2023
Unruly gang
RULE
In the performance RULE, dancers from all over the world come together to share their love of dancehall. With no fewer than eight hand-picked dancers, the crème de la crème of the dancehall scene is presented. Dancing to a catchy soundtrack and with a relentless attitude, Unruly Gang serves us a cross between dancehall and afro, and with uncompromising energy and raw moves we meet a tableau of explosively magnificent dance.
Rule performed in Stockholm, Skellefteå, Umeå, Örebro, Uddevalla, Kungsbacka and Uppsala.
Smaïl Kanouté/Compagnie Vivons
Never twenty one
The Black Lives Matter movement has reached boiling point and their urgent message about police brutality and structural racism leaves no one unmoved. Their hashtag #Never21 was created to draw attention to all the children and young people who have fallen victim to firearms. The children and young people who never got to turn 21. In Compagnie Vivon’s dance performance, with the same title as the hashtag, the movement’s manifesto can be seen on stage. Three dancers with graffiti-covered bodies, marked with the words of the survivors, revive the victims and the abysmal loss of their families.
Never twenty one performed in Piteå, Luleå, Umeå and Vara.
Cassiel Gaube
Soirée d’etudes
With a passion for house dance and its vocabulary, choreographer Cassiel Gaube has immersed himself in the chiselled footwork of the dance style and its skilful turns. Here, all the steps included in the house dance repertoire are mapped out and deconstructed. The trio plays with the different steps, its characteristic bouncing “footworks” and the rocking “jacking” of the torso. Soirée d’études offers a surprising dialogue with contemporary dance and house dance. A wordless conversation between the dancers’ footwork, where the squeaking of trainers and sound of their breathing is all you can hear.
Soirée d’etudes performed in Malmö, Umeå, Jönköping, Växjö, Karlshamn, Uddevalla and Stockholm.
C/Ompany
Dan-su
Dan-su is a daring and surprising performance signed by the Swedish-Japanese company C/Ompany. Using humour and physical equilibrium in equal measure, they challenge all rules of dance and make the audience double over with laughter. The three dancers perform violently acrobatic choreography with whimsical spontaneity. Accompanied by the howls, moans and exclamations in Japanese, they offer a sumptuous orgy of clowning and mayhem. Dan-su is a playful work that puts both physical laws and cultural codes at risk. A wrestling match with Japanese stereotypes and the bewilderment that sometimes befalls us humans.
Dan-su performed in Skellefteå, Göteborg, Tanumshede, Vara, Säter and Västerås.
Sindri Runudde
Sälskap
The performance Sälskap (which is a Swedish play on words between “Säl”, meaning seal, and “Sällskap”, meaning companionship, and literally translates as Company of Seals) is inspired by an oceanic myth about a creature that is half seal, half human. With this fictional figure at the heart of the story, two dancers meet in a fantasy world where the physical body is affected both by homesickness and wanderlust. Sälskap is a children’s performance for adults that conveys the utmost seriousness for the little ones. In a stage room filled with hand-blown glass beads, sequins and fake fur, the performance toys with the idea of being someone or something else. Maybe a seal?
Sälskap performed in Umeå, Gävle, Stockholm, Linköping and Malmö.
Sidney Leoni
FLY
In Sidney Leoni’s performance FLY, we meet the legendary dance choreographer Vaslav Nijinsky. We follow his career with the Russian ballet, his family relationships and his diligent journal keeping. Scribbled sentences, bearing witness to an incipient psychosis, which would soon turn into schizophrenia. Through a combination of film and dance, a historical epic is woven together, and it takes us on a journey through time and space. Here, fact merges with fiction, and artists—both living and dead—come together to remind humanity of what it needs most of all: Love.
Fly performed in Jönköping, Uppsala, Falun, Stockholm, Piteå and Västerås.
Nicole Neidert
Call of the void
A call of the void is a whim as common as it is inexplicable. This impulse contains both the feeling of losing control as well as a reminder of the desire to live. It is an existential phenomenon which contains both darkness and hope, both of which set the tone in Neidert’s work. Inspired by anime sci-fi and using the animated expression of popping, Call of the void creates an artificial world. The dancer Anton Borgström is the focal point and together with a striking soundscape and expressive lighting, the work slides between fiction and reality.
Call of the void performed in Kungsbacka, Jönköping, Umeå and Malmö.
Afia
YEBO YES!
In Afia’s performance YEBO YES! pantsula is at the centre, the choreographic language which during Apartheid spread awareness and was a way of expressing criticism and opposition to the regime. With lightning-quick steps across the ground and intricate, rhythmic footwork, the dancers demonstrated to the those in power that they were both strong and free. Pantsula quickly became not only a dance style, but also a way of life. In YEBO YES! we meet Sibusiso, David and Gugu from South Africa who all live and breathe pantsula, as well as Sweden’s Theresa and Joanna, freestyle dancers, choreographers and founders of Afia. Together they demonstrate a dance filled with energy, joy and power. They explore the relationship between freestyle and pantsula and the meeting between two different cultural expressions.
YEBO YES! performed in Örebro, Alingsås, Vänersborg, Karlshamn, Växjö, Gävle and Linköping.
