A child of the nineties, Norrdans was founded in Härnösand in 1995. Since then, they have had the undivided pleasure of presenting contemporary dance and choreography in all its captivating facets to audiences near and far. And you can meet them on stage, in the street, in schools, at work— anywhere, really! “Disturb the comfortable and comfort the disturbed.” That’s what they are all about. Since August 2018, Martin Forsberg has been Norrdans’ Artistic Director.
AVAILABLE WORKS 2019/2020
Terrarium
In this fictional oasis, dance and movement take place around a hyper-constructed dancefloor and along a simulated runway. To the sound of music, the dancers will perform complex and elaborately detailed choreographies, in an intuitive community and the most desolate solitude. In a telling mix of well-balanced sprawliness, a small world within a world emerges, a terrarium, which becomes the scene of a wild dance drama.
Choreographer: OR/ELLER (Anja Arnquist & Madeleine Lindh)
Scenographic concept: OR/ELLER in collaboration with Johannes Fäst and Anton Andersson
Costume Designer: Naemi Gustavsson
Composer: William Rickman
Light Designer: Anton Andersson
9 dancers on stage
World premiere: March 3rd 2023
The Rite of Spring
A dysfunctional birthday party, earplugs, leftover tarp, a rake and some 50 other specific everyday objects share space with three dancers trying to dance a very precise version of The Rite of Spring.
Choreographed by Norrdans’ Artistic Director Martin Forsberg, The Rite of Spring creates a macro cosmos within a tiny space. Scale and volume and vibrations take centerstage in this beast of creation. Here, the beautiful and the sublime, the magical and grotesque, exist side by side. And the dance comes almost dangerously close. The grand tones of composer Stravinsky manifesting through a small and explosive ensemble, in the purest rebellious playfulness. This piece finds its ways through both schools and public venues in the north of Sweden and in Stockholm.
Choreography, Set- and Costume Design: Martin Forsberg In close collaboration with the ensemble
Rehearsal Director and Artistic Partner: Marco Herløv Høst
3 dancers on stage
World premiere: Oct 14th 2022
If Only I Knew
How can a body move next to a person reading?
How can a dance story-telling exist next to the written language already existing in every book?
In a newly created land between the written literature and the readability of movements, we find If Only I Knew. At the library, among the bookshelves. Choreographer Ioannis Mandafounis invites you to an environment where silent movements raise questions about meaning. The piece is designed and adapted to situations and experiences in the present where it is located. Ioannis calls this immediate dramaturgy and storytelling.
Choreographer: Ioannis Mandafounis
1-8 dancers
World premiere: Sep 16th 2021
One One One
A chair, a dancer. This is the starting point for the piece One One One by choreographer Ioannis Mandafounis. You sit on the chair, a dancer comes up to you and says:
– I will dance for you as long as we keep eye contact. What happens next is a silent dialogue, an exclusive meeting. An opportunity to see dance with new eyes. To see, to really see dance. When you have seen enough, you can leave the chair.
One One One is played in the public space. Previously, the work has been performed on streets and squares, in a prison in Madagascar, at Rikshospitalet in Copenhagen. Choreographer Ioannis Mandafounis has developed his own method where intuition is put first. The dancer becomes like a membrane that says “yes” to all its impulses in relation to the source, the audience on the chair. One One One can be displayed in the public space: living rooms, lunchrooms, auditoriums, shopping malls, and hospitals.
Choreographer: Ioannis Mandafounis
1-8 dancers
Premiere: Aug 21th 2021
Photo: Chrisander Brun.