Judit Dömötör

dancer, psychologist

L1-resident artist in 2015 and member of L1 Association (2016-2021)

photo: Roland Szabo (L1 Association)

10 Questions – 10 Answers
What would you do, if you wouldn’t be doing what you do now?

I would be a psychologist. Although I am already, but I would be practicing it too, in some form. Maybe I would be looking after children. Or after my own, if I would have kids by now.

What year would you type into a time machine, and why?
The 60ies. Or precisely 1969, so I can make it to Woodstock.

What are the first three items on your bucket list?
1. To create with a good company; with people who are essentially close to me, and create a really good performance with them.
2. Traveling; a huge round trip to the Far East and South America.
3. To grow up once, but keeping adventurousness, playfulness and the ability of renewal in my life.

What is your greatest fear?
Not being free, just as much as the possibility of being free. I am afraid of not living my own life, because I often try to meet expectations, or rebel against things which also determine me. On the other hand, I am also afraid of decisions, which could give me freedom (or its illusion?), but I am working on it. I meditate regularly, recently I have learned Vipassana meditation, which is a whole new way for me towards freedom, and I can feel its genuinely good effects in every part of my life. Still, liberation seems frightening at times, but I feel this is the most innocent and happiest way to achieve it.

What ’superficial’ things do you waste your time with?
Moaning about not having time, which is a lot of waste of time. Sometimes I want to get too prepared for situations ahead.

Do you have any superstitions or rituals before entering the stage?
I don’t have any superstitions, neither rituals, rather some things which worked for me. From my first dance teacher, Orsolya Pete, I have learned that for dancers it is really useful to walk through the space in plié (bent knees), because letting the weight sink in the ground helps to be more rooted, more stable, and less nervous. Recently I have started to lie on the ground, let my weight go and just listen to my own breathing. It helps a lot to relax, calm down and be myself.

Where and how do you get your best ideas?
Where is not very relevant, rather the how. There are times, when they just flow, and I truly embrace that. But maybe most of them come during traveling. Often when I look after children, but also when I am alone. I believe the common characteristic is that these are transitional spaces, bonus times, when I don’t have to do anything, and my thoughts and feelings can roam freely.

Which historical figure or fictive personality would you like to share a cup of coffee/tea or a glass of wine with?
Buddha, King Matthias, Pina Bausch, Dalí, Klimt, Gaudi, Karl Gustav Jung, Viktor Frank (a psychologist, who survived the concentration camp and later developed a therapeutic method), but the line would be a lot longer.

Which sense is the most important for you?
At first I would say my eyes. But regarding movement, even improvisation, it is rather the wholeness of sensory organs which provides something essential. This includes even the heat perception of the skin, and a certain extended attention, which is so sensitive, that most of the time you don’t even have to look to feel what the other person is doing. But I think it is true for life in general, that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. On the other hand, sensory organs are becoming less and less important to me since I’ve been doing meditation, because none of them is needed there, only inner attention and an aware consciousness, and these may take you very far indeed. I also think premonitions are very important, which are not connected to sensory organs either.

How do you see yourself in ten years?
As an experimental movement researcher, dance teacher, choreographer, dance therapist, at times a dancer, or all these combined. By that time I have already come back to Hungary, but I have a life abroad as well.  My characteristics have been enhanced; I am more infantile and also wiser than I am now.  Another possibility is that I am still practicing meditation and I’ve grown up, doing one thing at a time and committing myself fully to it. I am moving around in the world and feel safe and at home in any part of it. Anyway, my sense of humor is getting better and I am still open for change and renewal. My kids and my family is very important to me, but unfortunately I keep worrying about them a lot, which I still have to quit…

(February 2015)