Premiere Arctic Women – Svalbard Movements

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At worlds end in a frozen world I rolled around in coal dust for a few weeks with Finnish dancer Reijo Kela creating the first version of our new piece ARCTIC WOMEN about natures influence on the human soul. 

The piece is the result of a long collaboration between me and actress Juni Dahr, travelling the North, researching stories of women in the Arctic along with dancer Reijo Kela and set designer Snorri Freyr Hilmarsson. 

The texts used in this version where from the diaries of Leonid D’Aunet from France who became the first woman to visit Svalbard, Hanne Resvold Holmsen from Norway who did botanical research there in the summer of 1907, Christianne Ritter an artist from Austria who stayed through the winter in a small hut with her husband in 1934 and Ellen Nöis from Norway who gave birth to a child all alone while her husband was out hunting. I might mention that I performed this in Norweigan (which I don’t speak)

The premier was at Longyearbyen Litterature festival september 2019 and it was an honor to share the stage with Reijo and have the original score by saxophone player Tore Brundborg played live by him and percussionist Per Oddvar. We where also joined by the mans choir of Den Store Norske coal mining company. Our fearless director was Inger Buresund, master of lights was Kristin Bredal and costumes where made by Silje Fjellberg.