Ondrej Šoth, Zuzana Mistríková: EVERY DAY COURAGE

'Manipulation is generally characterised by a strategy where someone tries to give us an opinion or even an attitude without us noticing. The aim is to influence us to comply. People manipulate others because they know that they are likely to receive a negative reaction or rejection to a direct open request.' (Ondrej Šoth)

In 1990, choreographer and director Ondrej Šoth realised the production Special Joy of Living at the Slovak National Theatre Ballet in Bratislava. The music for the performance was written by Michal Pavlicek, a member of the legendary Czech rock band Pražský výběr and one of the greatest personalities of contemporary Czech music. The theme of the production was demagoguery and manipulation in all social forms, but also the ability of individuals to remain themselves in a warped society, thanks to the strength given to them by faith, hope and love, The creative team returned to the theme of the production again after twelve years. Its most important personalities - composer M. Pavlicek and choreographer O. Šoth - have matured creatively over that time and, in collaboration with set designer Juraj Fábry, costume designer Zuzana Lackova-Gilhuus and dramaturge Zuzana Mistríková, have developed a new perspective on the theme in the production of the Ballet of the State Theatre Košice, entitled The Special Joy of Living II.

We live life utilitarian and evaluate it mostly pragmatically. Nobody is so well off that they don't need something, and nobody is so poorly off that they don't worry about losing something. And when one rebels against something, one is admonished by friends, parents, et al. There are enough reasons for one to end up feeling abandoned and cowardly. We will be taken out of life because we were afraid, because we didn't care about our dignity, because we didn't care about the dignity of others at work and in life, and because we didn't have enough courage to question and rediscover. Because we did not value truth, freedom and justice enough.

The central motif of the new treatment of the work is manipulation in its current forms and the eternal struggle of individuals for freedom. But the contemporary environment has changed. Today's world is a world of information and media. The boundaries of 'good' and 'evil', of 'manipulators' and 'manipulated', have become very thin, difficult to discern. Especially for inexperienced viewers, drowning in a flood of new forms of information and genres, citizens who are still learning to use their 'citizenship' and understand it in terms of freedom. Freedom doesn't just mean freedom in all possible interpretations of the word (that could justify any action by an individual, regardless of its consequences). Above all, freedom means responsibility - for ourselves and for the environment in which we exist. It represents the ability to perceive the consequences of one's actions. True freedom is not possible without moral criteria. These are not easy to find today. The world seems increasingly to value deceit and superficiality. Values no longer seem to make sense. The consequence is a loss of illusions, nihilism and powerlessness. Nevertheless, perhaps the only way out for us - as for the characters of the new production of the National Theatre Ballet Košice Every Day Courage, A Special Joy to Live III- is not to resign ourselves to the search for moral criteria of freedom.

Venue.