Helena Franzén

A Dancing Archive of Memory – Franzén Summarizes Three Decades of Dance Art

With Here-Us-Now second, Helena Franzén opens the door to her choreographic archive of memory—a work that encapsulates over 30 years of artistic practice. Franzén, one of Sweden’s most influential choreographers in contemporary dance, has since the 1990s developed a unique and precise movement language marked by exceptional intensity and presence.

In this retrospective performance, works from the mid-90s to the present are reimagined in a new staging featuring Franzén herself, her original ensemble, and a new generation of dancers. Together, they embody a living dance archive where movements are not merely reproduced, but remembered, translated, and reinterpreted.

Here-Us-Now second is a tribute to dance’s ability to preserve, convey, and transform. A rare opportunity to experience Swedish dance history in motion, through a choreographer whose artistry is defined by precision and a deep sensitivity to the body’s stories.

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Here-Us-Now second consists of excerpts from choreographies in the following order, featuring the original dancers:

Kantra (1996) – solo Helena Franzén
Out of Reach (2015) – duo Philip Berlin, Annika Hyvärinen
Trace Elements (2018) – kvartett, Katarina Eriksson, Erik Nyberg Åsa Lundvik Gustafson, Patricia Saliba
Before I Change My Mind (2014) – solo Annika Hyvärinen
Before I Change My Mind (2014) – duo Katarina Eriksson, Åsa Lundvik Gustafson
Slipping Through My Fingers (2012) – solo Katarina Eriksson
I´m Not Looking Back (2011) – Katarina Eriksson, Gunilla Hammar, Cilla Olsen, Ina Sletsjoe, Moa Westerlund
TERRA (2019) – duo Jeanette Wren, Alina Lagoas
Before I Change My Mind (2014) – solo Åsa Lundvik Gustafson
To Make this up (2013) – duo Katarina Eriksson, Elizaveta Penkova
What´s left Behind (2018) – solo Elizaveta Penkova
Trigger Point (2010) – Helena Franzén, Katarina Eriksson, Ori Flomin, Dan Johansson

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Why Franzén has been praised for her uncompromising and consistent approach becomes clear. At the same time, beneath the distinct and precise lies a soft core—something tender and searching. Here-Us-Now is like a dance archive of movement memories created in the present moment.

Maina Arvas DN, 2024

Here, there is a concentration that still carries an outward-directed charge. There is something both fragile and strong—an ever-open search—in these female figures who fill the space with alternating bursts of explosive energy and contemplative pauses. Now, they turn their gaze back toward us. It is beautiful and compelling.

Anna Ångström SVD, 2024

The assembled parts and the skilled dancers—attuned with their entire bodies—elevate the work upward and forward into a cohesive whole. The encounter with several other and different bodies brings a kind of warmth and creates more points of connection with the audience.

Margareta Sörensen / Danstidningen, 2020

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