Anna Possarnig & Jerca Rožnik Novak: HEY, HAY!

Dance performance HEY, HAY! brings the spontaneity of nature (which attributes no meaning to national borders) into the theatre. Through the poetics of folklore, rituals, customs, and habits mixed with live electronic music the performers explore common roots, understanding and imagination of rural life and dismantle the idyllic, romantic idea of nature. Their multifaceted encounter will occur in an unusual intersection of the rural and the artistic, where the dance will be recognised as work and the countryside as performative potential.

“The dancers move from isolation into a kind of folk dance, which on the one hand is their common nature, as it unites them in their (national) identities; on the other hand, it is a representation embedded in various signifying systems, according to which people delimit conceptual binaries such as city – countryside, Austria – Slovenia and natural – artificial. /…/
The performance Hey, hay! thus becomes somewhat a hymn to the unifying quality of movement that escapes binary systems of labelling and, based on heterogeneous fragments of the old (contents passed down through generations and sedimented deep in the body), simultaneously recreates and transcends the old.”
Jaka Bombač, Samo nebo je meja, Kritika, Sigledal, 14. 11. 2023

“In their original performance Hey, hay!/Zdravo, seno!, dancers Anna Possarnig and Jerca Rožnik Novak evoke memories, associations and customs of their home environments in the creative space. /…/ The contact between the dancers features as one of the main principles of the movement, reminding us of the importance of closeness, friendship, and relationships. /…/ Both the dance material and the soundtrack combine elements of electronic music and folk sounds, such as the accordion and, later, also proverbs. /…/ By returning to childhood memories and rural traditions, the dancers successfully place the developed dance material, electronic music and elaborate set design in a contemporary context.”
Julija Cergolj, Podeželje poželenja, Neodvisni.art

“In the performance Hey, hay! Zdravo, seno!, the countryside of common roots is spontaneously and yet profoundly highlighted, on one and the other side of the border line between two countries, this time Austria and Slovenia, which is not the only such case; but it is an authentic environment that the protagonists have poetically formed, wholeheartedly experienced, and sparkly highlighted. I think that the performance calls for a film script, with both the scenic and the dramatic flow of the production fluid already on stage.”
Daliborka Podboj, Zdravo, seno! Hey, Hay! Ko seno privlači Avstrijko Anno Possarnig in Slovenko Jerco Rožnik Novak, Parada plesa, 14. 12. 2023

Concept, choreography & performance: Anna Possarnig & Jerca Rožnik Novak
Live music: Marko Sulz & Martin Unterlechner
Lighting & set design: Max Windisch-Spoerk
Costume design: Pia Gorišek
Dramaturgy: Zala Dobovšek
Outside eye: Kamil Mrozowski
Production: Flota, zavod, Murska Sobota & Flota, Ljubljana
Co-production: Bunker, Ljubljana
Leaflet design: Enya Belak
Partners: PUC, SKICA, a-ZONE, CCB, Mediterranean Dance Center San Vincenti
Supported by: Ministry of Culture RS, the City of Ljubljana, Land Kärnten/Kultur
Thanks to: beat1060, Christina Böhm, Felix the cat, Marika Balode-Haderlap & Zdravko Haderlap, Iztok Novak, Kunstraum Nestroyhof, tanz_house, Fred Giroudot, Simon Wetzel, Juš Rožnik Novak, Grandma Olga & Grandma Mimi

The show includes hay bales.