Take the picture! A very rewarding Meeting with Marian Furnica (Vienna State Ballet)
Nothing could be more boring than people who concentrate so much on their own careers and jobs, that they are completely incapable of talking about other subjects... Unfortunately, many dancers tend to be this way. Or just better formulated, they ARE this way.
What many people do not realize is that this kind of one-sided „fixation" can be extremely cruel and disappointing in later years. Apart from not learning so many other things that could be very useful in their own careers – all “the stuff” that you get nearly for free in Museums, Theatres, Libraries, Concerts, Cinemas, Exhibitions etc.- there is another dangerous factor. Time. And Time is always short and runs pretty fast. Adding to this statement the fact that unfortunately there are not many jobs for dancers behind the scenes – or in schools etc. you get the picture of realistic expectations in an elder age...
But, the other side of the medal is much rewarding. When you suddenly meet young dancers who are fascinated by other subjects, forms of Art, Ideas. Dancers who are expanding their own horizons by looking more deeply into themselves. And “looking at things”.
I had the pleasure of taking a deeper look into Marian Furnica's photographic work (and personality) and I could not have been more pleased. Beautiful work with lots of insight, developing new ideas and forms of contemplation. So unlike the kind of work which I have been confronted with during last year – not because I wanted to research it but because this „so-called photographer" has tried to photograph so many of the Artists which I have interviewed last year... Just to make it quite clear: I am NOT writing about the talented Mr Ashley Taylor whose work I much admire!
Mr Furnica's work is refreshing and young – and I am not only talking about the „technique pictures“ which can be only fully understood by nowaday’s young dancers – like him – but also about more reflective pictures which have even sometimes a „darker and very theatrical side“ in them...
When asked why and when he started photographing, he made the following quote - very naturally and uncomplicatedly:
„Oh, Ricardo, I once got a professional camera as a present... and I started photographing backstage, practising... Ever since I am always taking pictures. I guess I don't have a great memory and sometimes I have the feeling that my pictures help me not to forget things. They remind me of my experiences, of the moments when I was fully concentrated in a motive, viewing it... be it private, ballet or even vacations. They bring me back the moments in which I am developing my own form and way of expression... They remind me of myself.
But it goes on and on... Lots happened since I started photographing in a studio last Winter!“
And we are definitely looking forward to that, to his work within the next years also as a photographer.
… I must add that this meeting with Mr Furnica, a dancer I have first seen on stage in 2012, made me once more aware that coincidences no really exist: you can read on the introduction of my homepage, on my business page on the Internet and even in my visit cards...
„It's all about Dancing and looking at things differently“. Yes!
