The Yard
Mechanics of Distance is a site specific choreography performed in a public space, exhibition halls, lobbies, gardens, squares, etc. The audience will follow the performers in the space at a proximity of their choice.
The performers range from a classically trained ballet dancer, a dancer with a folk dance background and a dancer trained with contemporary techniques, accompanied by a musician, all interfering with one another' s personal spaces. The bodies place the dance within the field of fine art by their plasticity and materiality. Mechanics of Distance focuses on positioning static and moving bodies in space, cramming matching and mismatched systems into it and examining the distance between bodies. The piece presents encounter-variations of bodies in space stimulating free interpretation.
Episodic events drawn from social and personal contexts represent emotional, moral or intellectual situations.’ In this choreography, the direct, tangible togetherness and closeness meet a more elevated, solemn dimension, and supplemented by a more political dimension with the aim of finding an answer to the question of how far the limits of dance can be extended, what potentials are underlying a specific, poorly exploited (infra)structure and what the endless dimensions are of experimentation, the open space waiting to be explored.
The choreography premiered at the National Dance Theatre, Budapest on 26 May 2019, and was realised with the support of the Zoltán Imre Programme of the National Cultural Fund and was amongst the Aerowaves Priority Selection in 2020.
The programme is presented in collaboration with Alserkal Avenue, the Goethe-Institut Gulf Region, and Aerowaves–a hub for dance discovery in Europe comprising 46 partners in 34 countries committed to identifying and nurturing emerging choreographers-with the support of ATER Fondazione and Italian Cultural Institute Abu Dhabi.
This performance is free for all to attend.
Choreography and concept: Máté Mászáros
Creator-performers: Jenna Jalonen, Máté Mészáros, Zsófia Tamara Vadas
Music: Áron Porteleki
Consultant: Tamás Bakó
Producer: SÍN Arts Centre
About the Artist
Máté Mészáros graduated from the Hungarian Dance Academy in 1999. After 3 years at the Szeged Contemporary Ballet he has worked at various European companies (CarteBlanche – Norway, Lanonima Imperial – Spain, Ultima Vez – Belgium). Amongst others he worked with Ohad Naharin, Sharon Eyal, Amanda Miller, Myriam Naisy and Wim Vandekeybus. He is choreographing for various Hungarian companies, has a worldwide practice in giving workshops.