Abandoning the festive space of lounges and cafés of yesteryear, Johannes Brahms’ Hungarian Dances moves behind the closed doors of a social club. In spite of this "shift", the music keeps its original intention and just as in the past, invites the dancer to have fun and appeal to others.

Before, a Hungarian peasant would dance in the village square. Nowadays, an ordinary man goes to a dance club for the same reasons as before which are to have fun and be appealing. The Czardas has been replaced by rock ‘n’ roll and the tango, but the music remains the same. We’ve tried to isolate this music from its traditional context to give it the context of our times; it will still however keep its original meaning, that of music written for the pleasure of meeting another person at the crossroads of hope.

Thierry Malandain