Hagar Malin Hellkvist Sellén

Driv Hunger

Physical, poetic, insistent

Hagar Malin Hellkvist Sellén is a choreographer renowned for creating works that are both timely and deeply engaging. Throughout her career, she has explored a wide range of themes, including working-class heritage, queer life stories, dance band culture, the inherent poetry of movement, and the difficulty of letting go. Her work is distinguished by a constant curiosity about the endless possibilities of choreography.

Hellkvist Sellén’s new work, Driv Hunger, is a standalone continuation of Tiden det tar, which premiered in 2023. Like its predecessor, Driv Hunger takes movement as its point of departure, following it to discover where it leads. Rather than adopting the language of the written word, the work highlights choreography’s own unique capacity for communication.

Without a predetermined concept, Hellkvist Sellén and her dancers enter the creative process with open and inquisitive minds. Together, they transform the floor into a space for both physical and philosophical exploration. Rooted in trust in the craft itself, the choreographic landscape and the work’s other forms of expression gradually emerge. The result is a poetic act of resistance through movement, challenging the contemporary demands of measurement, efficiency, and distance in an increasingly quantified world.

In Driv Hunger, Swedish dancer Elin Hallqvist performs alongside Norwegian dancer Pernille Holden, who has appeared in several of Hellkvist Sellén’s previous works.

The title Driv Hunger is borrowed from a work by graphic artist Lina Nordenström.

Driv Hunger will have its world premiere on 13 November 2026 at Norrlandsoperan in Umeå, and will also be performed on 14 November, followed by a tour with Dansnät Sverige.

This year marks 20 years since Hellkvist Sellén premiered Better people — her first co-production with Norrlandsoperan and Dansnät Sverige — adding an extra sense of anniversary celebration to this premiere. Better people became a groundbreaking work that has influenced many subsequent generations of dance artists.

Hagar Malin Hellvist Sellén_ Fotograf_Elin Berge

Hagar Malin Hellkvist Sellén

Choreographer

Hagar Malin Hellkvist Sellén is a Swedish choreographer who lives and works in Umeå.

In 2024, she premiered the choreographed exhibition We Move Towards the End, her most extensive work to date, lasting nearly six hours. For three weeks, visitors to Västerbotten Museum in Umeå were able to experience the exhibition’s choreographic immersion. We Move Towards the End was selected for the most recent Swedish Biennial for Performing Arts, held in Östersund.

For two decades, Hellkvist Sellén has been a prominent voice in contemporary choreography. Early in her career, she introduced queer perspectives, themes, and expressions into the field of dance, and through her works she has both challenged and embraced audiences. Each work seeks its own distinct format, ranging from thematic explorations and documentary storytelling to poetic physicality. She has created works for dancers, actors, and people with no prior stage experience. Through her artistic practice, Hellkvist Sellén redefines the boundaries of what is possible.

Born in 1978, Hellkvist Sellén graduated from the Choreography Programme at the University College of Dance in Stockholm (now Stockholm University of the Arts). Among her most acclaimed works are Bättre folk (Better People), Rosa löften (Pink Promises), Missionären (The Missionary), and Flottarkärlek (Log Driver’s Love), in which she has explored subjects such as lesbian experiences within revivalist movements, physical labour, and Swedish folk culture. She has toured extensively throughout Sweden and the Nordic region, and her works have been presented at venues including Dansens Hus, MDT, Dansstationen, and Norrlandsoperan. Hellkvist Sellén has received several prestigious awards, including the Swedish Theatre Critics’ Dance Award, the IRIS Award from the Swedish Directors’ Association, and, most recently, the Rosenström Cultural Prize.

Pernille Holden

Dancer

Pernille Holden (b. 1979) is a performing and creating dancer working within the independent arts field, based in Oslo. Holden studied at Spin Off Forstudium i Dans and the School for Contemporary Dance. Since 2005, she has worked collaboratively with a focus on collectivity, musicality, and the body’s potential, including collaborations with Ingri Fiksdal, Helle Siljeholm, and Ingeleiv Berstad. She is employed by Skådespelar- och Dansalliansen (SKUDA). Holden has collaborated with Hellkvist Sellén for many years, most recently We move towards the end (2024).
Photo: Sofia Runarsdotter

Elin Hallqvist

Dancer

Elin Hallqvist (b. 1999) is a dancer, performer, and choreographer from Lund, Sweden. She holds a BA in Dance from ArtEZ University of the Arts and was an apprentice with Cullberg in Stockholm during the 2023/24 season. Hallqvist is co-founder of the interdisciplinary collective Wolfa Collective and also creates her own works, most recently the solo TARTINI’S DREAM GIRL. In her artistic practice, Hallqvist enjoys blending different disciplines and exploring the relationships between them in order to question what appears to be reality.
Photo: Ella My Blomdahl

Anna Levander

Composer

Anna Levander (b. 1992) is a musician and composer based in Umeå, active both in the band Dolce and under her own name. She has also experience producing and composing music for theatre, film, and advertising. Levander is inspired by contrasts and duality, often combining electronic and acoustic elements. In her work, she approaches each project as an exploration and enjoys working in the space between music and other art forms.
Photo: Magnus Petersson

Erik Westerlund

Light Designer

Erik Westerlund (b. 1967) is a lighting designer primarily interested in the spatial qualities of light and in creating expressions that enhance choreography. He graduated from the Dramatic Institute in Stockholm and created around sixty lighting designs for dance and theatre during the early 2000s. Hellkvist Sellén and Westerlund began collaborating in the late 1990s, and Driv Hunger marks the eleventh work they have created together.
Photo: Lis Kjær

Anne Koutonen

Producer

Anne Koutonen (b. 1977) works as a producer at Västerbottens koreografiska and has extensive experience in contemporary performing arts. She studied at institutions including Stockholm University of the Arts (SKH) and the Theatre Academy in Helsinki. Koutonen works across production, strategy, and artistic development, with a strong grounding in the independent cultural sector. She works closely with artistic processes where care, clarity, and curiosity are central driving forces, and has collaborated with a wide range of organisations and artists, both nationally and internationally.
Photo: Akseli Kaukoranta

Nadja Nilsson

Producer

Nadja Nilsson (b. 1991) works as a producer for Västerbottens Koreografiska, based in Umeå. With 10 years of experience in the field of dance, Nilsson has a strong connection to the independent cultural sector in northern Sweden. Their work is driven by a commitment to artistic production, cultural policy, and organizational change. Kindness, queer perspectives, and development are among the guiding principles of Nilsson’s professional practice. They have studied at Luleå University of Technology and Kulturverkstan, among other institutions.

Credits

Choreography: Hagar Malin Hellkvist Sellén
Dancers: Elin Hallqvist & Pernille Holden
Lighting design: Erik Westerlund
Costume design: Hagar Malin Hellkvist Sellén
Sewing: Rebecka Nygren
Composer: Anna Levander
Producer: Anne Koutonen, Nadja Nilsson
Production: Västerbottens koreografiska / Hagar Malin Hellkvist Sellén
Co-production: Norrlandsoperan & Dansnät Sverige
Produced with support from: The Swedish Arts Council in collaboration with Hemvisten
Duration: approx. 70 min

Touring with Dansnät Sverige in autumn 2026 and spring 2027

Tour dates

13 November
Norrlandsoperan, Umeå

14 November
Norrlandsoperan, Umeå

23 November
Dansstationen, Malmö

24 November
Dansstationen, Malmö

26 November
Alströmmerteatern, Alingsås

1 December
Sara kulturhus, Skellefteå

11 February
Dansens hus, Stockholm

12 February
Dansens hus, Stockholm