"Attraction"--Hungarian Shadow Theater Troupe- Wins Britain's Got Talent 2013

To me, this is a pretty interesting story...is how a small group of unsually lithe and clever Hungarian dancers using some kind of shadow/light technology manage to pull off all kinds of sensational visual effects in telling a story of a love destroyed by war--a presentation that won the 2013 "Britain's Got Talent."

Wait a second, of course, this group is Hungarian--why are they on a show about British talent?

Well, one thing this Hungarian group is extremely good at is coming up with images that are going to zero in on the particular sensitivities of a given audience--in this case a British one...

For instance, early on the dancers somehow manage to make a shadow outline of the Tower Bridge in London....

This Bridge is terrifically iconic in Britain, as much so as Big Ben I would say, but an American audience for instance would not know that,

'Likewise the war scenes take place in a land with a camel and a palm tree. This was the BRITiSH
Basra -based zone of the Iraqi war --and so it goes on like this.

Sorry I cannot provide whole production--this link shows final show and highlights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdN3nlLDLUk

I am not begrudging the Hungarians anything by their being cunning and clever on what is going to resonate so concretely with a specifically Brit audience...I refer you to James Joyce's famous quote which implies that cunning is one of the most potent arrows in an artist's quiver.

It also reminds me once again how different European tastes are from American ones. For instance, I wonder if this troupe would be able to get the Stars and Stripes, the explosions and shoot outs down right for an American audience..and of course, a Happy Ending...

For more about this troupe, here is what Wikipedia has to say

Attraction are a Hungarian shadow theatre dance group from Budapest, Hungary. They rose to fame during a performance at the Hungarian Olympic Oath Ceremony for the London 2012 Olympics,^[1] in which they did a rendition of many of the traditional sports within the five rings of the Olympic games logo. Less than a year later, they won the seventh series of Britain's Got Talent on 8 June 2013, beating joint favorite Jack Carroll.

History

The group was founded in 2004 by Zoltán Szűcs. Szűcs himself was a performer who has achieved national success in the mid-90s with his pop group Hip Hop Boyz,^[2] when he was known as Real Action.^[3] Attraction itself consists of 12 members,^[4] although only eight were able to perform on Britain's Got Talent: Torda Katalin, Tóth Alexandra, Fehér Norbert, Lakatos Andrea, Szűcs Zoltán, Szentinek Csaba, Szabados Flóra and Kántor Janka.

Britain's Got Talent (2013)

File:Attraction Black Light and Shadow Theatre performing.jpg

Attraction performing

For their Britain's Got Talent auditions, they acted out a story of a couple who meet under a bridge, fall in love, marry, and have a child. The father goes off to war and dies tragically. The piece ends with an image of the mother and daughter standing beside his tombstone. Judge Amanda Holden fought back tears and called the performance 'moving'.
For their semi-final performance, Attraction depicted a mother giving birth to her son, the son going off to college, getting married, and eventually the mother dies in her son's arms. At the end, the son's wife reveals that she is pregnant. The story was based on Zoltán Szűcs' life story, who dedicated the performance to his late mother.^[2] They got high praise from the judges, with Amanda stating that she even saw Simon Cowell shed a tear. They got first place on the 5th semi final vote sending them straight to the finals.
In the final Attraction performed a fitting tribute to Britain, the highlight being when a lion was formed with their bodies. Once again they received a standing ovation and again Amanda shed a tear. They were announced the winners and became the first foreign act to win Britain's Got Talent.

Post Talent

It has been reported that they will perform at Sin City in Las Vegas.^[5] As winners of Britain's Got Talent, they will perform at the Royal Variety Performance in November 2013.^[6]

Members

• Torda Katalin
• Tóth Alexandra
• Fehér Norbert
• Lakatos Andrea
• Szűcs Zoltán
• Szentinek Csaba
• Szabados Flóra
• Kántor Janka