Gunilla Heilborn

A grandly chaotic choreographic exploration

In Verk och dagar (Works and Days), experiences from a journey to ancient Greece are interwoven with fragments from a fifteen-year-old performance. With both humor and gravity, Gunilla Heilborn attempts to make sense of the disjointed episodes she has collected and to explore whether reading both The Iliad and The Odyssey can truly help us understand the world better.

Verk och dagar consists of two parts. In the first, we are presented with grand tableaux bearing titles such as “A Place That Is Horrible in Winter, Harsh in Summer, Never Pleasant” and “The Rosy-Fingered Dawn.” Through mist, haze, and music, two dancers move—let us call them Squinty-Eyed Sophie and Loquacious Ludvig. With fleeting ease, they stroll across the stage, posing questions to themselves and the audience. Do you get seasick easily? Would you describe me as a typical Renaissance person? That I have many strings to my bow? Do you know what it feels like to drift in a ship frozen in ice?

In the second part, Heilborn herself navigates through earlier works in search of a beginning. Drawing from the stories of ancient poets, a recent trip to Greece, and her previous production This is not a love story from 2011, she explores whether it is possible to link one event to another—or whether it is perhaps the lack of logic that defines everything we do. She compiles lists of ships that have sailed the seas and of things that have been done—or should have been done. The essence of the work lies in its chaotic structure, yet several themes recur in both parts: travel, and what we remember of what we have experienced. As well as the question of whether it is possible to know what should be done on which days—and why.

The space, lighting, and music play a significant role in the performance and are created by Heilborn’s long-time collaborators Katarina Wiklund, Minna Tiikkainen, Mårten Nilsson, and Kim Hiorthøy.

Dansnät Sverige has previously presented the following works by Gunilla Heilborn: Give it Some Time (2020), The Knowledge (2016), This is not a love story (2014) and Åtjärn Stories (2006).

Gunilla Heilborn

Choreographer

Gunilla Heilborn is a choreographer and film maker based in Stockholm. She is obsessed with research and spends most of her time reading about memory techniques, medieval cities or ancient oracles. By combining text, movement, video and images, Heilborn creates a fascinating and captivating form of expression – both entertaining and challenging her audience.

Her artistic career began with radio and film studies, as well as choreography at the School of Dance and Circus (DOCH) in Stockholm and with Anna Halprin at the San Francisco Dancers’ Workshop. Since then, Heilborn has enjoyed great success in both theatre and film. 

Ludvig Daae

Dancer

Ludvig Daae is a choreographer and dancer based in Oslo and Stockholm. He has a fondness for long-term collaborations, unusual stage settings and pop culture references. His work often navigates the borderland between the personal and the conceptual – frequently with a dose of self-reliance, glitter and meticulous research.
After studying dance at P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels and touring extensively as a dancer for Deborah Hay and Mårten Spångberg, among others, he has created works for such as Cullberg, Norrdans and the Royal Swedish Ballet School. His solo production MM has been performed over 100 times in ten countries and was named one of the best theatre pieces of the year in Portugal in 2014.

Ludvig has previously toured with Dansnät Sverige with his own works: Meningen med livet (The meaning of life) in collaboration with Tove Berglund (2023 and 2024), as well as The Viral Dance (2020) and Hyperfruit (2017), both in collaboration with Joanna Nordahl.

Sophie Augot

Dancer

Sophie Augot is a dancer, actor, and choreographer based in Stockholm. She trained at the Royal Swedish Ballet School, the University College of Dance, and Stockholm University of the Arts. Over many years, she has worked in recurring collaborations with choreographers Björn Säfsten, Cristina Caprioli, and Örjan Andersson, as well as participated in numerous other contexts with choreographers and directors such as Gustav Englund, Alexander Gottfarb, Mari Carrasco, and Kenneth Kvarnström.
As an actor, Sophie has performed at Helsingborg City Theatre, Riksteatern, Stockholm City Theatre, Regionteatern in Växjö, and Turteatern.

Her project MISS, created together with choreographer Philip Berlin, was staged in the autumn of 2023 at moment:teater. In the autumn of 2026, she will premiere her new solo work Kiddo, developed in close collaboration with composer Hans Appelqvist.