{"id":33226,"date":"2019-09-13T03:55:05","date_gmt":"2019-09-13T10:55:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=33226"},"modified":"2019-09-10T13:57:08","modified_gmt":"2019-09-10T20:57:08","slug":"survivor-dances-duet-of-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2019\/09\/13\/survivor-dances-duet-of-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Survivor dances duet of life"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00c9va Fahidi, in front, and Emese Cuhorka in a still from The Euphoria of Being<\/em>, directed and written by R\u00e9ka Szab\u00f3.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00c9va Fahidi was 18 years old when she and her family were taken to Auschwitz. The men and women were separated. The women\u2019s selection committee cut the line after Fahidi: \u201cI went one way, and my whole family the other way. It was over. We are talking about a fraction of a moment, when one didn\u2019t even have the faintest idea of what was really happening.\u201d Forty-nine members of her family were murdered, including her mother, father and sister.<\/p>\n

Fahidi tells this part of her story as dancer Emese Cuhorka, covered from head to toe in a black leotard, moves around her, expressing with her body some of what Fahidi is expressing verbally. This is but one of many moving scenes in The Euphoria of Being<\/em>, written and directed by R\u00e9ka Szab\u00f3. The Jewish Independent<\/em> has chosen to sponsor the documentary\u2019s screening at this year\u2019s Vancouver International Film Festival, which runs Sept. 26-Oct. 11.<\/p>\n

Szab\u00f3 had heard Fahidi give a talk in Berlin, and she had read Fahidi\u2019s memoir, The Soul of Things<\/em>. She wrote to Fahidi about wanting to make a performance about her, with her it in. The almost-90-year-old Hungarian Holocaust survivor responded positively: \u201cEvery person should possess some form of healthy exhibitionism,\u201d she says in the film. \u201cI have more than is needed, so I don\u2019t have any excuses.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cuhorka reminds Szab\u00f3 of Fahidi. From this resemblance came the concept of a duet. At one of the first rehearsals, Fahidi shows Cuhorka what she\u2019s able to do physically. \u201cAnd, from the outside, it is like seeing an entire life at once,\u201d says Szab\u00f3, as she watches them move together.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
R\u00e9ka Szab\u00f3 (photo by Dusa G\u00e1bor)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The documentary covers the three-month period prior to the October premi\u00e8re of what would become Sea Lavender<\/em>. The work is the collaborative creation of the three women and, while what we are shown of the final result is powerful, it is the process and the bonds formed by the women that have the most impact, and give the film its inspirational quality.<\/p>\n

Fahidi is remarkable. She is smart, spirited, well-spoken and endearing. When she talks about her Holocaust experiences, it is as if she is reliving them; her eyes look unfocused, her body appears heavier, her anger remains. She says her family should have left Hungary in 1935. \u201cBut my poor father, he couldn\u2019t see beyond his nose,\u201d she says. So proud was he of what he had built, he couldn\u2019t leave it behind and only go with the clothes on his back. \u201cThis is the eternal tragedy,\u201d she says, \u201cthat you don\u2019t see things for what they are when you see them. Absolute idiocy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The film then cuts to a photo of the family \u2013 her parents, sister and her \u2013 as Fahidi describes the way in which she imagines them being gassed. She talks about a documentary she saw on Zyklon B, how it was first tried on geese. Such factual expositions lay raw the depth of her grief.<\/p>\n

Yet, when Szab\u00f3 asks Fahidi to list some of the things that helped her survive, Fahidi remarks that you have to appreciate and value the fact that you\u2019re alive. \u201cThe fact that you exist, in itself, is euphoric,\u201d she says. Hence, the name of the documentary and of the choice of \u201cthe flying chair duet\u201d as the final scene of the performance. In discussing the nature of tragedy, Fahidi concludes that it\u2019s no use thinking about it because you always end up in the same sad place. \u201cMeanwhile,\u201d she says, \u201cyou live happily.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seeing Cuhorka and Fahidi work and perform together is delightful \u2013 the two really do bear similarities, and their mutual respect is evident. The closing text of the film notes, \u201cAt the age of 93, \u00c9va is still performing regularly. So far, we have staged 77 performances of Sea Lavender<\/em> in numerous cities, such as Berlin, Budapest and Vienna.\u201d While it is too much to hope that the show will come to North America, it is satisfying to know of the project\u2019s life-changing effect on Fahidi, who, apparently, \u201ccan\u2019t imagine being alive and not performing the piece anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Euphoria of Being <\/em>screens Sept. 27, 12:30 p.m., at International Village 8, and Oct. 3, 7 p.m., and Oct. 4, 10 a.m., at Vancity Theatre. For tickets, visit viff.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00c9va Fahidi, in front, and Emese Cuhorka in a still from The Euphoria of Being, directed and written by R\u00e9ka Szab\u00f3. \u00c9va Fahidi was 18 years old when she and her family were taken to Auschwitz. The men and women were separated. The women\u2019s selection committee cut the line after Fahidi: \u201cI went one way, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[787],"tags":[3119,6010,9296,9294,53,4526,9295,5768,1900,1916],"class_list":["post-33226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv-film","tag-dance","tag-documentary","tag-emese-cuhorka","tag-eva-fahidi","tag-holocaust","tag-memoir","tag-reka-szabo","tag-survivor","tag-vancouver-international-film-festival","tag-viff"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}