audience member got their own different piece of the action. Even if the ideal point of view was never offered to the audience, it was enough to simply lift your head up and watch the reflections of the bodies on the mirrored ceilings and walls, which offered another interesting point of view. Then, just like the beginning of the performance, the ending whooshed in silently. The security guards descended by ropes from the balcony to the street level and disappeared into the dark… Funny, well thought out, compelling, bringing us new experiences… Farm in the Cave knows how to do it!