Konstgruppen ful
Baba karam – genom Jamileh och Khordadian the summer sneak peak
Welcome to a playful dance party where three performers and a DJ light the stage on fire with the artful sights and sounds of Iranian Baba Karam dancing. The hypnotic beat of West-Asian dance music and the traditional Persian storytelling combine to create a heartfelt, colourful event. Inspired by traditional Iranian block parties, with a touch of Bollywood, the performance intertwines music and dance with personal anecdotes. In hushed tones, you’ll hear candid reminiscences and touching stories about forbidden love and secret identities.
Baba karam… performed in Kalmar, Stockholm, Jönköping and Uddevalla.
Tove Berglund & Ludvig Daae
The meaning of life
The meaning of life is an interactive all-night event with artist Tove Berglund and choreographer Ludvig Daae, where you examine the role fate plays in life. In a caravan park where each front door opens a unique vantage point into the meaning of life, you meet a philosopher, listen to a personalised one-on-one concert and join a promenade through the forest full of choreography. Maybe it’s an invigorating bath on a summer’s eve that’s the meaning of life or the fragrant taste of a warm meal after an eventful day? Regardless what gives your life meaning, you’ll find that this particular late-summer evening wraps up around the campfire with a private conversation about the meaning of life.
The meaning of life performed in Granö and Umeå.
Philip Berlin
Le scenario
Philip Berlin examines expansive leaps. A dazzling sequence of finales in rapid-fire succession. Dancers drifting across the stage beneath a never-ending shower of confetti. Swift, powerful and multifaceted. Accompanied by the sweet sounds of post-punk New Romanticism. Le scénario is an uplifting work that takes off with Merce Cunningham’s post-modern ruminations about jumping and lands with Michael Clark’s predilection for the world of fashion. Amidst striking latex-collared dancers and a stage bathed in cold laboratory-blue light, a battle rages against the force of gravity and its relentless efforts to keep us all grounded.
Le scénario performed in Örebro, Gävle, Uppsala, Malmö, Linköping, Karlshamn and Växjö.
Josépha Madoki
D.I.S.C.O.
Josépha Madoki, a.k.a. Princess Madoki, showers us with glitter, glamour and sublime eccentricity. A memorable club night based on this frenetic dance form rooted in 70s gay culture, where we meet eight dancers and a DJ who take us on an extravagant joyride. D.I.S.C.O. (Don’t initiate social contact with others) was coined during the COVID quarantines, imposing heightened social distancing restrictions. This self-imposed isolation caused Madoki to dreamily hearken back to the dance floors of the ’70s when disco ruled the day. Based on the hedonistic desire to live life to its fullest, if only for one night, D.I.S.C.O. is a tribute to life, with all its craziness and euphoria.
D.I.S.C.O performed in Umeå, Piteå, Luleå, Västerås, Göteborg, Stockholm, Växjö and Vara.
Compagnie chute libre
In bloom – a rite of spring
Since its scandalous premiere in 1913, Nijinskij’s legendary choreography in Våroffer [A Rite of Spring] has been interpreted by Pina Bausch as well as Mats Ek. Now, the French street dance company Chute libre is putting its own spin on this mythical work. In bloom – a rite of spring is a symphony of street dance styles performed by ten dancers. Together, they confront the work’s timeless essence and put their hearts and souls into it. Together, they glide across the stage, disperse and bloom. A monumental musical piece is brought back to life.
In bloom – a rite of spring performed in Västerås, Vara, Bollnäs, Falun, Piteå and Luleå.
Robertson/Fandard/Hannes
3 x Aerowaves
Punky octagon projection, a tricolour soloist, and disoriented aliens – a whole-evening performance that will give you a taste of the latest on the European dance scene. It’ll be an action-packed evening with works by Courtney May Robertson, Alexandre Fandard, and Andreas Hannes. Two solos and a quartet make up the evening’s triple bill showcasing Aerowaves’ selected artistry. Aerowaves is a European dance platform presenting the next generation of dance icons and Dansnät Sverige is always eagerly looking forward to touring them.
3 x Aerowaves performed in Umeå, Stockholm, Falkenberg and Malmö.
S.O.J. Scenkonstproduktion
Carpe diem… or when is it too late to start a rock band?
There is something innately human in going through life with a dream to do ‘something different’ – regardless whether it’s about making pottery, opening a bed & breakfast or even starting a dance company. But what happens when the dream must turn into reality? In the performance Carpe diem by S.O.J. Scenkonstproduktion, we follow the path of three people as they realise a common dream: to start a punk rock band. In the crossroads between dance, theatre and music, a dynamic space is created with room for laughter and drama as well as existential ruminations.
Carpe diem performed in Askersund, Växjö, Karlshamn, Gävle and Linköping.
Matilda Fleberg x Vaz
Zirkonen
The dance concert Zirkonen is a modern creation myth. A discursive voyage through time where we’re deposited into an idyllic utopia, only to get shipwrecked on the shores of a dystopic apocalypse. How does it sound when nature turns its back on us humans? And how many beats per minute are there in an artificial heart? With the help of four dancers and four musicians, choreographer Matilda Fleberg and the musical duo VAZ immerse the stage in the sights and sounds of an epic creation tale. We’re invited into a bold, new universe where hypnotic, symmetrical movements are accompanied by the sounds of Afro-Nordic futurism. Infused with ecocriticism, AI and surrealism, we’re lulled into an endless loop born from ashes and cinders.
Zirkonen performed in Falkenberg, Vara, Alingsås, Uppsala and Sandviken.