The Sentimental is an absurd contemporary dance musical that explores the creative power of emotions.

Sentimental is a most harmless outpouring of feelings. Resisting manipulation and ignorance, it celebrates the freedom of human creation. Emotions do not carry an essential meaning or message in this performance, they are simply experiences. The performers work with a wide range of tools, combining contemporary poetry, speech, singing, contemporary dance, and visual arts. In my previous work, a contemporary dance stand-up solo titled Softloneliness, I performed as Terpsichore, exploring loneliness as an inspiring and melancholic state. In 2026, Terpsichore longs for connection. In Sentimental, three mad women invite the audience into their world to show how they connect with one another. How they guide each other through a wide spectrum of emotions. They chant absurd poems like arias and dance through love, sorrow, overflowing joy, anguish, fear, and shame. They soothe, hold, and throw each other away, yet remain together throughout and never compromise in their extremity. The performance can be understood without having seen the previous part.

The team:

Concept, choreographer, set design, costume: Zsófia Szász

Artistic partners:
Performers, dance: Helén Tamaskó, Sasu Korom, Zsófia Szász
Music, vocal coach: Tara Khozein
Light design: Júlia Mohácsi

Mentor: Péter Kárpáti
Production manager: Lili Stern

BIO of co-creators:

Korom Sasu (Sára) is a performing artist and choreographer born in Hungary, who works between Amsterdam, Budapest, and Iceland. With a manifesto born from the wisdom of the body, she breaks down conventional boundaries to explode emotional landscapes into existence, opening spaces where imagination and intuition radically intersect and possibilities surface through living movement. Sasu graduated from the Theater and Dance Academy at Amsterdam University of the Arts (SNDO – School for New Dance Development).

Tamaskó Helén is a dancer, creator, and dance teacher who has been active on the Budapest and international scene since 2022. She is currently collaborating with the Budapest-based Forgó collective and the Prague-based Simulakrum collective, while also teaching at the Budapest Circus Arts and Contemporary Dance College. In her own artistic practice, she places particular emphasis on ecological and feminist perspectives, the exploration of human and non-human connections, and questions of temporality.

Tara Khozein is a classical singer, songmaker, improviser, teacher, and theater artist. She explores the combinations of singing, storytelling, poetry, and comedy in concert and theatre settings, making work that is raucous, lyrical, and extremely tender. Tara is based in Budapest and Brooklyn, NY.

Co-production:Trafó House of Contemporary Arts

Supported by: The Symptoms, SÍN Arts Center, Workshop Foundation

The production was funded by the Staféta Program of the Municipality of Budapest.