A wild ride across Europe! An intelligent and witty Finnish-Hungarian probe into completely different, yet related, cultural identities shortlisted as one of the 20 best dance and performing art productions of the 2019 season by the prestigious Aerowaves platform.

„Long time no see! is a little choreographic gem… A funny and challenging piece about the sociolinguistic bridges of body and mind, in a Europe still inventing itself: the sisterhood of these two girls is very comforting.“

Mathias Daval, La gazette, 20 July 2018

 

„Long time no see! features two young dancers – one Finnish and one Hungarian – full of grace, energy, humor and intelligence, performing a dynamic and erotic duo that culminates in a sauna cabin the size of a telephone booth. Magnificent!“

Christian Jade, Radio Télévision Belge de la Communauté Française – rtbf.be, 23 March 2018

 

Beatrix and Jenna were born in isolated European countries. They have the same amount of muscles and bones. They are movers, acrobatics, comfortable with
steam and water. Women of the Y-generation. Blonde and brunette. Nordic and Central-European. One’s ancestors lived under the Turkish, the other under the
Swedish empire. One drinks pálinka the other one Koskenkorva. Almost sisters. Not quite.
Long time no see is a research project about common roots and isolation, social similarities and differences, meaning of words and metacommunication, actions and
reactions, understanding and misunderstanding, nearness and distance, sisterhood and cousinship. A performance by a Brussels-based Finnish and a Hamburg-based
Hungarian young artist that explores the unfamiliar and familiar aspects of two cultures that used to be related.
Through gestures and cultural movement patterns in collaboration with writers, visual and sound designers they translate grammatical rules into motion and raise questions that separate and bring us together at the same time.

The performance was selected as an official programme of Festival d’Avginon and AEROWAVES Spring Forward twenty19.  

concept and choreography Beatrix Simkó and Jenna Jalonen

set design, photo, video Daniel Dömölky
sound design Ábris Gryllus
text András Vinnai
costumes Emese Kasza – MEI KAWA
lights Dániel Dömölky, Balázs Krisztián / András Váradi
production manager Brigitta Kovács / Anita Vodál

special thanks to Anita Vodál, Jessica Simet, Ernő Király, Zoltán Szmolka, András Benyák, Péter Pusztaházi, József Pető, József Gyabronka, Anna Makay, Katalin Takács, Gábor Karcis, Sándor Lilienberg, Szabolcs Dénes

performing Jenna Jalonen, Beatrix Simkó

Premiere 20 April 2018

 

The Hungarian dancer, choreographer and media artist Beatrix Simkó (1987) studied Media Design at the Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design in Budapest and then performance and media studies at university in Hamburg.

After her studies, she became a member of the well-respected dance group Eva Duda Dance Company (Virtus, Does It Start With a Kiss?, both 2013; Outbreak, 2014; Mesh, 2016). After eight years of cooperation, she started producing her own interdisciplinary projects. In 2016, she created a dance duet #Orpheus#Eurydice together with Zoltán Grecsó, where she confronted the famous legend with the present times. Within two paradigms – myth/reality – she studied the theme of an unsolvable conflict, which lies in the inner setting of each individual. The performance was awarded the Grand Prize at the Hungarian Festival of Dance (Táncfesztivál) in 2018.

Beatrix Simkó was granted support at the International Forum for theatre experts which is organised each year at the Theatertreffen festival in Berlin, and she was also chosen for the European performing arts programme, Creative Crossroads. She took part in several international theatre and dance co-productions in Vienna, Graz, Berlin, Munich or Bern.

 

The originally Finnish choreographer, dancer and performer Jenna Jalonen (1991), who also creates under the pseudonym triplejay, initially studied classical ballet – first at the Finnish National Opera Ballet School and then at the Hungarian Dance Academy in Budapest. However, already during her studies, she became part of the Willany Leó dance improv group which shaped her further path in contemporary dance and performance. Her professional experience grew with cooperation with renowned choreographers (Thierry de Mey, Oriane Varak, Ugo Dehaes, Éva Duda) and respected ensembles such as HODWORKS, Central Europe Dance Theater, Kubilai Khan Investigations, Kwaad bloed, fABULEUS, Untamed Productions and Notch Company.

Since 2013, she has focused on her own choreographies that she creates in Hungary and Belgium where she created an independent platform Collective Dope, where she produced the performance BEAT ‘I just wish to feel you’. At the National Dance Theatre in Budapest, she co-created the production Mechanics of Distance (2019) with Máté Mészáros. Both these projects were part of the exclusive selection of the 2020 Aerowaves platform.

The specific traits and the main principle of her works are mainly a focus on a physical extreme in movement and pushing the boundaries of the physical perception. She finds inspiration in street dance, house dance, new circus, acrobatics, parkour and contact improvisation.

 

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interview with Beatrix Simkó and Jenna Jalonen https://aerowaves.org/…nna-jalonen/
works by Beatrix Simkó https://simkobeatrix.hu/
audio interview with Beatrix Simkó https://www.mixcloud.com/…gnon-in2018/
works by Jenna Jalonen https://triplejay.org/
interview with Jenna Jalonen https://arthereartnow.com/…nna-jalonen/