Since its founding in 1992, Ingun Bjørnsgaard Prosjekt has presented some of the most remarkable productions in contemporary Norwegian dance. Ingun Bjørnsgaard’s style and vocabulary derive from her close cooperation with her dancers. Their technical skill, areas of specialization, personal expression, and creativity are vital resources in the development of the choreography and dramaturgy of the work. Through such collaboration, the Ingun Bjørnsgaard Prosjekt cultivates a genuine openness to the new and unexpected, the current, and the extravagant. IBP receives funding from the Norwegian Arts Council.
Available works 2026
Gjenstand og fortvilelse (Object and despair)
World premiere, Dansens Hus, Oslo, Norway, November 21, 2025
“The new work by the master of Norwegian contemporary dance is a cultural event – and a digital detox.” Klassekampen
“…a fun, unpredictable and wild play with our different social roles” Dagsavisen (NO)
“…unmistakably Bjørnsgaardian, inventive, playful and precise.” Scenekunst.no (NO)
In Ingun Bjørnsgaard´s Gjenstand og fortvilelse (Object and despair), human fallibility is examined in close collaboration with dancers Catharina Vehre Gresslien, Edith Strand Askeland, and Ludvig Daae, and composer and musician Jan Martin Smørdal.
Against a backdrop of vague collective concern, three figures struggle with the feeling of fault to be corrected and the self-criticism that can easily take over. Attempts at correct behavior in fragmented social situations become the subject of vulnerability, but also subtle humour, opening up to an experience of the beauty of frailty.
With reference to a Norwegian etiquette manual from the 1960s and cinematic precepts, among other layers of research, the performance explores the fine line of socially accepted ways of operating, and the unease that threatens.
In the methodological development of the performance, thematic studies are fragmented and abstracted through Ingun Bjørnsgaard’s signature movement structures, where the composition of uncoordinated form and opposites is an aesthetic key.
The performers find themselves in fragments of situations where they try to listen to the other and do their best, while often awaiting solutions outside of themselves. Masculine and feminine qualities are unequally distributed between the figures, and underlying, primal forces become all the more visible in the attempts at control.
The choreography is developed in close interaction between movement, music and a private scenic space, created by set designer Thomas Björk and costume designer Solveig Holthe Bygdnes. Composer Jan Martin Smørdal, known for his experimental approach to music as a result of social factors, performs the music live on stage. Through everyday instrument-objects created for the performance, the improvisational soundscape emphasizes how sublime moments can arise with the potential of imperfection.
Choreographer Ingun Bjørnsgaard • Dancers Catharina Vehre Gresslien Edith Strand Askeland Ludvig Daae • Composer and musician Jan Martin Smørdal • Stage design Thomas Björk • Costume design Solveig Holthe Bygdnes • Lighting design Hans Skogen • Sound design Morten Pettersen • Photo Erik Berg • Co-production Dansens Hus, Oslo DansiT, Trondheim • Produced by Ingun Bjørnsgaard Prosjekt• Supported by Arts and culture, Arts council Norway • Duration 60 min
Hojotoho! (There’s no place like home), 2021
In Hojotoho! (There’s no place like home), Norwegian artist Vanessa Baird’s paintings create the foundation for a room filled with tension. Unacknowledged conflicts are held back, not allowed to leave the body. We are presented with people facing difficult situations and unexpected crises. They lose hold of what they were holding on to and cannot grab what they reach for. The choreography is markedly ambivalent, ambiguous, and detailed in its expression – interplaying with newly composed music by Rolf Wallin and Tansy Davies.
Choreographer Ingun Bjørnsgaard • Dancers Ludvig Daae, Sigrid Edvardsson, Catharina Vehre Gresslien, Ida Wigdel • Composers Rolf Wallin, Tansy Davies • Musician Tansy Davies • Additional music Richard Wagner: excerpt from Die Walküre • Stage design Thomas Björk • Costume design Ingun Bjørnsgaard • Lighting design Hans Skogen • Sound design Morten Pettersen • Sound technician Terje Wessel Øverland • Artist Vanessa Baird Seam/consultation • Signe Vasshus Producer • Frida Skinner • Co-production Dansens Hus • Supported by Arts Council Norway and the Norwegian Composers Fund • Duration 60 min
(Rolf Wallin: © Copyright 2021 Chester Music Limited)
(Tansy Davies: Performed by arrangement with Faber Music, London.)
Photo: Erik Berg
Artist: Vanessa Baird. Photo: Øystein Thorvaldsen. Courtesy artist, Sørlandets kunstmuseum and OSL contemporary